I generally like to write things in chronological order, but as the time spent on photography has increased my time for writing has decreased. Somehow I missed writing anything about the first day of the USGP race.
We arrived in Sun Prairie on Friday night later than we had planned (traffic), but still with enough time to check into the hotel, and head to SP for a few loops around the course. The course started out virtually identical as to what I remember from last year, but the back half was more than a little bit different. The approach to the Hillside Strangler involved an extra trip from the bottom to the top before dropping back down and in for a run-up with three railroad ties as opposed to the two of the previous year.
Honestly at this point I don't remember much about the race. Because I registered a few days before close, I was solidly at the back of the pack starting in 99th place. I got into the starting grid on the left side, so I could make a move around the outside, but when the time came for an all-out sprint to move up I opted to move up a little bit, but not completely burn a match and just move with the flow of the group. There were some back-ups and slow-downs that can be expected from being in the back 25% of a pack, but when things started to clear up it left me with some gas in the tank and some opportunities to move up.
I ran a clean race, and even rode the strangler one or two times. My back tightened up on me after the first lap making it very difficult to dismount, remount, and run. Granted that CX makes it difficult to dismount, remount, and run in general, but the back pain took away the high end speed. I was also working with a pretty significant side-stitch during the middle of the race. But I rode pretty well, didn't crash, had only one mechanical. As I was coming up the Strangler the final time I shouldered my bike to run it, and as I was setting it down the rear brake got caught on my speedsuit, and I ended up hitting my bike with my thigh dropping the chain. As I paused to fix it, I was passed by a single rider, who I then set in my mind to try to get back before the finish. I tried to make a move on the inside and beat him to the last corner before the home straight, but he felt me coming and took an early apex pinching me into the fence. It was by no means a dirty move, it was no dirtier than the pass I was attempting. But I ended up slamming on my brakes and having to let him go buy before I could finish. I could have tried to hammer it and out sprint him, but seriously, did I really want to try to out sprint a guy for 67th place on day one of a two day race? Had I not dropped my chain, the spot would have been mine to lose, but he passed me fair and square, and took a good line into the last corner. He could have 67th place. I was happy that I was able to move up 32 spots in the field. An accomplishment I certainly did not take for granted the next day.
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