Cooperopolis Road Race March 26, 2005  The Copperopolis race was held in the Sierra Nevada foothills. On the start line for McGuire/Langdale was Pat Dunaway, Roman Kilun, Zac Walker and Matt Dubberley. The rest of the field contained many of the top regional pros and amateurs. Sierra Nevada and Webcor sent strong teams. CSC’s Dave Zabriski was there as well. The race started fairly easy, though we lost Zac to a mechanical and Pat to a flat before the race heated up. After 5 miles, the attacks came hard and fast. McGuire/Langdale was down to just Roman and Matt. The Jacques-Maynes twins (Webcor+SierraNevada) broke clear at mile 7 and rode furiously building a large gap. The tactic for McGuire was to have Roman sit in and follow the strong men on the hills. Matt was to attack non-stop to keep the pace high and try to bridge to the leaders. After attacking several time and being in countless breaks, the race was half over and the two Jacques-Maynes were still about a minute ahead of the pack. At this point Matt was blown so he told Roman to get on his wheel through the cross-wind section. He would put the field in the gutter, and ride until catching a break or blowing up. Here is where the plan failed: CSC’s Zabriski saw their move and immediately started an echelon directly across, allowing the entire field to get a nice draft. A minute of rest and Matt shoots out of the pack and rode solo for several miles until being caught by Jacques-Maynes at the front of the race. The two of them led the race until the last lap where they were caught by a break of Zabriski, Wholberg, Larkin, and two Wabcor riders. Jacques-Maynes was dropped right away and left Matt in the break of 6 racing for the win. On the last ascent of the long climb Matt's chain broke and that was it. A few minutes later Roman was riding solo (racing for 6th). Two minutes behind him, another lone rider going for 7th. The rest of the pack had given up and was way behind. 9 Roman Kilun