Gateway Cup

Woah what a weekend! Yanks love a crit and shit can they ride them too! The whole weekend was fast and held on some technical courses around the St.Louis area. Well I got through the weekend without incident...just. First race about third lap in I almost put it down in front of Owen "the butcher" Belton when I hit a gnarly hole around a corner and then again the next day when my hand slipped of my bars right in front of Toyota United pro, former Australian National Champion and race leader, Henk Vogels. Henk got his revenge a couple of laps later when he put a water bottle down right in my path on the fastest part of the course (Darren the head coach picked it up for me a momento). Despite all these near misses I had a good weekend and was able to roll in 35th, 43rd and 50th out of about 140 guys.

Every day there were awesome crowds and the whole weekend had a festive atmosphere which is something I hadn't expierenced before. We got to race some cool areas around St.Louis ranging from the swanky 'Laffette Square' to the Italian district of STL 'The Hill'. The second day and third day finished with guys from the crowd offering all the Pro1/2 guys beer on completion. It was good to see Henk not only winning the crits but also the race to beers that were on offer from random revelers on the course.

I pulled up feeling as fresh as a daisy after the weekend so hopefully the form is good and now I guess I just have to leave the legs to do the talking. Next Tuesday we leave for Nationals in Colorado which I'm really looking forward to as it has been a main goal for the season and also will be able to see my mum as she is coming over to "root" for Lindenwood in our Collegiate National Cycling debut.
You can keep up to date with all the action from Nationals at cyclingnews.com with my boy Paddy Kilmurray as your correspondent.

Until next time, take care.

Chev.