USGP Day 2

Not much to say today, I had a horrible race. I had the same number as yesterday so started way back. I had a really good start, probably in the top 15. I held it for a while then started to go backwards. The legs never really turned on and my back was killing me from yesterday. I had taken some ibuprofen before the race and was waiting for it to kick in. Unfortunately, it never did so I had a sore back and couldn't really put down the power. I thought the course was super slow. The ground was moist to be soft enough to just rob all speed. Anyway, ended up 51st.

Rest week coming up so I'll take it easy and recover some and then its Uncle Steve's and Gun Club next weekend.

miles driven: 580

7749

USGP Day 1

Day one of the USGP Derby City Cup has come to a close. It was a great
day of racing and watching the pros race.

A 10:15 start time ment an early wake up. Adam's place is about 20
minutes from the venue so we planned to leave around 7:40 so we could
get there at 8 to get a few laps on the course.

We got to the course at around 8:15, took the bikes off the roof and
headed on the course. Cat4 men started at 8:30 so we quickly took a
lap. The course had dried out a little bit compared to Friday when I
prerode the course.

Afterwards we went and got our fancy RFID chips and started to warm
up. It seemed to get colder as the minutes past but soon the trainer
had me pretty toasty.

Staging time came along and it was time to freeze standing waiting to
go. My number was 252 and they started at 200. And someone else said
they pulled the top 10 in the series and put them in front. Great a
mid pack start position with 100 guys.

We got rolling and it was a fight to simply not get taken out. I was
able to make it through without crashing, getting crashed, or getting
stuck behind a crash. I rode pretty hard in the first lap to pass as
many people as possible at every moment possible.

I got in a good tempo and started picking off guys that had gone too
hard and blown up. I was at one point close to getting into the front
big group but it was a tall task working alone versus a big group.

I slowed up a bit in the last two laps since there was pretty much no
one ahead of me. I kept the pressure on the pedals so no one would
catch me from behind.

I was able to get a solid 19th place. Sure I would have liked a top 10
but considering my start position, I'm pretty happy. We get new
numbers tomorrow so hopefully we get reshuffled to start in finish
order. Otherwise, I will have to be more agressive in the start to get
up into the front group for a shot at the top 10.

On the other hand We went over to Jackie's parents house and had a
fabulous dinner. I can bet that no one else ate quite as nice as we did.

I'm hoping for some good legs tomorrow

Katsu Tanda

Sent from my iPhone

USGP Preride

I arrived today in Louisville, KY under sunny and blue skys. I had
driven through four hours of rain so nice weather was a welcome change.

When I rolled into the park, there were plenty of people there riding
the course. The Cannondale and Kona trailers were already there though
I did not see any of the riders.

The course is pretty similar to last years course so any one that has
done this race last year should have a good feel for it. There are
some tricky changes in there but should make for exciting racing.

The one thing that was a factor is the sticky mud. Not sure if the
course will dry a little but my bike picked up a lot of mud. My tires
especially packed up on the sides. I may take a bike swap halfway
through if I pickup lots of mud so I can cut down 5 pounds. The mud is
very ridable and isn't super slick, it just sticks. I may have to run
to the store and get spray cooking oil or a can of petrolium jelly to
get less stickage.

I am staying with Adam and Jackie this weekend and they are not too
far from the course. We'll be up early so we can get a preride in
tomorrow before the 4's race.

Report and pictures tomorrow.

Katsu Tanda

Sent from my iPhone

USGP This Weekend

The USGP in Louisville is coming up this weekend. I have not had the ideal training leading up to this weekend but hopefully I can do well. I blew off training last Saturday (I had the C2H6O flu), didn't feel well on Tuesday, but yesterday I had a good day on the bike.

Reports on the races as they happen

Cincinnati UCI3 Weekend

This weekend was the Cincinnati UCI3 Weekend, featuring three UCI C2 races in the Cincinnati area. It was a great weekend of fun, hard cross racing. Zach was kind enough to offer his mom's place to stay. Host housing always rocks.

Friday was the Cyclo-Stampede presented by Dark Horse Racing at Devou Park in Covington, KY. This was a brand new venue for the series. I decided to take the plunge and do the UCI race since it started at 5:30pm. I knew I had no chance at this race but gave it ago anyway. To make things worse, it had rained all night and most of the day, making the course a huge slip and slide. Not the best race to make my UCI debut. Most of the course was off camber and covered in mud. There were sections of mud that was 4-6" deep and you just had to run. Think the USGP in New Jersey last year.

One of Zach's teammates offered to man the pit for me and boy did he do some work for me. I was taking a bike every half lap. This race boiled down to who had the biggest balls to just bomb down the slippery off camber slopes. No tire really helped and you probably could have just rode file treads and done just as good as a Dugast Rhino. Someone told me that Jeremy Powers would simply go as fast as he could down the hills, then when he either crashed or had to get off, he would start running. Anyway, I was glad to get lapped and get out of that muddy mess and brought up the rear at 32nd place (however there were several dnfs)

I hope the race does come back next year because we certainly tore up the grounds. The grounds keeper is going to have to till the whole area, smooth it out and spread seed over 3K of ground. That is going to have to suck. Through word of mouth, I heard that the park was about to back out of the race because it was going to get torn up but the Mayor simply said the race is going to happen and they can do whatever they want!

Afterwards, we were invited to a Burrito party at a house nearby the course. Chad and his wife were generous hosts and provided beer and make-your-own burritos! Chad actually graduated from OU so he was giving me some cheers out on the muddy course.

Saturday's race was the Java Johnny's - Lionhearts presented by Queen City Wheels in Middletown, OH. I came to my senses and did the 2/3 race. A third row start and a great sprint off the line got me in really good position. I felt really good during the entire race and was able to get a solid 18th place. I didn't find that out till Sunday but it was a solid ride none the less. In the Pro race, J-Pow got a huge lead from the get go and rode solo the entire race. He was also pleasing the crowd by bunny hopping over the barriers.

Sunday was Harbin Park presented by Biowheels and United Dairy Farmers. This was by far the hardest course. Ok, Friday was super hard because of the conditions but if it were dry or slightly muddy, it was probably the easiest course. Same third row start but I didn't get as great a start as Saturday. The course bottle necked pretty quickly and then we bombed down a hill into a mud pit. I veered off course and lost a whole bunch of spots. I lost the top twenty with my little off course excursion. Then to make things worse, the course bottle necked again when the course made a right hand turn onto a hill side. Lots of people hopped off and ran it. Then a long uphill straight into an uphill sand pit. After the sand pit, I rode like a mad man trying to make back as many spots as I could. Wound up 36th. Not the result I was looking for but it was still a good race. But I did beat everyone that would give me shit if they had beat me so all is good.

I am currently undecided what to do next weekend. OVCX #6 is in Bloomington, IN but its a long haul to get there. A 6 hour drive for one race. Or I can do the Bike Authority race in Willoughby, OH but that's a 4 hour drive. Or I can stay at home and go drinking because its Homecoming weekend.

Miles: 470
YTD: 7169

Ouch! Cross hurts!

A whole lot of hurt this weekend racing. Another two day weekend with Cap City #1 on Saturday at the Alum Creek beach, and OVCX #2 at Fisherman's Park in Louisville, KY.

The Cap City race was windy, wet and muddy. A quarter of the lap was wet and slick. The Reynolds did their job that day helping me cut through the mud pretty easily. Andy decided to make us do a Le Mans start, making us run to our bikes for the start. I pretty much lost the race there. I had lots of room to cover but I was able to make contact pretty quickly. But as soon as I made contact, there was a bottle neck and we all had to stop. Well, we all bunched up, I was in the back and it just accordioned out. From there it was a hard solo effort for the next 50 minutes. I did slowly pick off people as the race went on. I was in the hunt for a Panther/RGF rider for the last few laps. He was always 10-15 seconds in front of me and I slowly reeled him in. With 2 to go, I caught a sight of Matt Weeks, the eventual winner fast approaching from the rear. Not wanting to get lapped, I turned on the jets. In the process I caught and rode past the Panther rider and even almost caught the 10th place rider. I settled in for 11th and was pretty happy with that. If I had a better start, I would have placed a lot higher.

Sunday I drove down to Louisville for OVCX #2 at Fisherman's Park. They screwd up the start order and did the top 5, then reverse order of registration! So I started in the back row. I stayed in contact until one downhill with lots of ruts. I had to go wide and came off the group. This could have been avoided if I pre-rode the course. To sum up the course, it was HARD. There was rarely a flat stretch of ground. A lot of the course was off camber, up hill, down hill, head wind, etc. The pain was turned up to 11. I motored along and started to feel better at around 20 minutes. I reeled in some riders and had my sights on three more just ahead. One of the guys dropped out while I started to fade in the last two laps and never caught the other two. Ryan Knapp also came out to race and simply dominated the race. He put in a sizable gap in the first few laps and just cruised to the finish. He lapped me at 3 to go.

I certainly did not feel like I had super legs on Sunday. Felt pretty flat through most of the race but I'm happy I kept at it and finished the race. I finished last but 6-7 others didn't make it to the end. 18th place.

The drive home was worse than the race itself. I felt like a horse kicked me in the stomach. Then I got chills, hot/cold, cold sweats. It got so bad that I had to stop driving and I pulled off on the side of the highway because I couldn't see straight. A few minutes later I hopped back in, went to the first gas station, used the bathroom and took an hour grimacing in pain/nap. I finally made it home at 11pm.

My fitness is coming along. I wished I would have done a bit better but I did lose about a week of training when I went to Interbike. It was not unexpected that I would race a little flat. This weekend is three days of racing. I'm going to get utterly destroyed at the UCI race on Friday and then the weekend I'll race 2/3 and try to finish near the top.

Miles; 600

YTD 6699