This weekend was the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross, which was being held in Louisville for the second year in a row. I am glad that the races were close because both of my races started at 8 in the morning, which meant that the sun had barely risen when we started.
I was racing Cat. 4, which is the lowest level, but had by far the biggest fields. On both Saturday and Sunday, there were close to 100 people in my races.
Getting a good start in cyclocross is critical to having a good race, especially in fields as large as the ones I was facing. Unlike last year, when I had just signed up the day of the race, I pre-registered this year and it made a huge difference in where I started on the line. Last year I was in position 70 out of 75 riders, this year, on Saturday I started in around 18 place (starts are not single file or anything like that, but they are done by rows), so on Saturday I started in the 3rd row and today I started in the 2nd row.
Both courses on Saturday and Sunday were well laid out and fit my riding stregths a lot more than the first race I did this year. I got a good start on Saturday and started to work myself up through the field, which I was glad to be able to do, because I kept here sounding of bike carnage behind me as people piled up at turns or obstacles.
Of the two races this weekend, my race on Saturday was better, as I worked myself into the top ten and ended up the day 6th overall. It was the best I had done in quite awhile and it was nice that Kate came to watch me along with our friends Cat and Charlton.
Sunday's race was okay, I felt that I was racing well, though I knew that I was not doing as well as I did on Saturday, but I was still feeling competitive. Unfortunately, on the last lap of the race, I went down hard in one of the sand traps that was on the course and took down at least 3 other riders with me. I quickly got back up, but found that the crash had broken one of my spokes, at least 4 people had gotten ahead of me, and my handlebars were sticking out at about a 45 degree angle to my tire. I finished the race, but ended kind of limping into the finish, it is really had to sprint on a busted wheel and funky steering. I still ended up 14th which was not a bad result at all.
After the race on Saturday we went out to breakfast with Cat and Charlton, and found this old Ferrari parked across the street from the restuarant.
2 comments:
congrats, luke, on your races from nashville, tn. you got some great pictures. looks like you had some great weather for the races.
I rode my bike on Monday (a holiday after school festival) but no top ten finishes for me...just a leisurely spin around Tsukuba. Congratulations!
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