Victory at Last!!

I ventured to Cincy this weekend for the 2nd and 3rd days of the UCI festival with high hopes and expectations. I got there early on Saturday so that I had plenty of time to dial both bikes and to prevent any disasters like the previous week in Louisville. I got plenty of pre riding in and with the long pavement sections, I knew that course would offer plenty of opportunities to rail it and hopefully move up from my back row starting position. Fortunately everyone moved far left in preparation for the right hander onto the grass. I seized the opportunity and moved up the right, chopped some people in the corner and was 8th by the time we got onto the course! Nice! I rode hard and caught the leaders, and decided to leave them early and go it on my own. I had it pretty comfortably and then dropped and chain with 1 1/2 to go. I immediately thought, "NOT AGAIN!" I managed to get it back on and only get passed by second place I quickly caught him and went on to grab the W! Although I did not get to salute because I thought I had another lap, It did not matter. The victory was so sweet and a long time coming. It felt awesome. I was really excited and looking forward to Sunday. I had my sights set on a repeat. I even got some awesome Challenge Grifo clinchers for my efforts.



Day #2 (Harbin Park)

I was excited to start Sundays race but was also nervous, and felt that if I did not win then the weekend would be a disappointment. I am a little hard on myself, but after the dry spell I was hungry for as many victories as possible. I was once again in the back row and grew worried when I saw the guy who got second the day before on the front row. I knew I was going to have to go balls to the wall and get to the front before he had a chance to build too much of a lead. The first couple corners were a clusterf%$k. People were stopping and dismounting and I was literally running over people to get to the front. Luckily there was a very long, false flat up to the finish line and I was able to pass a ton of people to get near the front before the sand. However, Roberson (2nd place from Saturday) had a nice lead on everyone. I was riding myself inside out and almost thought the gap was too big to close. I wrecked on lap 2 in front of Rodkey because I was simply out of control. I needed to compose myself and close the gap. I got to the leader with 3 to go rode with him for a lap, waiting for him to make a mistake. He dropped a chain in the sand and I went for it. I built a comfortable lead and then endo'ed into the sand the last time through and he was on my ass. I went as hard as I could and was free and clear. I won for the second day in a row making it a clean sweep for NUVO in the 2/3 events. I even had time for a sweet salute :). Hopefully pics to come. It was an incredible weekend.
However, it did not end well. Unfortunately both Ryan Knapp and Mike Sherer broke their collarbones in the elite UCI race with Knapp's coming in the final sprint. He got up and walked across the line to finish 11th showing some real courage. I can't wait for you both to get back out there. Heal up fast so you can finish the season as strongly as you started it.