Race Report: Top Sport Stage Race in Copporopolis, CA

This is a great race. A lot of fun and one we will target next year! The race is on a Saturday and Sunday. Saturday consisted of two races, a 75 minute circuit race (6.2 mile loop which we ended up doing 5 times) and a 10.5 mile time trial (TT). Sunday was a 69 mile road race.

Sun was out and wind was fairly high. I was racing the 35+ Cat 4 race. We had 13 guys to start. Two teams had two guys (Sierra Nevada out of Sac and Kaiser out of Oakland), the rest were on our own. There was one other San Mateo guy who road for Third Pillar). Laps 2,3,4 there was a 5 second time bonus for winning that lap and at the finish there was a 10,6,4 second bonus for first, second and third place. Race started fast for first three miles and then settled down. The two Sierra Nevada riders were pulling hard the first lap and sprinted for the line. We then reminded them the bonuses were for the next three laps..d'oh! On lap two I went to the front and put in about 90% effort to see what happened. The field stuck with me but was strung out. I then let two others get in front and road third wheel. We came the line and sprinted. I was in front and with five meters to go a Taleo rider came around me and took the bonus. Third lap, exact same scenario. Taleo crossed first and I was second. Fourth lap and final bonus I sat on Taleo's wheel and came around him to win the sprint. This set us up for the bell lap. Sierra Nevada rider took control and road HARD for 4 miles. The field was strung out in a line. With 500 meters to go a Metromint rider sprinted hard. Taleo caught his wheel, I hung on to Taleo and the second Sierra guy was on my wheel. The rest of the field was gapped. The finish was a moderate up hill and this took the Metromint riders legs and he dropped with 200 meters to go. That left Taleo in the wind. He went hard and Sierra came around both of us. I then sprinted and came around Taleo but missed catching Sierra by half a wheel. So, Second place in race and overall to that point. By the way, roads were smooth, new and the course was slightly rolling. Nothing steep but no real flat sections.

We then had four hours to kill before the TT. Not much to do around there, but I found the one bar and sat there for two hours drinking Sprite and watching NCAA hoops, and talking to local drunks. Actually, pretty fun.

TT was about four miles from the circuit course. The roads there are farm roads and so they are fairly rough. The course was an out and back with several moderate short hills and a sharp 180 degree turn. I was first racer of our group off. With a TT, it is important to control your effort at first so you dont burn your legs out...I did the opposite. I hammered at first and was suffering like a dog the second half. It was fairly windy and coming back into a head wind was tough. At the turnaround I saw my 1 minute man, it was the big Sierra guy who won the morning race (guy who starts 1 minute back) about 20 seconds back. That was discouraging. I had visions of grandeur prior to seeing him. Well, about a quarter of the way back, he goes past me. Crap! I tried to stay close to him, but he was strong and road away from me. In the end I finished 5th...Disappointed but now I know what area I need to work on. So, now I am in 5th place overall. First is Sierra big guy, Second is Taleo, third is Third Pillar guy (he had a good tt) and fourth is smaller Sierra guy.

Next day we all are back for a 69 mile road race. It is a three loop affair. The course starts where the TT started and then heads out for a 5 mile section of incredibly rough roads. I have never raced roads like that section. Was like the "pave" of Paris Roubix (I am sure that is worse, but not in my mind at the time). My bike was bucking all over the place during that section. First lap starts out causal. All realize we have 3.5 hrs of riding ahead and everyone takes it easy. Second lap and the two Oakland riders take off. The field does not react. All the top seven places are there, so no one worries. About eight miles later Taleo comes by and put in a big effort. The field is in one long line and a few second later we catch the Oakland boys. Everyone then settles down again. Back on the five mile rough section we reach a small but steep climb. Taleo takes off. Both Sierra riders follows him. I have another rider in front of me who cracks. I have to go around him but there is now a gap. I give it a hard effort, but those boys are strong. I am starting to crack when a Z team rider comes by me and says, "jump on". I obey and sit on his wheel. The field is now shattered. The two Sierra guys and Taleo in front, followed by me and Z team about 30 seconds back. Z and I worked our asses off to catch the top three, but they stayed just in front of us. We still had about 30 miles to go. Z and I agreed to ride as hard as we could for the rest of the race and see if we could catch on. We road hard and well together, switching leads every minute or so. During our final go through the rough patch, we closed to within 20 seconds. We hoped we could surprise them and catch on, but they caught site of us and put in a big effort to gap us again. At the end I sprinted past Z team to take fourth for the race. The top three put a minute and a half on us. We though, gaped the next group (which included Third Pillar) by 9 minutes! So, in the end, Big Sierra, Taleo, smaller Sierra took one, two three overall and I took fourth. With our effort Z team moved into 5th and Third Pillar fell to sixth.

This is a fun race. No long climbs but enough hard stuff to break the field up a bit, which makes it fun. Plan on doing this race next year!