LouVull USGP

Well the traveling circus converged on good ol' LouVull Kentucky in the new Eva Bandman Cyclocross Park. Yes LouVull is a very progressive thinking city. A dedicated cyclocross park just on the edge of downtown. No wonder they were able to secure Worlds CX along with Masters Worlds. Ok now back to the race report.

Friday

The course, well it was brand spanking new. As in we were suppose to be the first one's on it Friday for pre-ride. So new in fact that the sod hadn't even taken yet on the Sella Italia Run(ride) Up. The sand pit still had plastic bottles and other such trash items hidden in it. Sunday they were digging out a root during our race. Good times! Plus some asshat has been using the park as his private driving range.

Saturday

To the race course the three amigo's report at our designated time of arse crack early 7am. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy. Sit til 8:30 to pre-ride the course. Pre-ride the course a couple three times. Return to the compound. Sit. Watch. Sitting. Watching. Change into race kit. Warm up. Go to staging with 134 other tight clothed fella's. Exchange greetings with others. After the call up from hell they decide to reduce our race by one lap. Thanks. Thanks a whole hell of a lot. I traveled 7+ plus hours to get a reduced race. How about a reduced entry fee? Just sayin.

USAC official gives the 15 second warning. "Any time after 15 seconds the gun can go off", "15 seconds" suddenly someone leaves from the Johnny on the Spot. Damn near everyone flinched. Right after that the gun went off.

The mad dash down a long straight away was crazy. Turning from pavement to fresh sod even crazier. Nice step down leading to a soft left hander. Then a sweet BMX jump with an immediate dismount over two barriers. Really fun. Really sketchy. I heard someone go down which stopped the field behind me. After that a couple of turns into the Sella Italia Run up which everyone rode, WTF? Down the backside into a right, left sweeper into the pit of death. Totally carnage ensued lap after lap. Amazingly I rode it every lap without a problem. Unphuckingbelieveable I know. A real confidence booster after my somersault to cartwheel to slight disco/breakin move at Hermann. To be honest after that it was all kinda of a blur. I think all the dust must have affected my memory.

The only other thing that sticks out in mind is the Rosco P Fasttrain decided to see what it was like to kiss the barrier with his noggin. He was not looking so good when I passed him. Facing the barriers on his knee's but I didn't find out later that he really did get F'd up pretty badly. Cat Scan on shoulder, stitches to the melon, and memory loss.

Sandpit of Death

Dusty crusty

All that I do know is that the official pulled me with 2 to go. Oh well it was fun.

Sunday

Reported at the same bat time, same bat place. Oy vey. Wait til the sun came up at 8:30 pre-rode the course. Checked out the sweet changes back in the dust bowl section of the course. Gnarly drop off into the fence, I mean into a 180 then a run at the run up from yesterday. I did hear some of the 2/3's did make it. I never could do it during warmup so I figured that would not be a good sign for the race. You know being surrounded by 140 tight clothed fella's ain't goin help.

Same ol, same ol. Stage, call ups, yada, yada. Gun goes off, I felt I had alot better start than the day before. Get to the BMX jump unable to actually see the barriers from all the dust. GOOD THING I PRE RODE!!! I heard several panicked fella's stating they couldn't see the barriers. After that I don't remember much. Raced for awhile then got pulled with 3 to go I think.

Great weekend of racing.

• A dedicated cyclocross park is amazing
• Not a lot of fans there.
• A Hell of alot racers though.
• Papa Johns pizza at the venue was great
• Why is that both Doctors on the team fall down so much?
• Hermann gets very upset at other racers.

So if you need some new tunes for warm ups, riding fast, driving faster. Check out Volbeats new one. Not to heavy, just heavy enough. Plus if you like Elvis you get it.