It’s not “cross is coming” anymore. Cross is here!
I’m honored to race the USA Cycling Cat 1-3 CX race for Don’s Bikes and the Wheelers & Dealers race for IRT – Inertia Racing Technology Wheels.
To have the first CX race of the season be on an actual World Cup course and in fields of 150+ racers will be intimidating to say the least. But it should also be a blast!
The drive out to Vegas was weird. Cool, wet, and rainy leaving SoCal and when I got to Vegas, rainbows.
Yermo, CA. Those of you who know me probably know what I was doing out there. #peestop
I made it. The Strip. And traffic. Such a weird city to have a bike event. Just sayin’
On arrival to the strip, I went straight to the meet and greet with several professional racers as well as number pickup at the Monte Carlo.
It was a cool time to mix and mingle with some of the who’s who of cyclocross.
I have the honor of racing on the same course, at the same time, as the one and only Gary Fisher. Growing up, I really wanted a Hoo Koo E Koo. This guy has a front row start at Wheeler and Dealers so it’ll be safe to say the only time I’ll see him is if he laps me. This guy was a legit racer back in the day. Look it up kids.
Greatest CX racer of all time.
So I asked Jeremy if his mindset was any different now that this was a World Cup. His answer, “Well, they’re all big races. I’ll race this one pretty much like how I race all big races.” But you know what, it’s been a while since he’s been off the podium at Vegas. To do it at the World Cup level? That would be sick. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx him. I probably just did. Go JPows.
One of the nicest guys on the scene and one of the only Americans to be on the podium at the World Champs. Shame he’s not racing. I remember back in Austin, Tim and Ryan Trebon invited my son to get on their side of the table and help them sign autographs. Such an upstanding guy. He’ll be commentating tonight on Universal Sports.
Team dinner at Gallagher’s. Thanks Patrick.
Ready to hit the sack.
Well, that was Day 1 for me. Tomorrow I’ll be on the floor at Interbike for a bit then heading off to the race venue. I’ll be racing the USA Cycling Cat 1-3 at 4pm then the Wheelers and Dealers at 6:30. Then it’ll be a bunch of hanging out watching the fast girls and guys race for the first World Cup on US soil!
I’ll have more photos and videos posted up soon. Here’s a video of Adam Craig doing a course preview for Giant Bikes and Cyclocross Magazine. This will be the course we’ll be racing on tonight. Thanks for reading!
crossdoc 