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April 7 - Copperopolis Road Race
Race info
Results
Photography:
Bo Hebenstreit, Webcor / Alto Velo
Jan Snyder
Video:
Damian Gonzalez, www.xpmultimedia.com, Pacific State Bank/Anderson Homes Racing Team
Reports:
Lee Shuemake, Pacific State Bank/Anderson Homes/Delta Velo,
Copperopolis RR Cat 4 Report
Report by Lee Shuemake
Damian, Rodrigo and Myself showed up Saturday for the Cat 4 Copperopolis race. I can't say the day started off to well as Rodrigo and I almost missed the roll out as we were warming up and not paying attention to the time. We got back to the start line as the Cat 4's were rolling off... great, sitting dead last in a field of 67 when the climb starts 1.5 miles in.
Rodrigo and I slowly worked ourselves to the front of the field up the climb, I went over the top in about 5th and all was good. Nothing much happened for the first couple of laps other than a few half hearted solo breakaways that went no where.
By the time the 3rd lap came around, there was roughly twenty guys left at the top of the climb including Damian and Myself...Rodrigo informed me after the race he just fell off the back at the top of lap three and could not get the others around him to help close the gap. A four man attack went about half way up the climb and we slowly pulled them in and caught them about 1 mile before the climb on the back side of the course. I didn't chase when they initially attacked as I knew there was no way they would last in that wind.
Damian and I were talking through out the race as to what we wanted to do. We had a rough idea of what we wanted to do and I told him to get back to me on lap three which he did. The plan was for me to attack over the top of the climb, and Damian would soften them up.
Damian did a great job of working to help pull the break back, so I didn't feel obligated to work and was able to sit back and conserve. Once the final climb came, Damian went off the front and I was able to sit on the front and make others chase him. Nobody was interested, but Damian was pulled back in right before the decent and that is when I took over and jumped off the front making sure nobody got in front of me for the decent. Gaps opened and closed on the way down but once in the valley I could see myself and one webcore rider had the pack strung out single file but they were still there.
We came to the 200 meters to go sign and I was still sitting top two but hesitated and eight to ten guys jumped and started the sprint. I was able to pull back half of them before the line but still ended up 5th. Damian was able to hang in and get 12th even after the effort he put in on the last lap.
For Mr. Zunino...What I learned from this race...Stop waiting for someone else to start the sprint and do it yourself. Much easier to go first and make them come around you rather than giving them a head start! The good news is the sprint was much improved from 1 month ago and I kept myself from getting boxed in unlike Merco when I was stuck in the field as the leaders rode away.
-Lee
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