USGP #1 In the Books

The CX season really doesn't seem to be 'official' til I rock it up to Wisco. The first stop in the USGP traveling circus make's it stop in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Service Course to mwi team is Milwaukee, which is just about an hour from Sun Prairie. Each year the mwi crew seems to 'earn' a little more workload. In workload I mean that we have responsibility of housing, transporting, entertaining or generally babysit some PRO's.

Word spread fast that again we would be helping Molly Cameron again. Next on the grapevine was that Tim Van Nuffel was in need of transportation, housing, and general entertaining. Then the bombshell came, Francis Mourey was in need of some assistance. Not just him though, his wife, his mechanic, and enough gear to fill up the rented Suburban that Dr Roadrash picked up.

As soon as I rolled into Crankdaddys shop I was informed that we were to go pick up TVN and father from the airport. No time for coffee, or food off we go the Belgian's are expected in less than a hour. Rocking the Crankdaddys van to pick up TVN & Father we got stuck in endless reconstruction of the highways in Wisco area. Absolutely amazing how much of the state is in perpetual repair. Arrive at the airport JIT for me to grab a sandwich for $8 then watch for a PRO to walk into the airport. TVN is not what either Herman or myself were expecting. To say Euro's can be stereotyped could be so true. Just sayin.

Take TVN back to Crankdaddys to assemble his bikes then drop him & his dad off at Rosco P Fasttrains. Trying to talk to Belgians can be very difficult. But at the same time very entertaining, at least for us. Probably? Yeeessss!

From this point on things become a blur. I know we it made it to the Kennedy Compound with Molly, The Belgians, Chilli, Herman, LeBam, Jess, Roscoe, and Mo. It's so great to go to the Kennedy Compound every year to visit Bernie & Terry. They both are amazing in the fact that they take us in like their own children. Cooking, cleaning the whole nine yards for us. Especially me since I get a dozen or more zucchini chocolate chip muffins for the trip back home. AND YES Terry they made it back this year. I didn't eat one of them!!

Set up our mwi compound. Holy Shiittee we are rolling big time. At some point in time we arrived at the number presentation. Blur. Woke up in the morning finished setting up the mwi compound. Got ready to race. Raced. Went fast in the corners. Went slow in the straight aways that were very long & yes very straight. The mwi boys rocked it making my disappoint disappear. Ate food, drank liquid, got cleaned up and ready for the PRO race. Busy moving from one side of the pit with four bike's and two guys.

PRO race over after an hour of fun. Next up Meet Molly Cameron BBQ. Yes it was a meat and vegan cookout. Adult beverages were handed out so to was pop(soda) along with LaBam cupcakes. Some PRO's got a visit from the bakery. Word was it was a very popular visit. Brake down the compound, drive to the Kennedy's shower, snack, then sleep.

Wake up and back at it. To my surprise Molly jumps in the SS to roll to the venue. She wound up helping us in getting our bikes to the pits. Really was awesome to see her giving us a hand. Stage. Line up. Second row start for me. Didn't help. Midpack fodder. The course was changed from the day before to my disadvantage. The backside technical section turned into a straightaway from hell. Swear it was a 1/4 mile of grass. Suck for me. With that section now changed the only real 'technical' section was the hillside strangler. Hard to describe. Climb up a hill cross the ridge then descend to a 180 with three railroad ties then more running up to top. At some point my back decided that riding sidesaddle was a really bad idea for me. Still feeling the effects of my sandpit digger from Hermann. So with 2 laps left I pulled the plug.

But the weekend wasn't over. More pit work. Tearing down the mwi compound. Loading shittee up sending everyone on their way. All but Molly. She stayed with us for another night. That night we rolled into a vegan diner(sweet place) shot the breeze then called it a night. Off to Portland Molly went, back to Less Scummit for me.

Photos of the weekend:

mwi Race Blog

• Patrick is the 'new' recruit. He garnered a WCA point so a nickname was suppose to be chosen: Bacon
• Herman can't run as fast as he can ride.
• Dr Roadrash made a sweet landing in the gravel while tooling in the pits
• Chucker makes me nervous as hell before a race. Boy get your shiittee together
• Roscoe P Fasttrain is still fast with a bunk knee
• Herman can be a bully
• Chili is going to have a restraining order from KFC by Kentucky
• LeBam Bakery makes PHUCKING AWESOME CUPCAKES! Team Cannondale approves.

I would like to thank the mwi crew for all the hard work done by each and every member for such a wonderful weekend. I'm very lucky/pleased to have such a good group of friends that put up with me. I really appreciate it.