Perseverance

     The first race of the year is in the books for me. It felt good to be back on the road traveling somewhere. I really enjoy the traveling part of racing. It just feels good to me to be on the interstate blasting along with some bike destination in mind. I love all the stress and anticipation that comes with racing. The planning, the late-night packing after work, the going over the bike three times before the race, the holding of the bladder on the drive, the constant fuel mileage calculations because the fuel gauge in the car is broken. Those are all things I look forward to.

     It was a beautiful weekend for the races in Union City, GA. We drove down on Saturday morning for an afternoon circuit race. We arrived a bit later than normal after getting stuck in some traffic in Chattanooga. Union City is just southwest of Atlanta. It really isn't a bad drive for us, taking just over four hours to get there.

     The circuit race was advertised as a crit. on some fliers and a circuit race on others. I wasn't sure what to expect. The course map showed 0.99 miles in length, so that meets the distance criteria for a crit. Shannon was excited because we were racing at the back of a big mall. Oddly enough, it was named the Shannon Mall. Well, she wound up disappointed by her mall as it was closed. Actually, it was abandoned.

    I got in my warm-up on the course and on the trainer. It was super windy, with gusts blowing 20-30 mph at times. The course was sort of horseshoe-shaped. It had 6 turns, all right-handers. We began on a false-flat straightaway that gently curved left, straight into the stiff wind. Three turns followed the front stretch before a long, straight back stretch that was downhill and had a sweet tailwind. A 90-degree turn followed the straight where the course then turned uphill for a short climb through the final two turns. Then it was back onto the front stretch into the wind to complete the lap.

GPS of the race course. Race direction was clockwise.

     I was surprised to hear we were using circuit race rules. That made no sense to me with the course being so short. I guess they didn't want to deal with having a wheel pit and doing free laps. Our Pro/1/2 race was scheduled for 60 minutes. We started a bit late due to trouble getting the annual Mayor's photo completed on the course. They pulled a big fire engine out onto the front stretch by the finish line and had the townspeople and riders stand next to it for a picture.

The Mayor's photo

     We had a few over 30 riders on the start line. There were four Pro riders there so things were sure to get ugly. And they did. I started on the second row, but had trouble getting my foot in the pedal and dropped back right away. Riders started attacking before the first turn and a break had established itself by lap 2. The UnitedHealthcare of Georgia team had missed the break. I knew once they got across, this break was gone in windy conditions such as this. All the other big teams had a rider ahead. A UHC rider attacked at the end of lap 2 and I attempted to bridge with him. He gapped me, but I put the power down and stayed close to him. The gap to the break was huge and I couldn't hold his pace all the way across. I looked down to see 191 on my heart rate monitor. I had told Shannon I wouldn't go with a break in the first 20 minutes. Blew that plan!

Pro/1/2 group on the backside of the course

First lap breakaway

More riders join the break

The group heads down the long back stretch

     I had to drop back for fear of blowing up. The group was chasing hard and I went right to the back. I almost got dropped at 12 minutes into the race. The pace was furious and guys were popping. I had to close several big gaps to stay on the back. This is where I could see an improvement from last year. I am way stronger and now able to sit in the wind for a minute to close a gap.

     I struggled until about 25 minutes in, when the pace finally slowed. We were averaging 24.9 mph at the halfway point. The break was long gone now. After 35 minutes we got lapped by a Hincapie/BMC rider who had jumped off the front of the break. He went straight to the front of our group and upped the pace. Our average speed had dropped to 24.6, but he single-handedly brought us back up to 24.9 mph. I was having trouble doing the back-to-back accelerations up the hill and then again out of turn 6 into the wind of the front stretch. I finally got gapped at 42 minutes and fell off the main group. The pace blew the group to pieces. I was out by myself like a lot of other guys who got dropped. Most of us got lapped a second time. Since it was a circuit race, we were not pulled. But it seemed as though only some circuit race rules applied as groups on different laps were allowed to work together and we were not forced to complete the same number of laps as the leader. I didn't get the rules, but I did two extra laps after the race to make up for me being lapped twice.

Two riders alone in the closing gaps

Another small breakaway group. The wind really tore the group to pieces.

Me in the group.

2 laps to go for me.

One of the breakaway groups sprints for the finish

     I was recorded as 26th out of 27 finishers on the results. I was disappointed and frustrated. It was not the way I had wanted to start my year. I was pleased to see some positives like being stronger into the wind and seeing higher heart rates, but I thought I should be able to finish with the pack and better than 26th. I felt like I had worked too hard this off-season to still finish in the back. I guess my time hasn't come yet and there is still some more persevering to come before I finally catch my break.

Video: Pro/1/2 Men at the Union City Mayor's Race Circuit Race

     Shannon and I chilled in our tiny hotel that night after driving a lap of the road race course. Our room looked like it was likely a closet at one time. It was so small! We watched Skyfall, the latest Bond movie before hitting the sack for the night. We were up early the next morning. The road race started just a few miles from the hotel which was very convenient for us. I had no expectations after the circuit race failure. The distance for Sunday was 73 miles. I was tired and expecting to get hammered. I didn't even put extra wheels in the wheel truck because I was expecting to get dropped and be behind the truck. We were to do three laps on the course. I was hoping to make it through the first lap. I told Shannon to only expect me to hang for one lap with the group, but I would still do all three laps even if dropped early.

Road Race Course was an out-and-back with a loop at the end.

     I did a slow warm-up since my legs were tired. That was not good as the pace was wide-open the first 2 miles. We were rolling 34 mph at one point in the first mile. Things finally slowed down before the first big hill at mile 5. I was worried about being dropped here, but managed to stay on the back of the group. The pace was fast, but I was ok holding on the first lap. It was a chilly morning, but the sun quickly brought the temp up into the mid-70s for another beautiful spring day. A 9-man break went away at mile 9 and was never seen again. Our chase group was whittled down to 20 by mile 20. A group of 6 then got away from our main pack at mile 25. They quickly built up a 2-minute lead as we started lap 2. I was thrilled to be in the group and was content to let the breaks go.

Pro1/2 Men on the line

Pro/1/2 start

Lead break near the end of lap 1

Two chasers

What's left of the main peloton in the Pro/1/2 Men after lap 1.

     Chasing commenced by the Hincapie/BMC team. Over the course of the second lap, they pulled the 6 riders back. I was feeling good now, even taking a few turns at the front around mile 44 as we started lap 3. The chase continued for the first half of the last lap. We cut the break's lead down to 1:30, but then they began to pull back away, beating us by 3:00 at the end. Our group started attacking again with 16 miles to go. This time I was active at the front, jumping across several gaps and making sure I didn't miss a split. I was getting better and the others were getting tired. I had no muscle burn. Then came the twinge of a distal hamstring cramp. I was in denial at first. I couldn't really be cramping with this little bit of fatigue could I?

Cat. 3 group

Cat. 5s

Me on the front of the main peloton nearing the end of lap 2

     Three small hills awaited at 4 miles to go. That was my last worry spot. At least that's what I thought. The wind split the group about 2 miles before the hills. I was at the back after dropping my chain briefly. I missed the split! I attempted to bridge, but the cramp showed its ugly face. At first I only cramped at the top of the pedal stroke. I rode through it for a minute as I pulled myself closer to the group ahead. Then the cramp worsened and locked up my left leg. I poked the cramp with my finger to maybe get it to relax, but it wouldn't let go. I started pedaling with the right leg only, but I couldn't do it fast enough to catch the group ahead. I was caught by the chasers, almost getting dropped right away as the cramp still had my leg locked up.

     I finally got a chance to stretch and the cramp subsided. And it never came back. I rode at the front over the last hills, then took advantage of my course pre-drive the night before. My group missed a turn and I made it. I yelled at them, but they didn't listen. Everyone there seemed to think they knew how to go, but none of them did. We had all missed a turn early in the race as the course was poorly marked. Well, my knowledge of the course helped me get away from my group and I even caught the group ahead, which had split into some smaller packs. I outsprinted a few guys on my way in, taking 16th. I was happy with that. That's not a bad result, especially in a race where I expected to be dropped in the first 20 miles. And my legs felt great at the the end. If nothing else, I have endurance this year! We averaged 24.5 mph for the 73 miles. I topped out my heart rate at 186 at mile 5. Not bad for tired legs. I even felt good on the drive home, having a lot of energy left to unpack once we got home. My legs were tired, but my entire body was not. Sometimes I get home totally drained.

Video: Finish clip of the Pro/1/2 Men's road race

     It's been a crappy week. The weather has been rainy and cold, and I've been really busy at work. Good thing is that this is my rest week so I didn't need to ride much this week. Tomorrow kicks off my next block of training, this time with short, intense intervals and sprints. And of course some racing. I'm on the fence about what to race. I had planned to race Chickasaw on Sunday, but the weather looks like it will be a mud-fest. I just put a new drivetrain on my mountain bike and I really don't want to destroy it on the first ride. The Hell of the South Road Race is tomorrow morning and I am leaning more towards it. The forecast is for rain tomorrow too. It looks like Chickasaw may be a muddy mess no matter what the weather brings on Sunday morning, so I may take my chances with an early race tomorrow and hope the rain holds off until we get in our 78 miles. I'll make the call in the morning. Now it's off to bed to rest up for whatever the weekend ends up bringing me.

This Is Now

     The season is upon us. I am writing this just one day before my first race of the year. Tomorrow we head down to Union City, GA for my first ever try at the Union City Mayor's Race. I'll be doing the crit. tomorrow afternoon and the road race on Sunday morning.

     I am excited to race, yet nervous at the same time. My off-season preparation has gone about as good as anyone could hope for. With the time that I have to train, and with the weather being as crappy as it has been lately, I am very pleased with how my training has gone and feel that I am about as good as I can be right now without turning into a full-on bike hermit.

     My training has been almost entirely on the road or trainer this year. I have mountain biked a whole three times this year, with two of those happening this week. It's just been too wet or muddy to ride the trail. I toughed out a lot of cold road rides in January and early-February, but the past two weeks I have been on the trainer mostly due to rain and/or snow almost every day in some form or another. I've heard a lot of people talking about how this has been a warm winter, but those are the people who have been sitting inside on their couch watching reality shows instead of living for themselves. This winter was not the worst one I have trained in by any stretch of the imagination, but it was worse than the last four or five. It has made me really earn my mileage this year.

The only time the snow accumulated this year was barely enough to cover the grass. Here's our little house all dressed in white.

The back of the farm looked like a white tundra across the fields

The ground was warm where the dirt was exposed, but the snow did stick to these gum balls.

Looking into the woods at snow-covered trees.

     The trainer has been somewhat enjoyable I will have to say. For the first time in my life, I rode the trainer with purpose, not just logging time, but doing workouts. I finally accepted that the first two weeks of my intensity block were going to be inside or not at all. It was either put out on the trainer or be slow come race time. I have put in quite a few interval workouts inside and I can feel a huge difference. Some of the best triathletes in the world say that there is nothing like a good trainer workout to improve power and fitness. I'm starting to believe them. I have learned to settle into a hard pace, pushing a bigger gear than usual and just suffer like a dog. No downhills available for recovery. Just good, hard work for the entire ride. It's been a good time to catch up on all the early-season races in Europe. Most of the races get posted on YouTube right after they happen.

Shannon on the trail on one of the warmer days this week

Shannon crosses the creek on our backyard trail

A dirty Snoop running for the trail

     My heart rate has always been lower on the trainer due to weakness in my legs. I could never sustain the pace needed to give my heart a good workout because my legs couldn't keep pushing the gear on the trainer without a break. That would explain why my time trialing has always sucked. My previous best heart rate max was 184, set several years ago during a Spinervals video workout. I went a few years without even getting close to 184, then I hit it twice last season. Both of those times came within a week and both were while warming up for races. I then hit it again this January during my first interval session of the year. Last week, the record was finally broken. I first cranked out 185 on my seventh of ten 3-minute intervals during a workout, then broke it again with 187 on the eighth rep! I was so pumped! Two days later I hit 185 and 186 during intervals.

    So the question became how would all these numbers carry over to the road? Well, first let me talk about my road heart rate values. I have been unable to get into the 190s for a max heart rate the past two seasons except for one race in 2011, where I hit 191 and took 2nd. In the past, hitting 190+ in the finish sprint has been good for me. In 2010, I cranked out a max of 193 six times, which resulted in three wins (including the Cat. 3 Road Race State Championship), a 3rd, a 4th, and a 5th place. Not too bad of a streak! I would gladly take a top 5 right now just to get some momentum going. I cranked out 191 during a group ride the other day when I attacked on a hill and soloed for a few miles off the front. The local group has been giving me heck so far this year since I usually ride 20-30 miles of hills before I join them, but the training appears to be paying off now as I still did the distance, but smashed them on every climb this time around. I have a 51-mile loop through some very hilly roads that I have been using for my race-simulation rides. I knocked 19 minutes off my best time last week on a windy day. Things are looking good, but it'll take a few races to really shake out where I stand after the winter.

Geese in the pond.

Snoop on the dock keeping a look out for a fish using my phone. I dropped a phone while on the dock a few weeks ago. It sank good. Like an anchor.

     One more thing to mention about training. I've dropped two more pounds, putting me lighter than last season, almost as light as I was after getting that nasty stomach virus last March when I hadn't eaten in three days and was dehydrated. I hate salads, but the green is helping with the lean. My core is also much improved now thanks to continued yoga and adding in TRX. I made my own TRX strap and have been doing full-body workouts 2-3 times a week. Of course, I'm hitting the glutes hard. I'm far from strong in them, but I'm a ton better than last year. I know I haven't mentioned glute training in a while, but I'm still working on my own glutes as well as developing programs for athletes at work. I'll post more about this soon.

    On another note, I figured out part of the reason for my lack of motivation last season. It was definitely stress, mostly due to work. When in school, I used stress as a tool to ride harder and more often. Riding helped me let off steam. This work stress was different. It was frustrating and made me feel hopeless at times. I didn't recognize it at first, but now I see it. We made some management changes at our clinic and that has helped tremendously. It's hard to work for a boss that's only out for himself. Getting rid of that boss relieved a lot of my stress. It also put me in a position to possible rise up in the clinic and take on some new responsibilities. I thought I wanted this. I worked my butt off the past few months to prove I was ready for the job. But it has gone unnoticed in many ways. It was back to frustration and the feeling of hopelessness for a while before I realized that it just wasn't worth it. I've decided I like just being a PTA and treating patients. More responsibility is not what I need under my current supervisors. We have already had several misunderstandings and disagreements caused by their lack of communication and setting of unrealistic goals. I want to just do my job and go home, where I can spend ample time with Shannon and more time on bikes. One day I want to rise up and direct  my own clinic, but today is not that day and neither is tomorrow. Stress is still there every day as we continue to have problems in our clinic, but I have identified it now and I won't let it defeat me again. This is now! This is the time to concentrate on my dreams and passions and go for them. I'm going for my goals today. I'm no longer planning to improve myself, I'm improving myself today. How can I change tomorrow if I can't change today?!

     I've been a home-body for the most part, just tooling around the yard during my free time and occasionally doing some fishing in the pond behind the house. I saw two concerts last month on back-to-back nights in Nashville. First night, Dina and I went to Marathon Music Works where we saw a heavy-metal show including Shadows Fall and one of my favorite bands ever, Hatebreed. I doubt Dina really knew what she was in for! We had our eardrums blown out and left strutting like a rooster. Hatebreed just makes you do that. They have some of the most motivating, butt-kicking lyrics and riffs around. The last line of the paragraph above was from one of their songs. As is this blog title. If you ever need a good kick in the pants, just play some Hatebreed really loud. They'll remind you to stop being a girly-man and go after whatever it is you want in life.

     The next night, I took Shannon for a hard rock show when Sevendust came to town. It was my third time seeing them and they continue to put on great shows. They are also one of my favorite bands, so I got to see my two favs in two days. Lacuna Coil and Avatar opened for Sevendust. I didn't know much about Avatar, but after hearing them live I have really taken a liking to them.

     That's all for now. Sorry for the long delays between updates. I've been spending more time training than on the computer so the blog has been pushed to the side. I'll post race updates though so be on the lookout because the season is NOW!

World Championships

     For the first time ever, the UCI Cyclocross World Championships were to be held outside of Europe. It was announced more than two years ago that 2013 would be the time that cyclocross expanded to another area of the world. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't shocked when the official word came that the race would take place in the United States. I would also be lying if I said I wasn't pumped to hear that it would be held a mere three hours away from my house in Louisville, KY, at a venue I have punished myself on. How cool is that?!!! The big names in cross racing on a course I have raced on. And in a year that the legend Sven Nys is contemplating retirement  It would likely be my only chance to ever see him in action. It was almost too good to be true!

     2013 seemed so far away. I was expecting to here that the UCI rethought their decision or that sponsors fell through and the race would be moved. The latter almost happened after Exergy failed to come through with promised sponsorship funding, but some US sponsors and USA Cycling stepped up to make it happen. After a long, long wait the week of Worlds finally came for the Bluegrass State...

     I had bought tickets for Shannon and myself long in advance to ensure we would be there watching the best fight it out on the banks of the Ohio River. We had booked a hotel room in town as the races were to cover Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend in February. The schedule was for the Junior Men and U23 Men to race Saturday, with the Elite Men and Women following on Sunday.

     Mother Nature brought forth a crazy week, starting warm with lots of rain and even the threat of tornadoes, followed by a temperature crash that froze the course and even left it with a thin layer of snow. All the precipitation caused the Ohio River to begin flooding, threatening the race course by Friday. Crews were brought in to survey the scene. They built dams and pumped water off some areas, even throwing gravel and wood chips over low spots in the course where water was starting to bubble up due to the high water table below. The Ohio continued to rise and by lunchtime on Friday, it was clear that the mighty river would overtake the course by Saturday evening, flooding half of the course including the team and VIP areas before race time on Sunday. The decision was made to condense the schedule, to run all four events on Saturday before the flooding got worse. I got the email of the schedule change while at work and scrambled to cancel my hotel room. They actually allowed me to cancel with no charge. Dina was even wanting to go now that it was a one-day event, so she bought a ticket and planned to ride up with us.

     The day's events started earlier than we had planned for. We departed the house at 4:30am on Saturday in order to get to Louisville in time for the Junior Men's race. It snowed the entire drive, getting quite slick on the roads as we hit Louisville. A couple of inches of snow piled up on the course before the first race. The temp was low so it kept the ground frozen and the course very fast. It was cool to walk through the team area and watch the riders getting ready. Some countries had just a Budget rental truck for their riders to put equipment in. Some had their trainers set up in the back of the truck to stay out of the cold wind and falling snow. Other countries brought much more, like Canada, who brought a little hut with a generator to keep their riders warm. Most countries had a single truck full of equipment, but Belgium had three! They brought with them an astonishing 66 bikes and 140 sets of wheels for their 20 riders. That's why they are king of cross.

     It was still hard to believe it was really going to happen until the first start gun went off and the Junior Men came screaming by us. The course was a fast one, especially with the frozen surface. The pre-race favorite Mathieu Van der Peol dominated the race, but the real action was watching the crowd supporting the American kids. This was definitely the best race of the day, with battles going on all over the course and the crowd being very vocal in their support of the home team. Chants of "USA!" rang out all over the course.

Junior Men come out of the first turn

I'm guessing this guy is a Belgium supporter, what do you think?!

Chopped up snowy descent

The Swiss overtook this corner at the bottom of the rock ledge run-up

Van der Poel out front on lap 1

     Logan Owen had a great ride for Team USA, slicing his way through the field to get into a five-rider war for the final podium spot. He battled two Belgians, a Swiss, and a Czech rider for the last three laps. Owen moved to third, then fell, then caught back up. He made some daring moves, but not all of them paid off. He wound up just missing the podium in fourth. It really was an awesome race to watch. I'm glad I was there to help cheer on a future star of American cycling in what may have been the best 40 minutes of the kid's life.

Silver medalist Martijn Budding.

Logan Owen

Owen and a Swiss rider run the ledges

Owen just couldn't shake the Swiss rider

Another US rider

Video: Junior Men Highlights

     Between races, we people watched. We saw all sorts of costumes. Every American hero or superhero ever was on that course somewhere. We saw Uncle Sam, George Washington, Evel Knievel, a fat Captain America, and even Miss America. And a big gorilla beating on a plastic bucket like a drum.

     The Women's race was a bit disappointing. The crowd never really got into it. Katie Compton was our American hope. Her biggest rival, Marianne Vos, is one of the best cyclists in the world. She has won numerous World Championships on the road and in cyclocross, and even took the Olympic Road Race title last year in London. She's a beast and was definitely the favorite. But we hoped Katie could give her a run, especially since she would be on home soil. Katie got behind early and by the time she worked her way through the pack, Vos was long gone. She soloed nearly the entire race to win yet another world title, while Katie had to settle for silver. I like Vos and thought it was cool to get to see her in action first-hand, but I was pulling for Katie today. But hey, second place at World's isn't a bad day by any stretch!

Elite Women underway. Lucie Chainel-Lefevre snatched the holeshot.

Vos already prying open the gap on her teammate Sanne Van Paassen

Vos

Chainel-Lefevre on frozen sand

Katie Compton

One of my favorite riders, Sanne Cant, had an off-day today.

Vos on a steep descent

Vos running up the ledges

Vos with a huge lead

Young American Kaitlin Antonneau

Two Americans and a Belgian on the run-up

British hopeful Helen Wyman was caught up in a crash on the opening lap and played catch-up the whole race, finishing in 13th.

Video: Elite Women's race

     The sun popped out at the end of the Women's event. The course began to melt almost instantly. The mud began to show through the white snow making the course turn to a what looked more like a pigpen than a bike course. It was classic cyclocross conditions! There was a long practice intermission between the Elite Women and U23 Men's races. That gave us time to stroll through the pits and sponsor area. Clif Bar was the popular tent. You were not allowed to bring in any outside food. Clif was giving away their Clif Builders protein bar. They couldn't get the boxes open fast enough as the people were getting hungry and fiesty. We also got to see the river up close. The crews truly were the only reason this event happened. They kept the water out of the course all day long.

The Ohio River was getting close. We actually used these trees as part of the course at the USGP race here in 2010, the last time I race here. Good thing they weren't part of the Worlds course.

The river was really close to the edge of the course here. Normally it wouldn't even be in sight from this vantage point.

The temporary dam was doing it's job. Without this, an entire section of the course would've been submerged before the first race ever started.

     Also during the break, we watched the Elite Men making their practice laps as they began their warm-up. We saw a lot of the big dogs from Europe for the first time, including Sven Nys, Niels Albert, Kevin Pauwels, Klaas Vantornout, Lars Van Der Haar, Bart Wellens, Francis Mourey, Martin Bina and more.

The pit was a happening place all day long.

A Swiss rider warming up on course.

Martin Bina warming up, fresh off his World Cup win in Hoogerheide, Netherlands just two weeks before.

Ryan Trebon

Defending World Champion Niels Albert

Nys practicing a tricky off-camber section

Nys didn't make it through the slick off-camber mud. His team manager was there to provide advice as needed.

Nys cleans it after a few tries.

Bart Aernouts

Tim Johnson

     The U23 race started slow. Pre-race favorite Wietse Bosmans of Belgium got out front early. He survived the chaos that ensued on the slick, off-camber parts of the course the first few laps. We moved around a lot during the first two races, but the crowd was growing and now we had to post up in one area for long periods of time just to be able to see anything. We ended up on the fence along the toughest off-camber part, seeing multiple crashes and some great mud skills on display. The race ended up being exciting as Dutch rider Mike Teunissen came from behind to get the win. He fell early, then settled down in the top 5 before making a charge in the latter half of the race. He moved to second, then bridged across to Bosmans. Teunissen then dropped Bosmans on the final lap to take the win. It was a great comeback.

First lap of the U23 Men's race

The Green Monster was back for Worlds

The early leaders on the slick off-camber hillside

Lots of chaos behind the leaders

This Czech rider got into some trouble on the first lap

Bosmans out front

An American gets up after a fall in the mud

Mike Teunissen struggled early, but rallied back to win

Bosmans had an interesting technique here. When in doubt, drag your bike.

2nd and 3rd place riders chasing Bosmans halfway through the U23 race

Teunissen used the fencing to help keep traction as he ran. The color matched his Dutch jersey.

Two Frenchmen riding this difficult section.

The American guys let it all hang out, but it didn't always work out for them. Here's one on the ground.

This guy made the turn...

...then slid out. It was a really greasy section.

Teunissen has now caught Bosmans with a few laps to go.

Bosmans

Video: A few clips from the U23 Men's race

      The crowd was huge by the time the Elite Men's race arrived. We were standing in a big crowd at the top of the second muddy run-up on course. Our crowd was full of people from all over the world. One second we were surrounded by Canadians. Another second, it was Swiss and Norwegians all around. Then we would be standing next to Belgians who were out in force to cheer on their beastly team of cyclocross superheros.

     I'm a huge Sven Nys fan. I always have been a fan of his since I first learned about cross. He just seems to be a hard-working and hard-racing kind of guy and I can really appreciate that. I wanted him to win today, especially since he was talking of retiring at the end of this season. Nys is always fast in the early season races, winning the majority of them. But he never seems to have the perfect form needed in late-January and early-February to take the World Championships. He won it a few years back, but one win doesn't seem quite just for such a legend of the sport.

     The American crowd was super supportive of every racer out there. Of course the Americans were cheered for the most, but Nys had quite a few supporters in the crowd as well. The Belgians were dominating the front as expected. The Elite Men are so fast and so aggressive. It's sort of unreal to watch them power through the mud. By now, the was almost completely gone from the course. It was downright treacherous on some of the off-camber areas.

The crowd was big by the time the men hit the course

Bina leading on the first lap

First time up the ledges

Trebon starts the run-up

     Francis Mourey slipped away for France early on, but the Belgian train pulled it all back together. The triple threat of Nys, Klaas Vantornout and Kevin Pauwels took charge midway through the event. Pauwels had a mechanical that took him out of contention, leaving Nys and Vantornout to battle for the coveted rainbow jersey. Vantornout made a few bobbles at the ledge run-up the final lap and that was all she wrote. Nys got a tiny gap and then poured on the coal all the way to the line to get the win. It was an exciting finish and one that just made my day! I'm so glad I got to see one of the best bike racers of all time win a World Championship title. The Americans didn't fair extremely well. Jonathan Page was top 10 for most of the race, but a mechanical took him back to 22nd at the end. Tim Johnson was the top American in 19th.

Standing by some Belgians as Francis Mourey comes by off the front on lap 2

Pauwels in pursuit of Mourey

Nys remounting

Lars Van Der Haar with Niels Albert just behind

Jonathan Page

Bart Wellens

Trebon and a French rider

Mourey led for several laps before the Belgians caught up

Pauwels at the top of the ledges

Thijs Van Amerongen

A very muddy Jonathan Page

Bart Aernouts

Ruts everywhere

A German rider tackles this set of muddy ruts

The lead pack after Mourey was caught

Van Amerongen

Trebon

Page

Jeremy Powers

Nys leading with 2 laps to go

Van Der Haar got on the podium in 3rd

Bart Wellens moved up throughout the race, eventually taking 4th

The snow began coming down again the last few laps. Jonathan Page is chasing here after his mechanical.

J-Pow on the last lap

Video: Elite Men's race

     We were directed a different way for our long walk back to the car. We ended up walking past our parking lot because we couldn't see it over some mounds of dirt. Then we got turned around again trying to get on I-65. It was a mess getting out of there, but overall I think it was a great experience. The City of Louisville did a great job getting things ready and the fans showed just how much we like cyclocross over here in the States. Having all the races in one day was better in my mind. It was non-stop action all day long. And it was a good thing that all the racing was held Saturday, because nearly the entire park was underwater on Sunday. Here's a pic from Sunday looking down on the same area where I took the crowd shot just before the Elite Men's race.

     You can watch the full race videos in English here:  Juniors    Elite Women    U23 Men    Elite Men

     I thought it was quite entertaining to see people stealing the directional signs off the light poles on the way out of town. Any object that had anything to do with the event was being taken home as a souvenir. I would have loved a souvenir, but a sign for "Wrist Band Re-Entry" is not what I want to take home and hang on my wall. Maybe I'm weird.

     I look forward to more big Pro cross races in the U.S. and hope we get a World Cup soon. I loved being a spectator, but I hope I never do it again. Next time, I want to race! Click here if you want to read race reports written by real reporters over at CyclingNews. There's an awesome video posted here if you want more.

     This whole thing makes me want a cross bike so bad. Time to start saving pennies for a new bike!