I'd packed the truck the night before so all I as to was jump in and go. I picked up Cyrus at 5:00 AM after a good breakfast of egg sandwiches. The town of Milton, where the Copperopolis RR starts, is about 2 hours away and we made good time arriving at 7 even after a 15 minute stop for a quick break.
The first time through the feed zone and up the climb was fairly mellow, there was a small break up the road but the field seemed to have everything under control. The big difference with the course over the 2012 edition was that someone had been out on the whole course filling in the numerous potholes that had always been a feature of this race. The big issue now was tar covered grit that was flying everywhere as the group rode over it. It stuck to your bike, chain, gears and body parts. I know I ended up swallowing a bunch of it along with everyone else in the race. I looked like I had a bad case of moles at the end of the race.
I stayed with the main group over the whole climb and covered a couple of attacks on the run out to the hairpin, before settling in and hiding in the group. I didn't see Cyrus until the end of the lap but he was doing fine hanging at the back of the field.
The course was really rough, it seemed much worse than last year. It was like riding 100 mies of cobbles. I ridden the whole Flanders course and I have to say that this seemed much worse. At Flanders the cobbles end after a couple of K's but the Copperopolis "cobbles" lasted 100 miles with only a short smooth section on the climb every lap. I should have taken the tire pressures down to 90 or 95 psi instead of the 105 I set them at. Duh.
Lap 2 was a different story.
The original break came back and fresh attacks started on the climb after the feed zone. I was hanging in just fine until the steep section at the top of the climb. Steve O'Mara of TMB/InCase wound things up and I popped off the back. I was in good company with Kurt Wolfgang and one other guy, we were working well and soon enough another group came up containing Cyrus and about 4 others. We now had 7 or 8 people and all worked together to catch the main group by the time we got to the hairpin.
I stayed with the group through the start/finish and past the feed zone but lost contact again near the top of the climb.
Lap 3 the solo chase.
After getting dropped on the climb again I had to chase solo as there was no one else behind me to help. I came up on Kurt again but this time he had nothing left to come with me. I chased for about 5 miles and actually caught the group again. As the group rolled the back stretch I noticed the pace pick up and saw Eric Wohlberg on the front dragging the whole group in an attempt to get away or catch the break. Eric's pace caused me to get popped off on the second, smaller climb. Cyrus was hanging in the group and looking great, really comfortable as I watched him ride away. Thanks Eric.
I tried to chase again but they just vanished and I never actually caught them this time.
Lap 4
I rode the whole climb by myself this time and passed a bunch of other groups on the descent and flat section. I came across Bob Leibold at the hairpin and he was asking what i was doing this far off the back. He joked that I had them exactly where i wanted them. Yea, right. He told me I could keep going and finish the race as there was plenty of time. I made it over the second climb and at the end of the descent I was caught by a guy who had flatted earlier in the race and had been chasing for a lap. We agreed to go easy on the climbs and work together on the flats and downhills to finish out the race. We picked up bottles at the feed zone and made the 5th ascent of the main climb. I was telling him about Eric Wohlberg, dragging the who group along. He said who s Eric Wohlberg? I replied, 3 time Olympian, 7 time Canadian National TT Champion. Yea, no wonder I got popped off.
At this point we were 93 miles in and I hit the wall. I swallowed two gel packs and a packed of Cytomax blocks and after a mile or two started to feel better. We worked together again and just before the second climb we came across Cyrus. I tried to encourage Cyrus to join us but he was on a bad way and completely cracked. He couldn't go any faster and I tried to go with my new buddy to finish of the race. I was in a really bad state at this point, my toes were on fire, my arse was really sore and I could
barely peddle. I was dropped again on the second climb and finished the race alone. I made sure the official got my number and confirmed the finish but I have no idea where I ended up.
I waited after the finish line for Cyrus to roll up. For all I know we could have been the last two finishers. Cyrus wasn't happy, his head was really hurting and he was badly dehydrated. We rolled back to the car and I made sure he had some water and food. I chugged some OSMO Acute Recovery to try and recover ready for the Top Sport Stage Race next weekend.
At this point I didn't realize quite how cracked Cyrus was and snapped a couple of pictures.
Good Times
A few new tar moles.
I packed the truck and we headed out to get some real food and drink. Cyrus was silent and didn't actually speak for another half an hour after we got him a Coke and a Gatorade.
This was an epic race with 108 miles and over 7K feet of climbing.
Breakfast: 2 eggs on 3 tortillas.
Race: 5 gells, 4 packets of blocks, 2 tortillas. 7 bottles of water/Cytomax
