Okay, last “race report” for a bit and we’ll get back to more fun stuff. Yesterday was Benton Park. It is a super cool race in a up and coming area in St. Louis. The course is really challenging. It is maybe the hardest criterium of the year in many respects. I’m not sure what the deal with the course is exactly, but it is like a M.C. Escher drawing. The course seems like it is uphill the whole way around. Plus, headwind the whole lap too. In previous years, only like 30% of the field finishes. And the race is only 80 minutes long.

I knew the break would be gone instantly, within the first 15 minutes, it always has. I got into a move with the right combination on the 2nd or 3rd lap. I didn’t hardly warm up a pedal stroke because it was already super hot and muggy out. But, that didn’t matter. The break never got too far ahead and we got caught in just 2 or 3 laps. Brian, who came the to St. Louis the day before to join us, immediately attacked and rode away. There are lots of guys in the field that know how strong that Brian is and the best of them followed.

Eventually a huge group of nearly 20 guys formed off the front. That wasn’t good for just about anyone, so it had death written all over it. The stayed away for 4 or 5 laps and right when we reabsorbed that break, Brian went again and it was done. It was exactly the right combination with Jelly-Belly, Kenda, Harley-Davidson, Mercy and us all represented.

And that was it. There isn’t much more for me to write about. The break of 7 stayed away. Brian ended up 6th, which he wasn’t good with at all, but someone has to end up in that place. He started attacking the break, maybe too far from the end, with 6 laps to go. It pissed one of the Jelly-Belly riders off enough he kind of mocked Brian and asked him if he thought that he was Lance Armstrong. Brian asked me after the race what I thought that meant. I told him it meant that he was hurting them and they were trying to use intimidation to slow him down. It might have worked some. The year before, Brian was in nearly an identical break and the sprint didn’t work out so well for him, so he decided he wanted it split up. So he made his best effort into doing just that. It didn’t work out so well for him, but that is bike racing.

Back in the field it kept splitting into small groups off the front. Eventually nearly all the places were up the road. I was tried of the race and just wanted it to be done with.

With 2 laps to go, I noticed the race leader, Brad Huff, Jelly-Belly, go over to the edge of the course, on what seemed to be the only downhill section, which was pretty abandoned of spectators. Brad proceeded to pee off his bike. It surprised me for a couple reasons. It isn’t like I haven’t seen or done it myself before during a race, but never during a criterium. And 2, I couldn’t understand why he just didn’t wait the 5 minutes and we would have be done. Whatever the reason, it was very impressive.

So, the weekend is over. I don’t feel any worse, illness-wise. Not any better really either. I’m not sure if the racing is going to help for Chequamegon two weeks from now. I needed to race pretty badly and that is just what I did – race sorta badly. I’m planning on doing my heat training thing and ride back and forth to Lawrence, super slowly, this time on my MTB for the next few days. It is supposed to be in the upper 90’s most of this week and I just need some slow miles to hopefully reset. If not, Chequamegon is just going to be a tour in the woods of Wisconsin.

Trudi getting a little last minute Bromont time before having to head off to Canada.

The architecture around Benton Park is super cool.

The race goes right by the Budweiser brewery.

This isn’t a very good photo, but the women’s races were great. Laura Van Gilder had a hat trick, plus one, winning all four days. Skylar Schneider, Sam’s little sister, from Tibco, finished 2nd yesterday, and 2nd in the overall, to Laura.
It was her birthday yesterday and she just turned 14. Pretty unreal.

The sunset driving back yesterday was unreal.

My friend, Paul Biskup, was driving through last night and his kids were camped out in my living room.

M.C. Escher is one of my favorite artists. His drawings always make you think.

I am the holder of title that no one else in the sport has, I’ve won the US Professional Cyclocross National Championships. Twice, actually. Back in the early 90’s, when the USCF and PRO were trying to merge and become one, after a little encouragement from some of the PRO riders, they decided to hold the National Championships for cross as both a PRO and amateur event, raced together. And award two jerseys, one for the first amateur and one for the first Pro.

The first year it was held in Boston, where Don Myrah won the event, but I won the Professional title. Then the next year the race was held in Golden Colorado where Mark Howe won the event and I again was the first Professional. I’m not really sure why I was classified as a Professional and those guys were amateurs. I think it might of been because I held a Pro road license and cyclo-x was technically an aspect of the road.

I’d won the Nationals in ’83 and ’84 and did not race them again for 7 more years. The reason was I wasn’t getting enough feeling of personal accomplishment anymore for training for an extra couple months for one race. And I was winning the races by huge margins. I was racing Professionally on the road and when the Tour of the Americas and bigger events started occurring early in February-March, cross just didn’t seem as important.

But when they put a Professional title into the mix I got interested again. One bonus for winning was that you didn’t pay entry fees into races if you were a National Champion. And since cross was technically a road event, that meant no entries for all season, which was substantial.

Both in Boston and Golden there weren’t that many Professional road riders at the race. I think in Boston, my ex-Wheaties/Schwinn team mate, Tim Rutherford (Jonny) was who I was worried about the most. He rode MTB professionally for Ritchey with Thomas Frischnecht. The next year in Golden, I believe both Frank and Mark McCormick were now PRO, so obviously they were on my radar.

I didn’t win either of the events outright. I had pretty good form for both races, but I had some issues. In Boston, I crashed pretty hard on the road when Don Myrah got away and lost a bunch of time. Tim passed me and by the time I got a new bike and got past Tim, I felt it was in my best interest to play it safe and just stay upright and win the jersey.

Golden was a different issue. I didn’t plan on going, but decided last minute. I don’t do well racing short, intense races at altitude, without being acclimated. I went out the day before and was staying with Roy Knickman in Boulder. There was a ton of snow on the ground and the course was super icy. From some reason I got a bad call up, or maybe just a bad start, but coming to the first dismount, someone fell and stuck a pedal into my from wheel and ripped out a bunch of spokes. My brother Kris, had driven out all night and was in the first pit with my MTB bike. By the time I got the bike I was buried.

It took me a while to get used to riding my MTB. I had only warmed up on the course on my cross bike. Kris put a new wheel on my cross bike, but by the time I rode a couple laps on the ice on my MTB bike, it felt better. So, I proceeded to march back up through the field. Obviously, there were riders going a ton of different speeds on the ice. Eventually I got up to 2nd place in the race, but had no idea who was winning. We were lapping so many riders that it was just a steady stream of guys.

I think I ended up “losing” the race by around 30 seconds, I’m not sure. I was pretty okay with just winning the Professional title considering how bad a start I had to come back from. I remember asking Roy who won and what he was wearing. I didn’t know Mark Howe at the time. He was racing a MTB too. (That was before the rule that made it was illegal.) I think Mark was jumping the barriers. He worked for Rock Shox, I believe, and said his shock helped him in the icy conditions.

The next season, it just became a race for one National Championship, ( and I took another 7 years abscence) so unless sometime in the future, they go back to awarding two different jerseys, I have the only two US Professional Cyclocross titles ever awarded. I wonder where those jerseys are?

Also, don’t forget about the Cross clinic I’m doing this weekend put on by Source Endurance. Zach McDonald and a bunch of other guys are going to be helping. You can click here to register.

The podium in at the 1992 Cyclocross Nationals in Golden, CO.

The results from that race. Click twice to enlarge.