Louisville

Photos: Cyclingdirt.com

I've felt pretty tired the last two days since Louisville USGP. Lots of driving and hard racing added up a little the last two days. Overall the weekend was ok, I had what I would consider decent races but not great. Not bad either, but not really what I was hoping for I guess. This year the course seemed to be a lot more power pedaling on grass with very little for technical or decisive areas. It was also really windy both days and the ground was hard so it was very bumpy and I'm coming to discover I don't do as well on these types of power courses versus the courses with elevation and more drafting, turning and speed changes.

I tweeted how I was a little disappointed in having to start 3rd row and that did have some to do with my racing I think. I had what I would consider bad starts both days and partly that was due to myself but also due to how I believe these courses are set up. I haven't done a USGP yet where the leadout is more than a couple hundered feet long before going straight onto the course and I think this has to change. It is great if you are front row but anything other than that and you are completely blocked off 15 seconds into the race unless you really want to start taking risky moves and putting people down. If you watch Belgian racing sometimes they are riding down the road for a minute or two before they even touch the course. This allows everyone to move around, single out and establish position going into the course. Every USGP I have done is basically a short sprint to the first corner and there is no real chance to move up from there. No one from the 2nd row has even come close to getting the "Avid Shorty Hole shot prime" which basically proves my point and that is not fair for the rest of the riders.

From here it's on to Jingle Cross in Iowa after Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to these races. The family will be coming along so I'm hoping the weather isn't too bad like some years but it will be a fun experience and Ellie hasn't been a bike race in a while. Hopefully some good training this week and enough rest and I'll be ready to go for 3 days of racing. I'm hoping to have the SSC Mud tires glued by then to test out on Mt Krumpit since that always seems to be muddy and slippery and I havn't had a perfect tire for it yet but this might be the one. I'll post some pictures when I get them on.