Hendersonville North Carolina Grand Prix

Last UCI race weekend of the year! My dad flew down to Indianapolis and my sister and I picked him up on the way out of town. It took us about 8 hours but we made it through the snow storms and the mountains to Hendersonville, North Carolina. When we got there every single restaurant was closed but we grabbed groceries at Target and luckily the Brookshire's who were hosting us hooked it up with some pasta.

Saturday morning we woke up to more fresh snow (total of about 10 inches) and did a combination of breakfast, bike work, free Trek cyclocross live stream watching and spinning on the rollers inside. Emma raced at 1:20 and unfortunately had some bad luck landing her in 8th place. 

I had a second row call up and a great start putting me into 7th place after the first few turns. I was right with the top five but kept having trouble clipping in due to the snow and ice and dropped back to 7th part way through the second lap. I kept making little mistakes and that combined with not being able to clip along with some issues with my saddle angle dropping, kept me from catching back up. I dangled in 7th until the last quarter of the race when fellow Wisconsonite Isaac Neff caught up to me and then proceeded to drop me on the second to last lap pushing me back to finish in 8th place.

Photo: Daren Wilz

It was my best UCI finish yet but I was not pleased with all the little mistakes I kept making. I had the legs to make the top five but the execution just wasn't quite there.

On Sunday my goal was to minimize my mistakes and to crack the top five. Things kicked off with a front row call-up and a great start putting me in the top eight. I had a good first two laps dangling just outside the top five but I started making little mistakes that cost me.

Photo: Daren Wilz

On my third lap I really started to make mistakes and just wasn't hitting my lines on the rutted out course. I dropped back all the way back to 11th place by the start of the fourth lap. I took a bike in pit one and kicked it back into gear. I rode back through the group that caught me and into 8th place.

Photo: Daren Wilz

On the second to last lap I almost closed the gap on 6th and 7th place and on the final lap I caught the 7th place rider and finished just behind the 6th place rider. Finishing in 7th was my new personal best UCI finish but once again I was not happy with all the mistakes I made. 

All in all it was a fantastic weekend of racing in some super fun, gnarly conditions that we don't see very often. I scored some valuable UCI points and next up is nationals!

Big thanks to the Brookshire's for their hospitality and for putting us up at their wonderful home! In addition thank you to my sponsors Trek, Bontrager, Sram, Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Challenge Tires, and Englewood Grass farm for their great support!

Ruts N' Guts CX

The trip to Oklahoma started off with a nine hour drive from Indianapolis to Broken Arrow on Friday. Then it was qdoba for dinner, and off to our host house. Saturday morning kicked off with breakfast and an easy spin exploring some rad rural roads.

Then Emma and I drove the five minutes over to the course for pre-ride. Emma placed 7th in the C1, her best C1 finish ever and I had to force myself to stop cheering for her and warm up for my race.
When the gun went off I was just pack-fodder going down the start straight hovering in the lower twenties.

I tired to kick myself into gear but the long drive just wasn't quite out of my legs yet and I dropped from inside the top twenty to around 25th. Luckily on the third lap Travis Livermon was coming back from an issue he had on the first lap and came charging by me. I hopped on his wheel and held on for dear life. I barely managed to stay in contact with him but he brought me all the way up to the group fighting for 14th place. I settled into that group and tried to stay near the front as much as possible as things heated up in the last few laps. In the end I won a sprint for 16th place finishing just one spot outside the UCI points. It was my best C1 finish by a long shot but I just made way too many mistakes (mainly face-plants in the tricky sandpit) to get the finish I was looking for.

Brian, Karl, Emma and me post race!

Sunday the drill was the same. Breakfast, morning spin, drive to the course, pre-ride, pin Emma up, cheer Emma on (She placed 5th!), and finally warm up. Once again I had a mediocre start from the third row and worked my way into the top twenty. I continued to move up but things started to feel off with my back on the fourth lap and I started going backwards fast due to being in so much pain that I couldn't push myself. I hate to quit a race but I pulled the plug knowing that I was hardly even racing at that point. Overall it was a good weekend of racing where I learned a lot and found that my fitness is on track for nationals!

As always thank you to my sponsors Trek, Bontrager, Sram, Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Challenge Tires, and Englewood Grass farm for their great support! In addition big thanks to Jonathan, Ashely and little Johnnie for hosting Emma and I. Lastly huge thanks to Karl Hendrikse for helping wrench and pit for us as well as Nick from Phat Tire Bikes in Tulsa for pitting for us on Sunday!