April 15 - Copperopolis Road Race, Milton
Race info and Results

Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Graeme Macalister    Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Morgan Fletcher

Race photos: RonaldMariano.com and AbbiOrca.com

Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Graeme Macalister

Caught between two races

Due to a last minute offer of a ride to the race (thanks Chris and Chai from Docket Rocket!) I found myself waiting in line at Registration, to get in the second field at Copperopolis. After being handed a number in the 400's, I assumed these were allocated to the second group whilst the "A" group wore 900 numbers. So when the Cat 4/5 group set off, I was a little shocked to realize I had been assigned to the Masters 45+ group - which was duly beckoned to the start line. I had no choice but to set off in hot pursuit of my fellow 35+ riders, who had already turned left on to the first section of rough road, about 150m ahead of me.

Graeme (on left) works with a splinter group of Masters riders Photo by AbbiOrca.com

"Here we go again", I thought "straight out the back as usual". I was already red-lining just to catch back on. When I finally got to the back of the group, I saw the first blown tire cause some artful dodging by the stragglers in the rear. By the time we reached the lower portions of the main climb I saw another rider become victim to a rear flat. I was still barely hanging on at this point and really thought my race was over before it had begun. As the climb continued I had no time to recover, so I slogged it out until the rough pavement leveled off in to a series of rollers where I caught my breath and a group of three. The lead group of six or so was already barely visible, but we persevered and began forming a cohesive chase group; with the main group not too far away. I decided that my three companions and myself would probably end up riding together for the rest of the race, but when we picked up another rider in no man's land , there seemed a chance that we might catch at least the main group. While I was not enjoying the rough roads I did not find them too bad either - helped by a collective effort to warn each other of any impending craters.

As we approached the start area for lap two we had picked up a few more riders and another group was within striking range. I began to feel the old diesel engine kick in at the feed zone and moved to the front, to get a better vantage point to scan the road surface - we were now roughly a group of twelve. A rider from Pegasus then upped the pace, I instinctively pursued until suddenly I could see my friend Chai (Godspeed Courier) up ahead with another rider from Pegasus. (It turned out the first rider from Pegasus was bridging to his teammate). After I exchanged greetings with Chai, I took advantage of the natural lull in pace by moving to the front as the climb began to inflict its most damage. Not being a great climber and finding myself on the front, dictating the pace and causing some difficulty behind was a real boost in confidence. On the rolling descent past the reservoir I decided to put the hammer down and found myself on my own, chasing riders ahead. I still felt strong and figured if I could maintain the gap I had built, I would have an easier time on the rough descent of the second climb being able to pick the best line to avoid the most treacherous potholes.

Not long before the final climb I bridged to a group of three. I had to explain that I was part of their group despite my number being a 400 series. I sat in on the climb as a rider from Team Spine set the pace, I was beginning to feel the pinch a little, but hung in for the descent. Shortly in to the descent one rider attacked: he was chased by another while the fourth gave up the ghost and left me a gap to fill. I caught back on and as the descent began to get nasty, I launched a counter attack - daring the other two to follow. I had tried to remember where the worst potholes were and was delighted to see my attack had worked. Now I was riding like a man possessed, into the depths of sweet hell. With less than 2K to go I could see one more rider ahead and began to reel him in. Entering the final Km I caught up to the rider; alarmed, he asked me if I was in his group, as the uphill finish beckoned I replied in the affirmative, then put in a final kick up to the finish to make sure I beat him to the line. Chai's girlfriend shouted out from the grass hill at the line that I had scored tenth place. After all my hard work it felt like I had come in first. I expected to be in the mid-twenties in the results. Interestingly enough, I was listed as the winner of the 45+ group and after rectifying the results I found I had come in 11th - good enough for a guy caught between two races.

Master's 35+ 4/5 Road Race report by Morgan Fletcher, San Francisco Sport and Spine.

Copperopolis was my first road race of 2006. My coach, Scott Saifer, suggested I not do it because the hill comes so soon after the start and is so selective, and because my strength-to-weight ratio isn't great. I am no great climber. He suggested I do the Menlo Park crit instead. I didn't like the 100-rider field limit for the crit and I wanted to improve my result from last year at Copperopolis, so that's why I raced it. And because it's epic.

Alex picked me up at 7:40 Saturday morning. Said goodbye to Lauren and Sam. Lulu was still sleeping when I left. Alex was still feeling a little sick with a chest cold. We had a subdued drive to the venue. After registering, we warmed on trainers up just near the first left turn onto the rough road that leads to the climb, and we could see the fields go by. Levi Leipheimer was racing in the Pro/1/2 field! That was cool. At one point Ben Jacques-Mayne was leading a break with a couple guys in it, and Leipheimer was at the front of the peloton. After warming up I noticed the trainer had taken most of the tread off my rear tire! I was running some nice old sew-ups, I guess too old. They'd been fine for Thursday and Friday's ride after a re-gluing, but I guess the friction from the trainer was too much for the tread's old rubber. Good thing I brought my commuter wheels. Big heavy rims are fine for Copperopols. I quickly changed wheels, adjusted brakes and rolled to the start.

As I was squeezing my way through the crowded staging area I saw some friends in the 45+ field, Bob Rosemeyer and Jim Alnas-Benson. This was Jim's first USCF race ever! I ride home with him from Walnut Creek pretty often, and I have suggested he race a couple times, because he likes to push the pace a little. But I didn't expect him to take my advice so soon. I looked for him after the race, but didn't see him. How'd it go, Jim? Bob had a flat, which is a shame because I bet he would have done well. I started at the back of our field, but could see Alex at the front. As we rolled along the really rotten road leading to the climb, I moved up through the field to reach Alex just as we started the climb. My first goal this year was to stay with the group up the first climb and I did, just barely. My second goal was to help Alex - a previous winner here - if I could stay with him after that hill. A group of about twelve, including Alex, detached itself toward the top of the climb. They didn't back off after the climb, but kept the pressure on, so that they were strung out and the group behind was pulled apart as well. I chased to get up to the leading group. Another rider struggling to reattach was James "Super Record" Bauer. We both made it, plus maybe one or two others. That was it. The guy who was the strongest was Christopher Phipps, and he continued to break legs on the rollers leading around the backside of the course. I tried to shelter Alex from the wind, which was pretty fierce. I'd already burnt my matches, there wasn't going to be any more intensity in my legs for the rest of the ride, it would be riding at about threshold but no more. The front group began to splinter, then there was a gap, then there was a canyon between me and the next guy. I shouted to Alex to "Go!" and he sprinted around me and tried to bridge. I think he reached the next guy but I don't think he ever reached the leaders.

After that it was just training. I passed some people, others passed me, and I rode with a small group of four guys for a little bit until that too fell apart.

Did I mention these roads are hell? Imagine the worst road you can think of in your neighborhood. These are worse than that. They are patches on patches on holes and washes. They are mud and gravel and holes and fifteen different kinds of asphalt and macadam. The descent is _hairball_. I mean, to go down it fast takes a lot of bravery and stupidity and a wanton disregard for your ability to pay your mortgage, use a pencil, care for your children. The first time down it I felt something touch my calf. I instinctively knew it was my 2nd bottle, bounced out of the seat tube cage. My 1st bottle was empty already. I looked down, held it with my leg, upside down, against the cage at 40mph, bouncing over patches and holes. I managed to reach down, grab it, take a drink and get it back in the cage and not crash, all at full speed. Good thing too. Next time through a guy in the feed zone offered me a bottle and I gladly took it, and I needed all three bottles for my two laps. I can't imagine being one category up and doing four laps.

Back to the race: my group of five lost one as we did the last climb, then two went off the front on the remainder of the climb, leaving me and another guy (team Godspeed) to do the descent together. He was glued to my wheel. We were maybe twentieth, so the finishing order didn't matter one bit, but he wouldn't pull through. I figured he was going to sprint so I went up the hill in a big gear. Turns out he was cooked. I looked at my powermeter file later on and the finishing climb was the hardest 30-second segment of the whole race. (Yeah, slow masters have power meters. No, I can't explain it.)

One sad note was that there was a very nasty spill on the descent, a woman who I later heard was riding for Galaxy Granola went down sometime before my second descent, which would have been around 1PM. She was immobile, covered in a blanket, and they had cars parked on the narrow, fast descent to keep people like me from running her over. As I finished I heard and saw multiple EMT and fire trucks on their way to her. I hope she's going to be OK.

I will probably be back next year for the race that is the Hell of East of Stockton, Copperopolis.

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