Daryoush Copperopolis Road Race Report 4/7/12

Daryoush Reports from Copperopolis Road Race: 45+ 1/2/3 Cat.

Brisk pace up the first climb and it didn't get easier on the second one. The downhill at Copperopolis is where you win or lose the race. It is long and very very very rough - makes you love climbing. I could smell my brake pads burning going down (cork on carbon rims) but I wasn't braking much!


Second lap, going up the steepest climb, every time I stood up it felt like someone is pulling me! I though Dirk was fooling around and grabbing my seat. Almost at the top of the climb my back wheel locked and I had to stop :(

My back brakes where locked. On Thursday I took my bike to the bike shop (Ed note: The shop was NOT Menlo Velo!) to have them fix my shifter (damaged springs inside the shifter). Apparently he hadn't tightened the shifter well enough to the handle bar and during the down hill and pushing down on it while climbing it had slid down (1/4 inch or so) which caused the brake cable to be pulled. It took me a minute to fix this but the pack was well out of my reach by then. I did the rest of the race solo.

You know how disappointing this can be after a long drive at 5 AM but it was a beautiful day and I put in a good 65 mile ride :)