It is finally cyclocross season and I am thrilled to share the program that I have put together. It took a tremendous amount of time, effort, blood sweat and tears and this is the result. I am incredibly grateful to my partners that have chosen to support me. I am equally grateful to the many mentors, friends, family members and more that have offered innumerable pieces of advice and words of encouragement to make this project real life.
The next piece of the puzzle was my van! Tony Wagner at Open Road Upfitters set me up with the basics to get rolling, my dad and I put in some temporary storage, and MSN Graphics put this beautiful wrap on it! After that I collected all my gear from Neff Cycle Service, organized the van, and hit the road Thursday afternoon. I stopped in Indianapolis, saw some friends, spent the night, and hit the road early Friday morning. I arrived in Roanoke in the late afternoon and hit course pre-ride with my pseudo teammates Ivy and Chris.
Saturday afternoon we kicked off the US professional cross season with a bang. Things were hot and dusty from the gun. I hovered outside the top ten on lap one and began to move up on lap two and three.
The pace was ferocious and the heat was unrelenting. I dangled at the back of the lead group for a few laps before being separated for a lap or two. With three laps to go I reconnected with the front group of six. Unfortunately the rider in front of me had some bad luck, with an issue over the barriers and we were gapped off as the leaders attacked. I limped it home for a few more laps finishing 8th. It was a solid first result and I was thrilled to snag some important UCI points.
On Sunday things were brutally hot again and we raced the course in the opposite direction. I had a better start and tried to settle into the top group of six or seven riders. The pace was hotter from the gun and I just couldn't hold on to the top group of five. I slipped back from sixth to outside of the top ten as the race went on and hovered around 11th. UCI officials allowed water splashing due to the heat, and in the last few laps the water splashing began. It seemed to bring my core temp down enough to kick things back into gear and I made up enough time to sprint it out for ninth place with two other riders. I unfortunately didn't make the spots back, but I was happy to have turned out some much better final laps!
Huge thank you to all of my wonderful sponsors for making this season happen, hard to believe racing professional cyclocross is really my life now! For a more in-depth look at this first race check out my vlog below.
Next up will be a C1/C2 event in Rochester, NY this weekend. This race will be livestreamed so be sure to tune in! Also, for anyone who likes my kits this season, they will be available for purchase shortly from Pactimo. All funds will support my racing/living!
Thank you to Zoe Mae for these great photos!