Copperopolis

Elite 3 ~ 5th Place

The Copperopolis Road Race is one of my favorites on the calendar. It is in the absolute middle of no where and I love it. It is always pretty early in the season and near the end of the season I tend to look back and think, wow it has been a long time since copper, a long season. At this point I get to sit up and enjoy the ride to come and the season that is just beginning.

Copper was my first road race of the season and I went into the race feeling content and ready. I have been feeling good on the bike and excited about my overall fitness. However, after my time trial last week in Visalia, which I was quite successful in, my hip got tight and messed up. I rode through it for the next week. Then on Friday, the day before copper, doing my pre-race ride I could tell that there was something wrong. I felt good, but then the last 10 miles of the ride my hamstring got tight and I just couldn’t push. That was not a great way to get the psychological/mental confidence in the right place.

I ignored it though and felt confident that it would work itself out by the morning. With a lot of stretching and a hot tub run it would all be back to normal I hoped. We awoke in the dark and I fixed myself two eggs and some toast. Not exactly having a huge appetite at 4 in the morning, but still needing to stuff some protein and carbs down. Luckily my awesome father drove me to the race so I got to sleep most of the way to the race, only waking up once as my dad stopped to take a picture of the still present, almost full moon.

We got to the race and after standing in line after line, I was able to get my number and use the restroom. Ryan and I went for a short spin and then we were off. We planned to take it easy on the first lap and so that’s what we did. I sat in the top 5 on the climb, just taking it easy and not pushing the pace. I talked to some friends during the climb while I some other people were suffering. I like to talk with people when I am feeling good, it’s good to mess with the others psychologically as they start thinking, “he is not even working and I am suffering, he is just sitting there talking!” So Ryan and I rode to the top of the first big climb in the front and then when we got the flats at the top I told Ryan to drift back into the field. He had sort of a confused look on his face like; “why would you ever do that!” but he came back with me. So we sat in the pack and just relaxed. We moved up at the end of the lap for the sketchy descent and then stayed near the front as we hit the climb again.

I started the climb and I noticed that my computer had been broken during the descent and it was dangling rather close to my wheel. So I went to the front and drilled it while trying to pull off my computer. When we got to the smooth section of the pavement Ryan attacked and then when he got a decent gap I made a hard jump that nobody followed and I bridged up to him. We rode together at a tempo pace hoping that some more guys would come up to us, but no one came so we let them catch us before the flats, because we were sure that we would not make it alone with another 2.5 laps to go.

Once again we took it easy on the flats and I was beginning to feel my hip problem. For the most part it was not too hard along the flats except for a few hard bursts. I tried to stay safe without having to do any work because I was not feeling too good. I knew that the race wouldn’t be won on the flats, but it could be lost there.

The third time up the climb I was suffering more, but I still sat in the top 5. Near the top of the climb two Z-team guys attacked and I tried to follow with a Webcor rider, but I was never able to get on their wheel. When I got to the flats the group was only about 10 seconds behind me and I thought that I would have a better chance of catching the Z-team riders if I was in the group. I tried to get a pace line going, but no one would work. The first half of the lap there were some attacks and one good one that I was in that got a little pace line going, but nothing worked. I went back mid-pack and searched for Ryan and could not see him anywhere. I figured that he had not gotten dropped on the climb, but it had looked like he was suffering, turns out that he stayed with the front group to the top of the climb with a flat wheel…impressive.

Then there was the last time up the climb and I was feeling as if I needed to just hang in there. I was able to sit top 10, but I was not feeling great. One rider attacked, but no one followed, and he was gone. I thought that we would catch him on the long flats to the finish, but that would not be the case.

Most of the last lap I just sat and watched. The pace was pretty vicious along the flats, but we did not bring anyone back. We got to the descent before the finish and it was pure mayhem. I sat about 5th wheel, so that I was out of the wind, but also out of danger.

The last few miles were fast, as would be expected, and I just tried to stay protected in the front. We hit the 1k sign and one rider attacked, but that did not last long. I knew that it was a long sprint and that a lot of people would go too early. So as we began the sprint I just followed wheels until I felt that everyone was beginning to die and then I punched it and made my move with about 200 meters. It was awesome to be able to handle those big guys this time as I did not have the gearing disadvantage with the uphill sprint. I won the field sprint, which was good enough for 5th place. I felt good, definitely was one of the best sprints that I have ever had. I even got an awesome Velo-Promo T-shirt!
Some cool pictures of the sprint to come...

Thanks for reading,
-tb