NC Gran Prix UCI - Hendersonville, NC - 5th

I'm still a bit upset over the result today, or maybe it is just the race in general. The course, as I predicted, was too easy and with the wind blowing hard on all the wide open sections it turned the cross race into a local criterium with the men with numbers - FiordaFruita winning out.

The hard sections weren't hard enough to split the field and the ensuing wide open sections were just to, well, wide open. The corners were not hard enough to yo yo the field at all so everyone followed wheels and looked at each other all day until finally late in the race John Hamblin attacked while 9 of us watched him ride away. Everyone just looked at each other and no one chased until it was too late.

I actually crashed in an off camber corner with 3 laps to go and had to chase to get back on (ever heard of that happening in a cross race, getting back on that is???) Well I did make it on but just as the attack was going so I was to clapped out to go with the move. We all rode around looking at each other for another 1.5 laps and then went super hard to the finish were I wasn't aggresive enough to move up further even though I wasn't suffering at all and came in for 5th.

I really hate races like that when everyone looks at each other all day and no one wants to make it a rac but what are you supposed to do, they were chasing everything down and then sitting up!
Tomorrow the course will be changed, maybe for the better and maybe not, but you can be sure I'm going to make it interesting and if I have anything to do with it, it isn't coming down to an 8 man sprint!!


Elite men

1 Jon Hamblen
2 Bart Gillespie
3 Jed Schneider
4 Michael Cody
5 Tristan Schouten
6 Brent Bookwalter
7 Charlie Storm
8 Jason Tullous
9 Russ Tiles
10 Dan Timmerman