JUST a bit outside!

The first round of the USGP series is over.....and I was "just a bit outside" of a top 10 both days. It started off with an early morning rainy, wet, cold ride on Friday. Andrea, Elicia and I then showered and loaded up the trusty Hyundai and headed to Indianapolis. We hooked up with BVDG swapped cars, and headed to Bloomington for some awesome (free) accomadations with Bennett's family.

Saturday morning it was a quick drive over to Champions Park for day 1. Elicia did her first Elite UCI and just missed out on a money spot. Andrea loved the course, but didn't race. My race was good. I had a solid warm up, good preparation, and a second row call up. The gun went off and I was instantly in the mix. After a lap I settled into a group with Driscoll, Wells, and McGrath. I was pretty happy...another lap down and McGrath was gone and we were catching A.J.M. and Chris Jones. As soon as we caught those two in a sandpit Wells and Driscoll were gone and I was stuck behind Jones and AJM. The gap opened instantly and the rest of the race I pulled around those 2 racing for 10th. They both beat me...lesson learned. DAY 1: 12th place!

Sunday morning we were back at it..... and with more Superfans in attendance(thanks for making the drive mom & dad!). Elicia again narrowly missed the $$$ and Andrea again really wanted to rip through the sandpits mtb style, but didn't. I again was in the mix at the start.

But this time it didn't last quite as long as McGrath and Jones tangled half way through the first lap and the lead group was formed. I was on the wrong side of the mishap and found myself once again racing for 10th place. This time I played the waiting game and let others do the work.

After we caught Trebon with 3 or so to go Marko took a good pull. With 2 to go Chris Jones pulled through and with 1 to go I took the lead in 10th. Just before the Green Monster with 4 corners to go Marko snuck by for 10th and I was 11th.

All in all it was a great weekend of fast racing. The course was smooth, flowed great, with lots of Kentucky Blue Grass. The sand pits and the Green Monster kept everyone honest. The Trek XO2 rode solid like always and the Easton's held great lines in the sand pits. A huge thanks to BVDG and Tony 'Wild Thing' Wagner for hanging in the pits.

A huge thanks Gear Grinder, Trek, Easton, Hyundai, and Crank Bros for the support. A huge thanks for all the cheering I received out on the course....I might as well have been racing in Sheboygan! And to the biggest SUPERFANS of all Andrea, Mom, and Dad I couldn't do it without them.

Oh You think so....NO don't forget we were traveling with ELICIA so the story doesn't stop here....after we downed the necessary drugs to make it back alive.....

We hit the final home stretch. College Ave Park N Ride where we planned to drop off Elicia so she could head back to Madison. Unfortunately; Cherry decided to Bomb. So we didn't escape the weekend without drama after all. 1:00am dead car not cool, but plenty cold. Right now they are driving back to Milwaukee to try and fix the car...good luck guys!