Gloucester and Providence Reports

Photo: Niki Cyp

The last two weeks have been full tilt for me. Since USGP Madison I have spent as many days traveling and racing as I have at home and it seems like everything is happening way too quickly.
Following the weekend of USGP Madison I flew out to Boston for the Gran Prix of Gloucester (pronounced Glaaasta if you're fromt Baaaaston) and had a great time out there. We stayed in great place right on the coast in Rockville, MA, had some fish n chips and raced bikes in the sun and rain.
The fields this year have been a little bigger and a little more stacked and it seems like everyone has upped their game a little bit. The racing has been tight and I feel I am riding pretty good right now, but maybe not at my very best. I think normaly I would have finished a little better even riding how I am, but this year it seems like 3-4 guys I normally beat when I am good, are beating me 50% of the time and a few new guys are now competive too. I didn't have any huge results in Gloucester, but I did improve on my races from Madison quite a bit and my legs felt a lot faster and up to speed. I think I was 12th and 9th, probably raced better than those results but I'd rather be a little more aggresive and lose a spot or two than passive and just ride to the finish.

Following the 3 day trip to Gloucester I had a quick flight home and a full day of work on Monday which turns into a really long day. Not being able to get home and relax has been a bit tough, since by Tuesday I am already trying to plan out the following weekend but I still have dirty laundry from the last weekend. So, last week I had 3 days to turn around and fly back to Hartford, CT where I stayed with my CT host house Family and race the cyclocross race in Providence, RI Sat and Sun. I have been staying with the Pulvers since 2005 when I first stayed there during my east coast cross campaign of 2005 and 2006. That was also the first year CX nationals were in Providence and I think the first year I went to CX worlds. Anyway, I always have a great time with them and the racing went better as well. Saturday the course was tacky and fast. I had a decent start but never saw the front of the race. I ended up riding in the 2nd group the whole race which was fighting for 5th place. I made a pretty hard move with about 3 to go, but I wasn't able to break the group down any smaller and in the end it hurt me more than helped. I suffered a bit the last lap and ended up last in the group for 11th, but still my best C1 result this year.

Photo: Cyclingnews.com

Day 2 seems to go better and again this week it rained pretty good for about 3hrs leading up to the race so the course was super slick and technical. I felt totally comfortable letting the bike do what it wanted underneath me and eventually worked my way up to 5th. I was riding pretty comfortably with Ben Berden (Clement/Raleigh) when I pitted for a clean bike and that is a bit when things starting going backwards a bit. Bike #2 had too much air and Iwasn't comfortable on it at all. I switched back to bike #1 but lost Berden in the process and maybe a litle steam. Yannick Eckman caught me and I rode with him a lap but lost him as well. I should have pitted again but decided mentall I like the bike I was on despite it being super heavy and I rode it out the last 3 laps. I didn't really notice it but Driscoll was coming up on me the last lap pretty fast and I was still lugging my heavy bike around. He ended up getting me with about 300 meters to go and I ended up 8th. In hind sight I should have pitted more and kept taking light clean bikes, but mentally I kept thinking I liked how I felt on the bike I was riding and just stayed on it.

This coming weekend I am heading out for round 3&4 of the USGP in Ft Collins, CO. It's good that there is no races on my schedule the following week because as much as I love traveling and racing, I feel a little out of breath and need more than 3 days at home to reground myself, get in some decent rest and training, and spend some time with the girls. After that, it will be full tilt again for another few weeks, but cross season is short relatively and it will be over before you know it.