Racin' Circles

It's been a whirlwind since I last updated. Not a spare single second in between Chequamegon, Vegas, and USGP Planet Bike Cup. I'm smashed today, but happy not to be doing a darn thing this week.

It started Monday after the long drive home from Chequamegon last Sunday. A full day of packing bikes, gluing tires, work, doing laundry and finally bed around 11pm. A 4am alarm on Tuesday had Andrea and I on our way to Vegas.

I love the desert, but Vegas is something a little above and beyond Tucson.... We arrived and already the lights, buzzers, and whistles were a little too much for me to handle after a turbulent flight. After we arrived to the hotel I unpacked the bikes and started right away with the aquaseal. A little later it was over to check out the race course. FAST!

Wednesday morning was a trip to Interbike to check out some cool things and go to some appointmetns. Wednesday afternoon was spent finishing up the wheels and making sure the bikes work.

Cross Vegas: The first Cross race of the year always hurts, but not that bad? I had a 3rd row start and wanted to move up on the prologue loop and get hooked up with a good group. I moved up, but instantly paid the price....I was above the red line and couldn't recover in the dry heat of the desert. One guy at a time would pass me and there was nothing I could do...I suffered bad for an entire hour and evenutally finished up with my left leg fully cramped in 26th position.

Back to the hotel by 12:30am, pack the bikes until 1:00am, shower, eat, and maybe to bed by 2:30am for a 6:30am alarm and back on the plane. Home by 5:00pm and straight to the bike shop to unpack bikes and finish gluing my last 3 wheels for USGP.

Friday was the last of the Aquaseal and a quick 45 min ride before work.

USGP #1

I had a second row call up and I was top 6 going through corner number 1.....eventually settled in a group with Troy, Marko, Tristan, and Ryan Knapp to finish 13th.

USGP #2

Same call up, same good start...with the leaders the enite first lap until Troy and I ran the ride up and were gapped off....Tristan came flying by and Chris Jones crashed in front of me and opened a gap....settled with Troy Marko Chris and 2 Giant Strawberry dudes...the group split and I was in the back half....finished 14th after almost crashing into Troy on the pavement with 1 to go.

Overall...happy with USGP weekend. Finishing top 15 without feeling good and being blown out is respectable. Now its time to switch the training from mtb to cross!