I am stoked with 4th today in my first USGP.  The only bummer is that I thought top-5 was a podium, which apparently isn’t the case in cyclocross.  So I rushed over the the where the podium presentation was happening–then got turned away.  That was for the best since I didn’t have a long sleeve or a hat or a wiped face so at least I was spared the skinsuit-on-the-podium with-a-muddy-face embarrassment.

Today my lucky call up number was 23.  The top-20 women had UCI points and the rest of us drew from a bag for our call-up spots.  The start was blistering fast, and I had a harder time moving through the field than in Vegas.  Luckily I spent some time practicing my re-mounts this past week and it showed.  I was losing time on the re-mounts in Vegas, but here I seemed to be gaining some.  I was inspired to practice by the book, “Talent is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin. The book makes the case that individuals who are truly exceptional at what they do simply practice more, and more effectively than the rest of us.  It’s worth a read and I’ve found it very useful for thinking about how I can train more effectively for cross.

So, just past the start I made it over the barriers and was quick enough on the remount to make a pass or two.  Through the following chicanes I made some more passes by taking some creative lines and trusting that my Hed Stinger 4′s and Typhoons would get the job done.  I am seriously in love with tubulars and want to find a way to race them on the mountain bike next year (I’ll just throw that one out there).  By the second pass through the pits, I was riding on Emily Batty’s wheel and we were just about to make contact with the lead group when she lost her front wheel around a corner and I narrowly missed running her over.  Still upright, I found myself a few seconds off the group and riding solo.  Eventually I made contact and realized that riding 6th or 7th wheel is incredibly frustrating and inefficient.  So I tried moving up and found that I had to fight really hard for each position, harder than I could at the time, and got dropped. Ugh!  So I kept chasing while Meredith and Georgia put in attacks up ahead.  Before I realized it I was starting to gain on the chasers ahead, and there were some women gaining from behind.  The last lap was a blur. Through the start/finish I had Emily Batty, Pepper Harlton, and Caroline Mani right off my tail.  Up ahead were Sue Butler and Nicole Duke.  I just pedaled.  I wanted to be in front because the course was pretty slick and crashes were likely to occur.  I also knew that I could really push the pace through the corners and accelerate hard.  I caught and passed Nicole and Sue and gained some time through a chicane. Someone crashed behind which gave me a couple more seconds.  I could see Meredith Miller up ahead and knew I was closing the gap.  That gap was just too big but I held it off four 4th!  I like head-to-head racing and tubulars so this cross thing might catch on…

I want to say thanks to my Mom and Dad for the great week in Wisconsin.  We spent the week in Spooner visiting with TJ’s family and then they tagged along to check out the USGP in Madison.  The trip wasn’t very comfortable; from Spooner we packed 6 bikes, 3 extra wheel sets, 4 people + luggage, repair stand, wash bucket, cooler, and some wedding gifts all into TJ’s new Honda Element.  We’re dropping Mom off at the airport tomorrow (post-race), then the three of us are driving to Colorado.  Then the wedding-craziness begins…