Took me a little while to find some photos from Silver Goose CX/Pan-Ams up in Canada so here is a combined post for the past two weekends.
I did half of the nine hour drive up to Midland, Ontario on Thursday and spent the night in Detroit with a host house (thanks Tom!). I finished the rest of the journey Friday morning and pre-ride the course in the afternoon. Saturday it was all systems go for the elite C2. After a slow first lap I started to work my way up from around 20th. Midway through the race Jamey Driscoll came around me and I hopped on his wheel. We worked our way into the top ten and then just as we caught up to the group fighting for 5th place I made mistake in the sand and never quite made contact. I finished up 8th overall (3rd u23 and 2nd American u23), which was one of my better elite races yet.
On Sunday I was hoping for more of the same, but things didn't come together. I had another mediocre start but was steadily working my way up. I was inside the top ten but some persisting issues I've been having with my lower back and hips flared up. From there I unraveled the rest of the race to finish 13th. It was frustrating to go from having such a good race Saturday, to such a poor race on Sunday, but that's the way it goes sometimes. More work to be done on fixing up the back, but Saturday was a step in the right direction. Thank you to Warren Haas for the photos below (click the barely visible arrows to see all of them).
I drove straight home on Sunday which was quite the haul, and was greeted by a snowstorm Monday. Luckily, by midweek temperatures warmed back up and the home course at the Indy Cycloplex was nice and tacky.
On Saturday it was all systems go and I was ready to rip the Challenge Chicanes at the Major Taylor Cross Cup, hosted by the Marian University Cycling Team. I had a solid start and was rolling strong in the top five on the first lap. Drew Dillman made a move on the second lap and I chased after him making contact. Unfortunately, shortly after that I dropped my chain on the bumpy descent on the back side of the course. I managed to get it back on without too much trouble, but found myself in 12th place with the front of the race out of sight.
(Above photos by Gavin Gould)
I started chasing hard and worked my way up to the next group, rested for a few seconds and got back to it. I kept working through people and on the 7th lap I caught Eric Thompson and moved into 3rd place. I stayed on the gas and scored my 2nd UCI cx podium.
On Sunday I was hoping for some redemption. I went to the front at the end of the first lap and gave it some gas, breaking up the front group. At the end of second lap Drew made a move and just barely snuck away. From there Cody Cupp and I chased hard, going back and forth the whole race but never made it up to Drew. In the end I ran out of gas and Cody hit it hard scoring the second spot on the podium.
(Above photos by Anderson Bortoletto of Bell Lap Photography)
Overall it was awesome to be racing at home in front of friends and family. Definitely stoked to score two more UCI podiums as well! Big thanks to all of the Marian staff and teammates for an awesome weekend of racing.
Thank you to Linear Sport RT, Violich Farms, Englewood Grass Farm, Challenge Tires, Mike’s Mix, and JM Coaching Group as well as Trek, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, and David Hobbs Honda for their support.