This weekend was the US Grandprix of Cyclocross stop here in Louisville. It is the single biggest cross weekend in the area, and there is racing on both days and this year was the muddiest year so far. I raced both Saturday and Sunday and by the end of both races was completely covered in mud and grime.
Saturdays race was one of the hardest cross races I have ever done due mainly to all the mud. Like the last two years, the races were held on an old golf course, so the courses were pretty flat. My race Saturday was okay, not a great race, I finished 28th on the day was content with that as I did not get that great of a starting position.
On Sunday, though I did have a better starting position and got off to a pretty good start, but crashed about a quater of a mile into the race when I wiped out on a ditch crossing that was filled with mud. The course had dried off a little bit from Saturday, though there were still lots of muddy areas, and I also learned that it is just as hard to ride through day old mud as it is to ride through fresh squishy stuff. After my crash, I thought that I was going to end up somewhere in the 50s, but then I heard a spectator yell at another race by me that they were in 29th place. By the end of the race I had moved up to 19th, even with another crash on the last lap.
Mom, Dad, Britta, and Matt were all down this weekend, so the four of them, along with Kate and Sam came out to cheer for me both days. On Sunday, we came back to watch the professional women and men race. It was amazing to see how talented and fast they are.
But far more exciting for us, was the Halloween costume contest that they had on Sunday. We brought Sam's costume along and dressed him (he is a pirate for those of you who don't know), and he got picked to be part of the contest, and he won. He even got his picture (well, sort of) on
cyclingnews.com, a major cycling website. This was far cooler than any of my racing from the weekend.
I took some videos of the races, and will post somethem soon.
