Copperopolis

(Posted By Dylan Clark)

I got caught in heavy rush hour traffic driving through downtown
Milton, so i barely made it to the start on time. About eighty Cat 3s
started the race, and we just cruised.
about a mile or two from where we left we rolled through the feed
zone. Id like to say that i appreciate the fact that Steele was in the
feedzone all day long helping everyone out, which was way cool.
the first lap was quite uneventful, as everyone was just getting a
feel for the course.
As Lap two came around things heated up a little, mostly over the
first climb. we all ascended a little quicker than the previous lap,
and only about ten people were shelled off the back. I met up with Matt
Willinger out in the flats that very same lap. He helped me quite a bit
with positioning advice for this course, which i kept in mind until the
finish line.
as lap three rolled around the climb went faster, and i was
feeling fueled up thanks to all the goods provided by steele and my
father. this time around the group was all but cut in half after the
climb over the hills. A break went that i think barely anyone saw, so
at this point there were two off the front, leading a pack of about
thirty. No one was doing anything about the situation, which actually
really annoyed me. there was a feeling of contentment among the pack. i
wasnt exactly diggin' the scene so i decided to try to escape.
Earlier in the race the first climb didnt really seem tough enough
to do any damage on, hopwever after about sixty miles the situation
changed. Approaching the feed zone on the last lap i made damn sure i
was top ten so i didnt get all bunched up at the bottom of the climb.
as i went to the opposite side of the road that i had been visiting all
day, i saw Matt Willinger with a bottle for me, which tasted pretty
good at this point.
as soon as the elevation started to head up, my gear ratios did
to, as i jumped out of the saddle and tried to get out of there. A few
came with me but fell back after a few minutes. after i got onto the
flats i got a split time of 45 seconds from the motorcycle. I heard the
break ahead of me was quite a ways ahead, so i just concentrated on not
getting caught.
I hit the back straightaway and recieved an updated split time of
1:45. inspired, i just kept giving it. Upon approaching the final
climb, i heard that a had 2:30 on the pack. I made it up the climb
fairly quickly, and began the off-road bumpy assault down to the
finish. Hot and tired, i rolled throught for third place at
Copperopolis.