US Cup Ellings Park

Well it was an interesting weekend for me and I got worked over for the most part at the US Cup at Ellings Park, Santa Barbara. After a potential lawsuit scare from some crazy rich people in a nearby neighborhood, the race luckily happened as scheduled. It's a really tight 6 mi course winding around a hill overlooking the Pacific in the middle of Santa Barbara - beautiful!

This was the 3rd and final stop of the US Cup Regional Triple Crown, so there was a short track and Super D on Saturday for the pros and $ on the line. But only 4 pros showed up for the Saturday races... now it will be hard for the others to complain about Team Big Bear races not having prize money, when they don't show up for the ones that do. In the short track my legs had no response and I rode poorly enough for 4th out of 4... I figure no problem, the Super D is a time trial format on a course that suits me pretty well and the legs would now be ready to go. I was having a good, most likely winning run and next thing I know I'm sliding on the ground. I pick it up and try to finish strong, but the momentum is gone. Oh and I was the first rider on course and had to run over a big snake on the trail right after the crash.

Dinner in Santa Barbara was great, I suspected my legs should be opened up after the Saturday efforts, and I was mad - all pointing to a great XC race Sunday. And I did have a good race, just not great. We had a lot more competitive field with 15 fast guys and I punched it from the start. At the top of the first climb Tinker and Menso De Jong (recently 3rd at collegiate road nats) came by and I didn't have any response. I felt ok, but looking back on it, my heart rate stayed close to 10 beats below where it normally goes when racing and I didn't have the high end needed on this course. I rode like 15 seconds behind Menso the whole way and settled for 3rd. I wish I was having a good enough day to battle with Tinker but that will have to be for another time. A good race for not being so fresh though and it ended up putting me in a tie with Aaron Bradford and Jason Siegle for the overall on the weekend. I finished ahead of both of them in the XC and at least came away with the win for the triple crown...

http://www.uscup.net/up/file/TRIPLE_CROWN_REGIONAL_STANDINGS.pdf

It was a good weekend, but I'm a little disappointed knowing I didn't ride up to my potential and truly take advantage of the fitness i've been blessed with right now. It seems the Texas race took a lot out of me and the work week was a little too busy to recover 100%.