New Belgium Bust

Went out to Ft. Collin’s for the third weekend of the USGP CycloCross Series this past weekend. We arrived on Friday in time to set up the team camp and pre-ride the course. Ft. Collin’s had just gotten their first snow and it was looking like typical weather and course conditions for a cross race. It was actually the first time this season I was thinking about what clothes to wear because it was so cold. The course was very muddy and slimy with not much traction on Friday and Saturday, and I found myself struggling a bit with the slick conditions. Being the first nasty race of the year, I felt a little rusty with my skills in the mud. While pre-riding the course with Zach McDonald and talking about how slick the course was he said “don’t worry, the ruts will save your life.” I soon understood what he meant while following him through the corners and slipping from rut to rut. Unfortunately, my random number draw for Saturday’s race was 69 out 70 racers, so starting DFL was going to a challenge on the slick course. I wasn’t having a great day and my legs just weren’t turning like I wanted them to. I did what I could and finished 53rd. Not a good result any way you look at it, but I suppose you have bad days, and this was definitely one of mine.

Rut Surfing (photo by Lyne Lamoureux)

My focus switched to Sunday’s race and with my frustrations from Saturday, I was definitely motivated to have a better race. Showed up to the course on Sunday to find conditions much different. Throughout the day the course continued to get more tacky and much faster than the day before. My random draw on Sunday was 54, slightly better than Saturday, but still in the middle of the cluster. Had an okay start and quickly linked up with my teammate Brad Cole and before long we were top 30 with my lungs on the handlebars. With Brad being from altitude he was absolutely killing me on all the uphill sections! Within the next few laps, Brad had gapped me and I was maintaining my position but not moving up much trying to maintain for the end of the race. With a couple laps to go, I was picking up some speed and passing a few more guys and then it goes blank… I was on one of the fast sweeping downhill sections of the course when I crashed and according to Elizabeth Rangel, I went over the bars and bounced a few times – on my head. After an ambulance ride to the ER and a nice concussion, I was released after an hour for the 9 hour ride home. While in the ER, I got to talk to my next door neighbor, Todd Wells, about his crash. They thought he broke his femur during a failed bunny hop over the barriers. All-in-all it was not the best weekend ever for me.

Following doctors orders, I took a few days off and rested my brain. Was able to ride today for the first time this week and should be back to training as normal this weekend. Next race up is Jingle Cross over the Thanksgiving weekend. Three days of fun racing in Iowa.

On a higher note, I made the selection for EuroCross Camp VIII and am very excited about going back to Belgium for a second year. The entire roster will be officially announced soon, so more to come. Here is the camp schedule -- I won’t be doing every race, but should be doing 7-8 races.

2010 – 2011 EuroCrossCamp VIII Program
Wednesday – Friday, 15-17 Dec – Riders Arriving
Saturday, 18 Dec – Lichtervelde (small race; openers)
Sunday, 19 Dec – UCI World Cup – Kalmthout
Sunday, 19 Dec – Maldegem (for riders that don’t make WC selection)
Wednesday, 22 Dec -Team Training Race (Ardooieveld)
Saturday, 25 Dec – Beernem (for riders that don’t make next day’s WC selection)
Sunday, 26 Dec – UCI World Cup – Zolder
Sunday, 26 Dec – Balagem (for riders that don’t make WC selection)
Monday, 27 Dec – Super Prestige – Diegem
Wednesday, 29 Dec – Azencross GVA – Loenhout
Thursday, 30 Dec – Sylvester Cyclocross – Bredene
Saturday, 1 Jan – GP Sven Nys GVA – Baal
Sunday, 2 Jan – Riders Depart