Copperopolis Road Race Category 4

Written by: Jesse Nieman

Marketed as the Paris-Roubaix of California, I was excited and a little concerned for the pavement I would be soon riding. The course was a three times around a 21-mile course marked by a 10 minute climb near the beginning, 30 minutes mostly flat, and then a quick and very bumpy descent to start the loop again.

We had a pretty small field of just six riders. Two of them I recognized from my previous race, Carlo Laporga, who I had beaten at the Pine Flat Road Race, and Jacob Riddles, who had beaten me. We started out and immediately my bones started vibrating as the pavement underneath failed to present a moment of respite. The climb continued in the same fashion and surprisingly, we dropped two of our six riders the first time up the climb. The four of us continued to rotate evenly along the top. As we hit the descent, my chain immediately dropped and continued to do so every time. Thankfully the bottom half was freshly paved, allowing me to nudge it back on once we hit the smoother pavement.

The second time up our climb we held a consistent rhythm and again dropped another rider, Jacob Riddles. Along the plateau everyone was civil. Mark Kransz tried one attack, but due to his cleat slipping was immediately shut down. As we approached the climb for the third and last time, I was a little worried. I had felt a little cramping leading into the climb and knew I was a bit heavier than the two remaining riders. We played some more games this time. I was able to follow all the surges until I couldn’t. Mark and Carlo both opened a gap on me, and as I could not attain a the requisite power to follow due to cramping, I settled into a rhythm, hoping to minimize lost time and regroup at the top.

As we crested, they had about ten seconds on me, so I was hopeful that they would not cooperate, allowing me to join back. However, despite maintaining a healthy tempo, the gap slowly let out. I had a visual on them all the way back to the descent but was never able to bridge back. Carlo placed first. Mark placed second, leaving third place for me. Turns out Mark has represented the USA at the UCI worlds for cross country mtb marathon, so fun to race with a rider of his pedigree. Had a blast racing again and cheering on all my teammates who were out there racing.

Next race is Sea Otter Fuego XL in two weeks, courtesy of team sponsor NeverSecond. It will be my first mountain bike race, so a serious training block on the mountain bike will be forthcoming.