Derby City USGP

What a great weekend of racing! I came, I pedaled, I suffered. REALLY suffered. Saw the highest HR averages I have ever seen and definitely woke up my anaerobic system after a long summer slumber of ultra racing. Louisville is a great city and the USGP series is top-notch. I was happy to be a part of it all and was pleased with my performances.

Lip glued to teeth in agony...must be cross season.

I knew going in that perhaps going into a USGP with no UCI points was a questionable decision, but hey, a gal's got to start somewhere, right? I got hooked up with some great host housing in Louisville (thanks SO much Meredith!), travel was easy and Nate got a miles ticket to support me in my first big cross race of the season, so all I had to worry about was riding myself into the ground.

The only real shocker was the weather and air quality. Highs near 80s, smoke filled skies from a forest fire burning to the south and DUST. Kentucky is in a severe drought right now and riding in the pack was like breathing from a vacuum cleaner hose turned onto blow. Gross.

I had to draw numbers at registration because I have no UCI points. I pulled 31 for Saturday (out of 40). Ouch. I thought "okay, it can't get any worse"....then I pulled 35 for Sunday. Double ouch. 4th rows...no fun.

I love this photo b/c of the number layout
(both photos by Dave M. @ trailwatch.net)

I headed to Saturday's start motivated and ready to suffer. And boy, did I suffer. But, somehow I moved up from my 4th row start to the top ten within the first lap. Partly because of luck-I managed to stay out of the crashes in the first sand pit and generally rode like a lunatic to get up to the chase group as soon as I could. Then it was just a test of survival. I think I got as high up to 8th at one point, but I was so completely blown from the chase effort that holding onto 10th was as much as I could muster out of my diesel engine. But to me, 10th felt amazing-I got a point!

Sunday was more of the same. A deeper call up, with a little less luck. Again, I turned myself inside out to move up through the pack on lap one, but luck didn't go my way. I got caught behind a big crash in the first big sand pit and lost some ground and although I actually felt better than the day before, I felt like my legs were putting out less power. I had fought my way up to Mo's wheel in 10th place with less than 2 laps to go. Sweet. We approached the long sand pit with me glued to her wheel, downshifting and accelerating so I could ride the first part of the pit when she suddenly slowed and dismounted before the pit started so she could run it. It caught me totally off guard and I overlapped her going into the sand and crashed. That little gap was all she needed to slowly pull away from me, eventually besting me by 13 seconds. I finished somewhat disappointed in 11th. No point for me :(

Overall I was stoked with the weekend. Now's it a week of training and visiting friends and family in Colorado before the Boulder Cup this weekend.