Race Report: 2011 TBi Copperas Cove Classic Road Race

Photos by PhotoWolfe

Team Bicycles, Inc, puts on one of the first road races of the year just outside of Copperas Cove, about one and a half hours north of Austin. In its 11th year, the event is a well-oiled machine, with a large support crew and a lead and follow car for each race. Hundreds of cyclists from all over the state show up to put their winter training regimen to the test on a 54-mile or 83-mile loop (depending on category) through rural, rolling central Texas farmland.

Last Saturday, January 22, the weather was surprisingly balmy, warming steadily through the morning and into the 50s by race end. Predictably, it was windy – in this exposed terrain, you can rest assured that whatever breeze you're getting, you're getting all of it. ATC's three embedded reporters (yes, they ride among you) give you the inside scoop on the Pro 1/2/3, Women's Open, and Men's 5 races.

Pro 1/2/3

A field of 100 rolled out onto the course at 10am, with roughly 10 pros, including 2009 British National Road Race champion Kristian House, multiple New Zealand elite road and time trial champion Heath Blackgrove, and Pat McCarty, member of the Slipstream team that won the team time trial in stage one of the 2008 Giro d'Italia. The race was pretty tame in the beginning, our correspondent from team Bazaarvoice says, with an early move of three going in the first 10 miles. The field stayed together until mile 30, when cross winds shredded the pack and created a big split. A group of 40 remained until they hit the same stretch on the second lap of the course at mile 55. At this point the winds wreaked total havoc, and a group of eight led with a gap of 30 seconds on the second echelon of 20 riders. Our correspondent, missing the break, was stuck in the second group. He attempted a few gallant solo efforts to get across, twice getting within 10 seconds, but in the end lacked the bionic power needed to reach the eight-man posse of international super studs. Despite repeated efforts by the second group to bridge the gap, they held steady at 30 seconds behind for the rest of the race. And a headwind on the rollers heading back into town kept the pack on our correspondent's wheel, who took a flyer with 1k to go, but with the last 500 meters downhill, found himself swarmed at the line. Think our protagonist was discouraged? Au contraire – in Texas there's a race every weekend from February 4 to October 10, and 33 weekday crits in between, so he's just looking forward to the next one. Not to mention McCarty and House are rumored to be heading to Europe soon...

1. Heath Blackgrove, Elbowz Racing
2. Kristian House, Rapha Condor
3. Jonathan McCarty
4. Tyler Jewell, Elbowz Racing
5. Joseph Schmalz, Elbowz Racing

 Women's open

The Lead Women's Open Pack

The women's race was originally scheduled to start with the cat 3/4 men, but with a field of 12, they were able to take off separately. The race thinned out quickly, with a pack of seven duking it out until the very end. Our female correspondent lacks the prestige and experience of our man in 1/2/3 - in fact, this was her first official road race. But, proudly sporting the ATC jersey, she was determined to show that her tri-roots would not prevent an intelligent victory. She forgot the sage advice she had received, however, every time she made it to the front - "The scenery just looks so much better from up here," she was thinking, and also, "Wow, I feel fast." Having experienced a modicum of success in time trialing, our correspondent takes off on a solo breakaway with two miles to go (or so she thinks – we will never know for sure, since the previous day her husband had bought her a fancy fork instead of a bike computer). Her logic? Where's the guts or glory in sprinting the last few yards to the finish for a millisecond victory? Well. That sort of tri-thinking, my friend, is the difference between first and fifth place. Our foolish triathlete, who managed to bolster rather than refute the negative stereotype, was caught shortly after the 1k marker and soundly spanked at the finish line. Congrats to bike stud Jenn Mix of 787 Racing for the victory!

1. Jennifer Mix, 787 Racing
2. Shannon Gaffney
3. Megan Baab, FCS/Metro Volkswagen

Men's 5b

Spot The Dillo in Cat5

There was no shortage of cat 5s – the field was split into a 4/5 (75-participant) and a 5b (50-participant) group. "For those that are new, the term 5b is an old promoter's term, meaning we filled up the first 5 pack (early in the season) and we need another," writes race director Andy Hollinger. "It does not mean the slow 5s or the second class 5s or anything negative...really." This was made abundantly clear by Pink Helmet Man. Now, our ATC triathlete correspondent, also a first-time road racer, had intended to play it smart for his race, as well. But he's not the type of tortoise who'll let a rabbit go, even if that rabbit splits the cat 5bs in half about 10 miles in, and then keeps up the random, grueling breakaways throughout without seeming to ever tire. Pink Helmet Man looks at our triathlete, who had foolishly worked with him on the first futile breakaway, and says, "Hey, so you're one of those tri guys, right?" Our correspondent nods, and Pink Helmet Man smiles. "Well then have at it," he says, gesturing ahead. But our triathlete politely declines. On Harmon Road, Pink Helmet Man and another rider split the group yet again. This time the triathlete has no legs for the chase, so our correspondence abruptly ends. What was the finale at the line? How did Pink Helmet man fare? Post a comment below if you would like to reveal his real identity. And somebody please cat that man up, says our triathlete, who appears, more than 48 hours later, to still be out of breath...

update:Pink Helmet Man is Wiley Mosley!

1. Daniel Ramirez, Cyclone Cycles
2. Arthur Cowsen Jr., Velossimo Racing
3. Wiley Mosley, North American Velo
4. James Perrin
5. Mike Panozzo

As always, thanks for reading! "Like" us on Facebook, and you'll get updates from Adam when the blog is posted. We do race reports, profiles, specials, and more every Sunday/Monday.

All photos are courtesy of Andrew Wolfe Photography. Enter your contact info at PhotoWolfe.com and Andrew will email you when your photos are online.


And now for the correspondent-less categories:

Men's 3/4:

1. David Milham, Nick Lopez Tailoring Cycling Team
2. Grady Hodge, Alchemy Racing Team
3. Frank Cusimano, Dallas Racing
4. Brandon Martin, Team La S'port
5. Kyle Anderson, Wichita Falls Bicycling Club

Men's 4-5s:

1. John Wilmeth, Woodlands Cycling Club
2. Sean Sullivan, Velossimo Racing
3. Alexander Gibson, Dallas Racing
4. Michael Adams, TBarM Camps Racing
5. Richard Linebaugh, Team Bicycles Inc.

40+:

1. Will Ross, Team Hotel San Jose
2. Cord Offermann, Austin Bikes/Revenant
3. Michael Brown, McKinney Velo Club
4. Clay Hobson, McKinney Velo Club
5. Eric Warnsman, Bicycle-Heaven

Complete Results

Copperas Cove Race Report

Here is an inside look at the Cat 5 Copperas Cove Race

We started at 1:10 and it was hot. They said there would be a bottle hand-up, but not until mile 33 so I had three bottles with me. We rolled out very slow and Ryan and I sat on the front and soft-peddled. A few miles in I joked to Ryan that I should take off like I was attacking just for fun. When it came my turn to pull I put in some effort and apparently it strung the group out, so I went off the front. Ryan came out and joined me and they started to chase us so we eventually decided to sit up. The second half was reportedly very windy and we did not see staying off for 45 or 50 miles. We rotated through for the majority of the first half with a couple of faster sections but nothing too bad. Apparently the group was doing a decent job of keeping the pace up though as the group was splitting. At about 25 in a kid went off the front and stayed out there for a while. I bridged the gap and joined him and two dudes followed me. We worked together as a group rotating through for a few minutes but never got in a rythm. They chased us down relatively quickly. At this point our lead group was down to 10 of us. I was pretty much out of water by the time we got to the mile 33 aid station. Took one small bottle of gatorade and a small bottle of water. Drank most of the water then dumped some on my head. That leaves me with a 20 oz bottle of gatorade for 21 miles. Not good. At this point it had to have been 100 degrees and the jersey was open and flapping. We worked together as a group into the crosswind, with the majority of the people just sitting on wheels and Ryan and I and a few other guys taking turns. We were in an echelon across the entire road (no center stripe). The dude in the wheel truck behind us kept honking at us then finally drove up beside us and started screaming at us and calling out numbers and what-not. For the record I was in the right hand gutter the majority of the time. We finally made the right turn for the home stretch, directly into a head wind. At this point I decided I needed to zip my jersey back up. So I sat up with no hands on the bars and tried to zip it up. Huge gust of wind. I really almost fell and took out Ryan with me. As well as some of the guys behind me. Dummy move and the jersey stayed open the rest of the way. The remainder of the ride back in was a death march. I ran out of water with about 10 miles to go as did most eveybody else. The last ten miles were rough but no one really pushed the pace. And very few people worked. there was a lot of sitting up and looking at each other. And dried salty people with white lips. At about 45 miles in I took a turn pulling. I leaned in and pushed a little bit and realized I was going off the front. Then I remembered that Ryan had said we should attack about 10 miles out. So I kept going. Eventually Ryan bridged. I actually believed that we might have a chance. So Ryan gets out to me and as he rides up he gets on my wheel for a bit then I turn and see if he will pull through, he says, "dude I just sprinted all the way from the back give me a sec." We take a few turns and he fell back. I was not far off the front and when I came to the first big hill I immediately decided it would be a sprint finish and I sat up. Fast forward to about 51 miles. I have been near or on the front for a while and figured it was times to drift back. I did not want to be surprised by someone sprinting for the line. Just as I moved back from the second spot to about the fifth spot I could see the cones in the road up ahead, marking 200 M to the finish line - the course was a little short. The pace picked up a bit and the first one to go was the dude on a Colnago. Then an AT&T / Brain and Spine rider made his move to get on Colnago Guy's wheel and I went with him as he was strong. I sat on his wheel as he went past the guy in front and he started putting in his sprint. I sat and sat and sat and pushed as hard as I could and made the move about 25 meters out. Both of my legs were cramping and there was no standing by either of us. I guess I timed it perfectly and I went by him and won by literally a half a second. I was actually a little shocked. Cool. Rough day.
--May