Race Report: 2024 Copper Valley Circuit Race - Men’s Cat 3
Race: 2024 Copper Valley Circuit Race - Men’s Cat 3
Date: February 25, 2024
AVRT racers: Drew Mathews
Top Result: Drew (12/15)
Course: A 2.75 mile out and 2.75 mile back stretch of road with nice pavement. Generally flat with undulations contributing to an overall uphill on the way out out and downhill on the way back, with the finishing straight coming after a slight downhill. Our race was held at 60 minutes long, and we ended up doing 5 laps.
Strava: Copper Valley Cat 3
Nutrition: I had some oatmeal at home before driving out to Copperopolis in order to give myself a three-four hour window to fully digest before the race. I had a packet of rice cakes 1.5 hours before the start, and a maple syrup shooter 30 minutes before the start. I had another maple syrup shooter halfway through the race, which was a mistake - I felt sluggish for 10 minutes after downing it.
Recap: (written by Drew)
I had a weekend to forget at Cantua and Pine Flat, and I was hoping to gain some confidence and fitness racing in the 3’s at Copper Valley. I had a good week of training leading into the race and was excited to race in nice, sunny weather on a really nice stretch of road.
The field was composed of 15 riders, including two from PenVelo, two from Work Health Solutions, and two in green jerseys from Sacramento (Sacramento Golden Wheelmen?). Mitchell from VeloKings was marked as the strong rider in the field, capable of making a breakaway stick or sprinting to victory. My plan was to conserve energy in the first half of the race and look for a late breakaway, and if the group stuck together to the end, I’d see how my recent sprint workouts would pay off.
Attacks went from the very first lap, with Mitchell leading the onslaught. After several attacks from Work Health, PenVelo, and the Sacramento team were all brought back, Charlie on PenVelo got away solo. The peloton held him at less than 30 seconds for the first lap, and he slowly grew his lead as the race went on.
Not many bridge attempts went in the middle third of the race. I was feeling good and had saved energy compared to others in the first half of the race, so I decided to try and bridge going into the last lap. I got a 5-10 second gap going through the finish line. A Work Health rider and a Mike’s Bikes Dev rider bridged to me, but the three of us were caught by the pack in the start-side turnaround. I tried to bridge again halfway into the last lap, but I was immediately covered by Leo, Charlie’s teammate on PenVelo. Feeling the aftereffects of those two efforts, I dropped back to prepare for the sprint.
A Work Health rider led the pack into the sprint. I was toward the front but flanked by riders on either side of me. I felt good standing out of the saddle in the drops and went to sprint after we hit the 200 m to go sign. This bunch sprint was pretty novel for me - I was in the middle of a pack of over ten riders going close to 40 mph, each rider going all out for the line. I didn’t make up any spots, and even got passed by some riders close to the line. I learned that guys in the 3’s can really sprint, and having a leadout is really helpful at that level - Mitchell won the field sprint and both a Work Health rider and Sacramento rider were in the top 5.
I was happy with how I raced - I was feeling strong, took risks towards the end of the race, and tried my best in the sprint. This race is a really good one to learn race craft, being that it’s one of the least technical races on the calendar. I learned that to be successful in the 3’s, I really need to be on my game. Another takeaway I have is for creating separation from the pack when trying to bridge or breakaway - having a run up is key. On my first bridge attempt, I started towards the back of the pack, allowing me to accelerate up to speed by the time I passed those on the front, making it much harder to chase me down. On the second, I grinded in a hard gear at low cadence from the front of the pack and was easily followed.
I am a big fan of the Copper Valley Circuit Race. This was my first race of two on the day, and I could have done three. The 3/4 race was one of the most intense races I’ve been a part of in terms of team strategy, and I learned a ton from that race. The course is really well paved, and the little village was fun to hang out in between races.
-Drew