Race Report: 2024 Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Race: Copperopolis Road Race - Men’s P/1/2

Date: 3/30/24

AVRT Racers: Grant Miller, Nathan Martin

Top Result: 6th - Nathan

Course: 5 laps of this. Very poor pavement throughout the climb and descents on the course.

Nutrition: 4 bottles of 60g malto+20g gatorade, 3 gels

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11072056992/

Race Recep (written by Nathan): 

Our plan going in was basically to have Grant and I sit in and let the course take its toll on people. We figured we’d have decent endurance and be able to put in some attacks late to break things up further.

Lap 1 I went to the front on the climb and started doing just below threshold, mostly because the pavement was bad and I wanted to be at the front to see anything. Unfortunately, right at the top of the climb, I got a puncture, so I had to stop to plug it.

I caught back on quickly, but my tire still felt low, so I stopped again and then had to do about ten minutes at tempo since people were attacking after I stopped. A break of about 5 or 6 went during this time, Tobin Ortenblad was probably the biggest threat in the group.

The descent was fast and very bumpy. I was running 32s, but still took it quite cautiously, having to burn a bit of a match to catch back on at the bottom.

Lap 2 was more of the same, with the pace pushed on the climb a bit. Grant also suffered a puncture and stopped to grab a quick pump in the feed zone.

At the bottom of the descent and start of lap 3, Tim McBirney from Mike’s Bikes attacked, so I went with him. I just sat on his wheel, since I knew he had a teammate in the break, so me doing any work would be silly since I would be basically giving Mike’s a perfect breakaway.

On the climb, we were joined by Ryan, Gavin, and two more Mike’s riders. We rolled turns the rest of the lap.

On the lap 4 climb, Gavin started putting in some digs, which I was able to follow but my legs were definitely starting to feel it. At the top of the climb, the group was reduced to Tim, Ryan, me, and Gavin. After the climb, we started to catch some members from the original breakaway.

After the lap 4 descent and start of lap 5, Ryan started to put in some digs and I was unable to follow. I got shelled from the group as did James Yang from Dolce Vita, who was in the original break, so we worked together for the rest of the climb and on the flats at the top. He would drop me at one point on the flats, and I worked solo for the rest of the race.

Overall it was just a super grueling race. It was a good test of endurance, nutrition planning, ability to conserve energy, and mental toughness. Ultimately us each getting flats and having to chase back on didn’t help, but I think we learned a lot.