Zabriskie at Copperopolis RR (NorCal)

[Morgan Fletcher]

Did the Copperopolis RR in Northern California, USA Saturday. There's a big
climb once per lap, and the road surface is so bad that we call it "our
Paris-Roubaix". As my group (master 35+ 4/5, yeah, yeah) was climbing the
hill on our 1st lap, a CSC rider came flying by with John Hunt and another
couple 1/2s in tow. I later learned it was Zabriskie. I heard he took 2nd
to Tim Larkin. They did 105 miles, five laps. This course is vicious, 21
miles feels like 42. Another rider told me Dave's here for TdG and to visit
his girlfriend at UC Berkeley.

Anyway, that was cool. Otherwise I had a ****ty race. But hey.

Morgan
--
Morgan Fletcher, Oakland, CA, USA

[Tom Kunich]

I remember riding down that drop at the far end of the course, doing
about 40 and dodging a hole about 3' in diameter and 2' deep as a car
came driving the other way. Great memories but MAN! what a hard race.
Wish I'd been up there on the climb to see Zabriskie.

[[email protected]]

Copperopolis is the only (USCF) race I ever won. The course suited me
and I liked the heat. I was cat. 3 at the time and the win bumped me
to 2. Can't remember the year exactly - '82 or '83. The next year it
was an Olympics trials qualifier IIRC. I rode but being a weekend
warrior, I wasn't able to stay with the big boys. I'm glad to hear
that the race still carries on.

[ODH_Bikes]

I was in the 1/2 race...well for just over a lap anyways...I wish I could say I flatted, however that was not the case. I think only about 15 1/2's even finished..if that. Literally half the field flatted, the other half (this is the half I was in) just plain got shelled.

**** hit the fan on the up and over on lap 2 (or so I hear...I only made it to the up..and not quite the over)...the Jaques Maynes duo attacked and quickly built a lead of over 2.5min...till Ben double flatted and left Andy all alone out front. That didn't last long as the wind was picking up and Andy, however aero, could only elude the swirling headwinds for so long.

Race finished in a 3 up sprint lead out by Zabriskie, and eventually won by Sierras Tim Larkin...3rd was Wholberg.

This is clearly one of the hardest local races in Northern California, you don't win this race by accident.

Tons of good pics @ www.abbiorca.com

[Tom Kunich]

"ODH_Bikes" > wrote in message
...
>
> I was in the 1/2 race...well for just over a lap anyways...I wish I
> could say I flatted, however that was not the case. I think only about
> 15 1/2's even finished..if that. Literally half the field flatted, the
> other half (this is the half I was in) just plain got shelled.
>
> **** hit the fan on the up and over on lap 2 (or so I hear...I only
> made it to the up..and not quite the over)...the Jaques Maynes duo
> attacked and quickly built a lead of over 2.5min...till Ben double
> flatted and left Andy all alone out front. That didn't last long as
> the wind was picking up and Andy, however aero, could only elude the
> swirling headwinds for so long.
>
> Race finished in a 3 up sprint lead out by Zabriskie, and eventually
> won by Sierras Tim Larkin...3rd was Wholberg.
>
> This is clearly one of the hardest local races in Northern California,
> you don't win this race by accident.
>
> Tons of good pics @ www.abbiorca.com

One year I was riding up the climb and passed a guy in a complete LA
Sheriff's kit walking and with tears in his eyes. That taught him not to
show up with a 23.

The pictures of that climb don't do it justice. But if you look at
http://www.abbiorca.com/bike/road/road2005/copperopolis/index.html you get
an idea of the road surface and the road width. YIKES!

Although there was some decent pictures on the climb (I would have been on
the outside of the top of the hairpin) there wasn't anything at all of that
awful dropoff of about a mile before the finish line. The surface there was
so bad one year that there was only spots of pavement here and there. It was
a good thing that the under layer was compacted gravel or base rock or
something that was about as good as the asphalt.

[Mark Fennell]

"Tom Kunich" wrote:
>
> One year I was riding up the climb and passed a guy in a complete LA
> Sheriff's kit walking and with tears in his eyes. That taught him not to
> show up with a 23.
>

1. A 23 is plenty for Copperopolis.
2. No real LA Sheriffs rider was walking up the hill because he only had a
23.
3. The tears in his eyes were probably from the pervasive cow-poop stench.

[Philip W. Moore, Jr.]

That road looks strikingly similar to some of the stuff out here in the
Texas Hill Country.

There's a ride from Boerne to Luckenbach with several roads like that. But
my fat Fred ass uses a 25 on rides like that!

"Tom Kunich" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> "ODH_Bikes" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > I was in the 1/2 race...well for just over a lap anyways...I wish I
> > could say I flatted, however that was not the case. I think only about
> > 15 1/2's even finished..if that. Literally half the field flatted, the
> > other half (this is the half I was in) just plain got shelled.
> >
> > **** hit the fan on the up and over on lap 2 (or so I hear...I only
> > made it to the up..and not quite the over)...the Jaques Maynes duo
> > attacked and quickly built a lead of over 2.5min...till Ben double
> > flatted and left Andy all alone out front. That didn't last long as
> > the wind was picking up and Andy, however aero, could only elude the
> > swirling headwinds for so long.
> >
> > Race finished in a 3 up sprint lead out by Zabriskie, and eventually
> > won by Sierras Tim Larkin...3rd was Wholberg.
> >
> > This is clearly one of the hardest local races in Northern California,
> > you don't win this race by accident.
> >
> > Tons of good pics @ www.abbiorca.com
>
> One year I was riding up the climb and passed a guy in a complete LA
> Sheriff's kit walking and with tears in his eyes. That taught him not to
> show up with a 23.
>
> The pictures of that climb don't do it justice. But if you look at
> http://www.abbiorca.com/bike/road/road2005/copperopolis/index.html you get
> an idea of the road surface and the road width. YIKES!
>
> Although there was some decent pictures on the climb (I would have been on
> the outside of the top of the hairpin) there wasn't anything at all of
that
> awful dropoff of about a mile before the finish line. The surface there
was
> so bad one year that there was only spots of pavement here and there. It
was
> a good thing that the under layer was compacted gravel or base rock or
> something that was about as good as the asphalt.
>
>
>

[Bartow W. Riggs]

They don't call it "The Paris-Roubaix of California" without reason. My son
won it last year in the 3's

http://abbiorca.com/bike/road/road2004/copperopolis-4-10-04/best/index.html


and was totally shelled this year when the Jacques blew the field apart in
the 1-2's...

Bart


"Mark Fennell" > wrote in message
news:uTp2e.15784$Mt5.5087@fed1read01...
> "Tom Kunich" wrote:
>>
>> One year I was riding up the climb and passed a guy in a complete LA
>> Sheriff's kit walking and with tears in his eyes. That taught him not to
>> show up with a 23.
>>
>
> 1. A 23 is plenty for Copperopolis.
> 2. No real LA Sheriffs rider was walking up the hill because he only had a
> 23.
> 3. The tears in his eyes were probably from the pervasive cow-poop stench.
>
>

[Bartow W. Riggs]

third from the bottom on the left


"Bartow W. Riggs" > wrote in message
...
> They don't call it "The Paris-Roubaix of California" without reason. My
> son won it last year in the 3's
>
> http://abbiorca.com/bike/road/road2004/copperopolis-4-10-04/best/index.html
>
>
> and was totally shelled this year when the Jacques blew the field apart in
> the 1-2's...
>
> Bart
>
>
> "Mark Fennell" > wrote in message
> news:uTp2e.15784$Mt5.5087@fed1read01...
>> "Tom Kunich" wrote:
>>>
>>> One year I was riding up the climb and passed a guy in a complete LA
>>> Sheriff's kit walking and with tears in his eyes. That taught him not to
>>> show up with a 23.
>>>
>>
>> 1. A 23 is plenty for Copperopolis.
>> 2. No real LA Sheriffs rider was walking up the hill because he only had
>> a
>> 23.
>> 3. The tears in his eyes were probably from the pervasive cow-poop
>> stench.
>>
>>
>
>

[ODH_Bikes]

Hey Bartow,

I know Eric, he killed our entire cat 3 squad last year race after race, it's great to see him holding his own in the 2's...how old is he...17? How long did he hang on Sat? I first met him on the podium @ McClain Crit last year in the 3's, I thought they called me up w/ the juniors because 1st and 2nd were both under 18! (Clint Rogers 18, Eric Riggs 16, me 26.) This was the theme all season long.

Everyone take out a pen and write down these names...these kids know how to ride bikes, I am surprised they are not on a UCI 3 teams already....

Eric Riggs
Clint Rogers
Daniel Holloway
Adam Switters
Shawn Rosenthal