U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross, Round 1

Today was the first round of the USGP series, in Louisville, Kentucky. I travled out here w/ ProMan/Paradigm racer Rachel Lloyd to be her mechanic. She's making a full-time comeback to cross this season after previously making 2 trips to europe w/ the national team at the world championships.

We got a room across the river in Clarksville, Indiana...so that's 2 new states on this trip i've not been too before. The motel is about 10-12 mins from the course, making it pretty convinient. They've got a hose that i can use as well, but i only had 1 bike to clean today and did it at the course. I feel bad for the guy that's working for VeloBella this year...he had a ton of bikes to clean and i was done in like 5 mins! Since it's only Rachel and I, we don't have a lot of stuff w/ us when we travel...no canopy, no bike stand. Just the 2 bikes and some tools. Erik Wallace of Thule was very cool and offered us the use of his set-up, so we have a place to hang out that's covered. He's got a coffee machine in the trailer so there's always fresh stuff to keep us awake.

Rachel got a little pinched at the start and was just inside the top 10 on the first lap. She managed to make her way past some riders pretty quickly, and got up to 6th by the halfway point. Katie C was long gone off the front, and the first group was Alison S, Lynne B, Wendy S, and Kerry B. Georgial caught them and hung for a lap, and then rode away on her own after Katie. Kerry ended up coming off and Rachel got by her and that was where she ended up.

In the men's race J Powers go the win to continue a great start to his season, w/ Tim Johnson in second. Wicks got 3rd and Ryan finsished in 4th. Here's a couple of pics from the mens race...