UCI3 - Day 1 - Devou Park

I'm gonna keep this one short...

Sunrise over the KY River

The course last year was muddy and barely rideable, but it was said to be a good course.  This year, it was on the other side of the road and NOT on the golf course after last year's race destroyed the golf course.  It was climby, which is good, but it lacked flow and there were lots of holes.  There was only one turn that I could rail without at least feathering my brakes most laps.  I guess with the space allotted, they did a descent job with the layout.

Coach, Messer, and Lucas on the Elite Masters Start Line

Warm up went fine, but I decided to race my pit bike because the brakes are quiet (compared to the carbon wheels) and the position is slightly more upright.  I thought this would be more comfortable on the downhills, but I'm not sure it helped.  Got my call-up, nerves were good, and I took the holeshot.  Not really the plan, but it just seems to happen.  John Proppe and I pulled away from the field and then there was a pileup of some sort behind us in the first dirt climb that opened our gap even further.  I didn't feel too bad, but knew I couldn't hold John's pace for long so when he came out of a turn with a gap I was fine to let him go.  Two other guys bridged up and I was fine sitting on them for a while feeling pretty good in fourth until they slowly pulled away.  Then the mind started working -- BAD!  I thought, "If I can just keep the rubber side down, top ten should be piece of cake!"  A few turns later, I came in hot and guess what... on the ground, chain off and loosing places.  Not sure exactly how far I dropped, but from there I bled some more places not handling the bike well and mentally not on top of it.  The last two laps I picked it back up and pulled a couple places back to finish 16th in my first 2/3 race.  Hoping for better tomorrow, but I managed to beat a couple of the guys that got me at Kings and TdL.

Trebon and JPow riding the "Run Up"

Great race for John who went on to take second and Travis Mullen who rode from the back to take the win!  I stuck around a lot longer than I planned and cheered for Coach, the women, and the start of the men's race then had dinner and a drink with my uncle and am staying at his place in NKY for the wknd.

Kersting on the Run Up