Copperopolis

(Riley runs away from the ocean)

Sooo . . . Copperopolis! My dad's been telling me about this race for years, long before I had any inclination to race it. He remembered the bad pavement (he popped two tires and cracked a rim on the descent) but greatly underrepresented the climb. Ouch. Honestly, I've climbed so little this year and have been feeling woefully inadequate in the climbing department. But, it wasn't that bad. Okay, yes, the climb was hard, and I almost had to get off and walk on the last lap, but for the first two it wasn't that bad. I was at the front going up it the first time. Trying to set a pace that would keep the real climbers from getting bored but wouldn't destroy me in the first 10 miles of the race. And it worked! We shed a couple of people and the pace was kept fairly high going around through the flat stuff (which isn't actually very flat). Then the pro 1/2 men caught us on the gnar descent and it was utter chaos. Girls got dropped because they were slowing up a little bit to let the men go by, who were weaving in and out of us with a general disregard for the sanctity of life. After all was said and done, going into lap two we were down to 7. About halfway up the second climb three girls put the hammer down. I couldn't hang with them, but three of us kept the gap pretty small. We worked pretty hard to catch the three off the front, but to no avail. Anyway, the last lap was pure hell, but it was lovely out there and all in all I was happy with my race. I think I ended up 7th. I lost two spots on the last lap, and I was sorry to see 6th slip away because I would have won like, 5 bucks.

Cody makes me a sandwich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and I eat it. Wow, what exciting photography.

Other note on Copperopolis: Salt Springs Campground is sweet. We rolled in there to see just one other couple. They were sooo happy to see us - they were expecting some sort of Copperopolis Chainsaw Massacre during the night, and they were glad we'd be there to hear them scream. But really, other than the dude on the 4wheeler spraying some weird pesticide on the irrigation ditch, it was a really nice place to camp, and the lady who runs it was super friendly. Also, I was the only Bella in the 3s, but happy to see so many others out there riding strong in their respective categories, and also coming out as support.

Anyway, we headed down to Santa Cruz after the race - myself, my dog, and my guy. We met up with my very dear friend (since we were 6!) and her man, who live in San Francisco, and camped and ate food and beer and cookies. Next day we went for a walk on the boardwalk and introduced the puppy to the ocean. He like it until a wave knocked him over, then he kept running toward the water and running away from it as the waves came in. Later in the afternoon me and Cody went up to UCSC and checked out the trails there. It was way fun. We seem to have a knack for finding the gnar stuff, though, cause the first descent we rode was the sketchiest thing I saw all weekend. But we got in a couple of loops out there and it was way fun, and then we got ice cream. The next day we headed out to Demo for a big day of riding. I've only ever ridden there when it was slimy and slippery, so it was a different sort of ride with the dust. Again, hella fun, followed by a long drive back to Reno.