Yesterday was the Gateway Cross Cup in STL Heman Park. Incredible event and a pretty cool venue which made the most of a pretty compact community park. Wednesday racing is a rarity, but no way were we going to miss racing and later catching the UCI.
Got in three laps a couple hours before our race and, man, that was a fast fun course with four dismounts (2 - short stairs, 1 - flyover, 1 - double barrier) and just about as flat of a course as I've raced. Lots of turning, but none very tight or technical and the Grifo's hooked up great. It was almost the anti-Hermann course; I was in trouble as there were a ton of great crit racers in my field...Early registration for the USAC Open got me a front row on the start grid, got a solid jump (thanks Jim Davis for the photo) and almost got the hole shot coming off the asphalt, but I lost my nerve right before turning off and dropped into third or so into the grass. First lap was pretty quick and was feeling OK (but not great) and the second lap was disastrous; couldn't get my legs to do anything and had little zip which caused an immediate drop of way too many places. By mid-race I got a new breathe of life and felt really good, but the damage was done with all the spots lost earlier. Felt much better the 2nd half of the hour and was able to reel in several in the last laps to finish 20th (of 63 starters). I was OK with that and had a lot of fun. *Side action shot from Dan Singer - www.dansingerphotography.com*
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