This past weekend was the famous spring Koppenburg Road Race. It is held in Superior, CO, on a short loop that is about half dirt and half pavement. The weather is often poor, the winds always blow hard, and the climb has not gotten any less steep in the last decade. None the less it is a Colorado spring classic and mix1 was a sponsor of the race.
We did not get a summary report from the 45 plus guys, but they had a solid outing. They put 3 guys into the final selection and were in a good place to go for the win, but in the last 2 miles a few crafty riders slipped away and our guys were left sprinting for 4. None the less we put all 3 guys in the top 10 and it was a solid team effort. The team is missing Jimi Gibson this year, but he will not be racing at all due injury. They have also been missing road captain Jeff Oksanko who has been out sick too.
The 35 plus guys started 6 riders and had a solid team on paper, but as it has gone all spring, it just has not worked out real well yet (we know it will eventually). One thing we noticed on Sunday is how much more balanced the 35 plus race is. Gone are the days when Green Mountain would dominate every single race, would put 5 guys in an 8 man break, finish 1-2-3, and the field offered little resistance. For the first time this year there are a whole bunch of strong teams, that ride like teams, and race hard. It may sound funny to say this, but our team is totally thrilled to see the balance, sure it is going to be harder us, but it makes for better racing and we look forward to trying our best. Westside has steeped up their game this year and have been by far the best team in April. Rio has a strong group of riders and is riding well. It seams the Vic's guys are riding more and more like a team and they have had some great performances too. And Lastly the Scion/Map My Ride team has moved into 35 plus with a vengeance from the pro/1/2 field and they present a force to be reckoned with with riders like Espoiti and Sullivan.
In terms of the race the conditions actually made it a less interesting race. The dirt was in good shape, so it was fast, and due to changes with drainage on the hill, the hill was in the best shape ever. On top of that the normally destructive cross winds over the top of the hill were not there this year, a block head wind kept it together and made it easier to chase back on. Things started badly for us as one of our top 3 riders and best sprinter, Josh Barnett, literally flatted out of the race only 1 mile in. As he said "that was $35 not well spent". After that the first 6 of 8 laps were not the eventful. There were some moves, but nothing serious, with the only real issue being guys dropping out with a lot of flats. You really needed wide tires or tubulars for this event.
The 6 time over the Kopp we still had 4 guy in the front group and things were looking good. Then more bad luck struck as our 2nd best guy, Marc Holbert, was taken out on the hill. It was painful to watch, but there was little we could do. As Marc dusted himself off a counter attack finally got away with a lot of strong men and all the main teams represented. We liked the look as we had our best guy in there and for the first time Jeff Hartman, from Westside, was not up there. The break started to get established, but then they dropped the one Westside rider, so their team immediately set about to get Jeff across. We give them all the credit, they made the move, and Jeff got across. That was the end of the race.
The break stayed away and despite some attacking was 5 guys on the last lap (Mike Sutter from Rio, our own Matt Gates, Paul Espoiti from Scion, Jeff from Westside, and Bob Dahl from Rio). Paul Espoiti put in a brutal surge and rode in solo for the win. We are not sure on his exact total, but we think he has won about 80% of the masters races he has entered. Impressive, he is one strong dude. We see the photos of him racing against pro tour riders last summer in Europe and placing top 20 at the Common Wealth Games and we know why! The rest of the break sprinted for 2nd with local power house Bob Dahl taking it, with our Matt Gates in 4th. All in all it was not a bad day with a rider in the winning move, but with some better luck we would have a few more guys right behind him. Hopefully the bad luck is behind us and as the season moves towards some Hill Climbs and Crits, we are confident our time will come. Once again great to see so many team out there racing hard and doing well. 2011 is going to be a fun year in 35 Plus, with good people good teams, and friendly competition.
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