Copperopolis '07 Report- Jon Ardell

In Copperopolis I attacked the first big hill and got a solo gap. A
group of 7 including Krage caught me on the flats and we worked
together until the same hill on the 2nd and final lap. I attacked
again and got a gap with one other guy and that gap was bridged by
Krage but again we got caught by the other 5. The 3rd and final
attack was initiated by Krage on the flats with about 15 miles to go.
I bridged it right away and it was on, 2 against 5!! In the end it
wasn't close. With 10 miles to go on a straightway we saw them
gaining on us and we decided to pour it on until we were out of view
and I think that may have crushed their spirits.

With 5 miles left on a small hill after a particularly strong pull
Krage asked me to slow it down a little bit. At this point I was
thinking of the finish and how it suited him more than me so I just
flat out asked him-- "i don't mind slowing up but will you give me the
victory if I do?" He didn't say a word but when he came around to
pull I knew that it wouldn't be a gift from my teammate on this day, I
was going to have to earn it. In typical Krage fashion he spoke about
a minute later to the topic- "i really want this one", he said.

Perhaps its best that we will never know what might have happened for
next came the unbelievable, Krage pulled over to fix a flat with about
a mile to go!! I yelled at him to ride the goddamn rim if necessary
but he wasn't having it. I got aero and decided I needed to finish
strong and get the win for the both of us, which I did by a large
margin. I still sprinted the finish just to get used to it...

Miraculously Krage managed to pump up his tire enough to finish the
race without getting passed by rider #3, but he finished just a few
feet ahead to keep it very exciting indeed.

Another highlight of Copperopolis was being congratulated by the
legendary Rob Anderson (who won last years Canadian National and the
World Mountain Biking Championships last year) and his teammates in
the Master 1-3 category who Krage and I passed during our breakaway
(they were slower because they were doing 3 laps). Rob and his buddy
Mick actually yelled my name as we passed them which was an
inspiration at the time. Also the 5 that had been in our lead group
much of the day all took a minute to congratulate me, and a couple of
them said the words we all want to hear- "you were the strongest man
today, Dude". Nice.

With this victory Krage and I are both looking forward to upgrading
and racing with the big boys in the 1-3 class! Yikes.