USGP

As Tristan likes to say, "Your only as fast as your last race."

I wasn't super motivated to do a post race USGP blog update because I was a little disappointed with Sundays result and according the T's theory I was still #1 in the blogosphere with my Chequamegon update!

Day one at the USGP. I wasn't sure

what to expect. I hadn't done a cross race in 9 months. I had only been over a home made rope barrier during one day of training. I had only been on the new Norcross SL a handful of times.

I opted for a conservative star

t. I think at the end of lap one I was near 30th position. I started feeling good a

nd easily moved through the field. Midway through the race I had just bridged a huge gap to Barry Wicks. Unfortunately there was not a sole in site when I caught Barry. I was pretty gassed by the time I made con

tact. In the last half of the race Barry and I caught Ryan Knapp. I attacked with 2 to go trying to reel in Troy who was sitting 10th. I ran out of pop and finished 13th last in our group, but in the UCI points.

I was the luckiest cross racer of the weekend after the race when I rolled back to Elicia's house about 4 miles away from the course. Andrea made me an awesome dinner and Elicia hooked me up with a little back rub! I was ready for day 2.

Day 2 started a little early w/ some SuperFan action watching some friends, Bruce & Wally, Elicia, and Mike kill it in their respective races. A little lunch and next thing you know I was on the start line again.

I started much better and was in the mix over the barriers on lap

1. A half lap later the race went bad. Luke K missed a pedal at the top of the run just ahead of me and a 4 second gap opened. 12 guys were up the road and I chased for an entire lap with the gap at 4 seconds. Luke K was winning the U-23 race and had no interest in helping chase the big boys. Ryan Knapp was there, but not strong enough on day 2 to help. The elastic snapped. I was in no mans land and pretty dissapointed. A couple laps later solo I had to sit up and wait for the next big group to catch. Once again it was Barry bridging up with Luke Keogh & Ryan Knapp, Van Nuffel and McGrath. As soon as they caught I went hard again only to put 20 feet on the group. I was feeling strong, but I missed the race on lap 1. With one to go I attacked and shattered our group. At the end only Sean was able to sit on my wheel and he got me on the last run up. 14th place

All in all a good weekend of racing, but I know I have more in me. The bikes were awesome and with a little fine tuning of seat position & bar position I should be ready to go for the UCI3 in 2 weeks. Thanks to all who helped in the pits, all who cheered, and all who took photos. It's going to be a good season!

Monday morning we dropped a big tree in our front yard....it was almost as intense as the GP!

This morning I stacked 80 lb tree logs. My biceps hurt!

Thanks for reading and huge props to Colt from WWW.CYCLINGDIRT.ORG for making it real!