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USGP Planet Bike Cup – Sun Prairie

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Cyclocross season started in earnest this past weekend at the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Sun Prairie. It almost looked like this national series was not going to take place this season, much to the dismay of cyclocross racers and hecklers across the nation. However, at the 11th hour Trek Bicycles (based in Waterloo, WI) stepped up and became the title sponsor of the series. The show would go on, and this meant all of us racers could continue training for the big start of the fall ‘cross season (or, in my case, again start to worry about the butt-kicking I’ll receive at the race because I haven’t been training).

The USGP draws professional level racers from all over the country, and even has some international racers take the start line. The amateur events draw racers from across the region. I think I was parked next to a camper full of racers from Kentucky. The whole set up is impressive. There are sponsor tents and vehicles everywhere. One of the Trek tents had beer and frites for sale, both of which are almost required to make your day at a ‘cross race complete. Even if I weren’t racing it was someplace I’d want to hang out.

My races went ok. I placed 29th and 24th out of over 100 starters both days in the Men’s 2/3 events. I didn’t feel the greatest, but I can take some positives out of it. I haven’t really been training and I didn’t feel great, yet I still did pretty well. I’ve got plenty of time to get into the swing of things. Cyclocross season extends into January now, so there will be plenty of opportunities for me to “turn the pedals in anger” and pretend that I’m really good.

While I try to race my powersticks into shape, I can always crack a smile while ripping around the cyclocross course. This past weekend there were two particular instances that just made me smile. First, the cheer I got when I finally tried to ride the run up was enough to not make me care about the few crashes I had earlier in the race. Sure, I spun out on the second barrier and still had to run up the hill, but I at least had the stupidity to try and the hecklers appreciated it. It made me feel as if even if I wasn’t first in the race, I was first in their hearts. Second, there was someone on the course that was cooking breakfast on a gas stove. They were cooking bacon, and I could smell it for half of each lap. The smell was a little piece of heaven amid the suffering of the race. My only question was why the chef wasn’t giving bacon hand-ups?


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