Derby City Cup

I started racing the Derby City Cup in 2012 and it was pretty cool to come back again to race this course as a junior one more time. Before I even got to Louisville I had to make a quick stop in Indianapolis. I stopped there to officially sign to Marian University! Starting next fall I will continue my education at Marian and race D1 collegiate cycling.

Coach Dean Peterson and I

Always fun to see the sites in Louisville!

Saturday

After earning some UCI points in the continental championships I was done with random call ups and lined up third. I wasn't super quick off the line but settled in 6th wheel. Through the sandpit third place made a mistake and got jammed up, luckily I saw it happen, dismounted and ran from 6th place to third place. Lane and Denzel pulled away and I chased hard trying to catch up.

At the start of the third lap Ben Gomez-Villafane caught up to me and we worked together to stay ahead of the chase group. On the fifth lap I made some mistakes that cost me a few seconds on Ben. I tried to make contact again but he held me off through the last lap by five seconds. I was pretty bummed to have missed the podium but it fired me up for Sunday!

 

Sunday

On day two I had a better start and sat in third wheel behind Denzel. I lost two spots before the stairs thinking I had a flat which was luckily a false alarm. Knowing I needed to be third wheel I made a risky pass around Ross and George before the sandpit. Unfortunately I lost a few seconds through the sandpit and Denzel and Lane got a gap.

I suffered out in no-mans land for a lap before Scott, Ross and Ben caught up to me. I hung on to the group for two laps but my back was slowly but surely sabotaging my race.

Photo: Andrew Aaron

I started to drift off the back and on the fifth lap Calder Wood caught up to me. I hopped on his wheel and held on as he closed back in on the group. As we closed in we passed Ben who was dealing with a flat tire. I started lose time on Calder and ended up riding the sixth and final lap by myself finishing in sixth place.
Although it was not what I was hoping for I'm still happy with how consistently I raced these past two and I managed to score some good UCI points.

Big thanks to my coach Joseph Maloney, my family, and my team, Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support! Also huge thanks to my sponsors Trek Bicycles, Bontrager, Sram, Englewood Grass Fed Beef,  Mike's Mix and Honey Stinger for all their awesome support!

Thanks for a great weekend Louisville!

Now that this big block of racing is all finished up it's time to train like crazy and do a few local races!
Thanks for reading!