Well Sports Fans, another year in Louisville is in the books.  It went by so fast and furious that I can hardly recall it.  But there was a lot to recall.  Arriving in Louisville was great.  There was a ton of prep work done by a large crew of folks led by Bob Bobrow to get the park back in shape after the remnants of the Hurricane.   Trees were down all over town so it was easy to see that there was lots to do.  In any case that was done thank God.   We arrived at Champions Park and started immediately to put some changes in place from last seasons course and venue.  In the end we accomplished the goals of improving the expo and getting the back half of the course going backwards to achieve a correct direction through the back to back pits.  So all in all the course was a success.  I was also pleased because everyone seemed to love riding it.  When both power riders and technical riders like the same course you know you have something special.  With a lot of help from Darrell Edwards of Team Louisville we made some small nice changes to the course from Saturday to Sunday as well.  Again no complaints so it was a success in my eyes.

After 2 days of course set up we were well on schedule before the rains came on Thursday night and into Friday.   Funny that the impact was minimal on a constructed golf course.  Drainage is exceptional.  I also need to give a shout out to Mike Dulin and his mate Grayson who showed up with a landscaping crew on Thursday that allowed us to incorporate some of the changes we made. They mowed and raked and whacked weeds all morning to add some nice spectator viewing areas.

Before race time Mark Luking held a Volunteers meeting down a Louisville Slugger Field getting his crew organized for the weekend.   Mark was the superstar of the weekend, getting the course crew on site to make sure tape stayed up and pretty as well as course crossing volunteers in place. It goes without saying that he brought out his own personal Green Monster flyover and set it up for the weekend.  Mark deserves a huge amount of credit for getting the race to look like it does!

What amazes me in Louisville is that there are a bunch of great cycling clubs and all of them put time into this event to support the growth of Cycling in Louisville.  Even guys like Curtis Tolson, many time National Champion on the road and track, come out to dig ditches and build the course!  They are very proud of their city and cycling community and also very welcoming to all newcomers.

Ok there is a ramble.  As you can tell I like Louisville!   So on to the race.  From my side the racing was great.   Starts were all on time and the organization was better than ever.  I had no heart attack even though some people would like to see that.   For real race coverage you are best off to check out VeloNews.   Fred Dryer was there from VN and also ran our post race press interviews.  I thought he was excellent in his work and it was great to chat with him.  My race perspective was making sure that the course stayed together through some crashes and atttacks.   The barriers at speed provided for some entertainment and nobody lost any teeth.

We had a nice shin dig on Sunday after scrambling to pack up for NJ.  Our new buddy in Kentucky, Mack Shwab (spells his name funny and get no discount at the brokerage) introduced us to his family whiskey.

So now on to New Jersey.  This should be great.  In the heart of Mid-Atlantic cross racing - I'm expecting a great turnout there and I will have to work my ass off to get the course dialed in again.  The Mercer County Parks are working to get everything in top shape and I am looking forward to getting down there.  I will be sure to see where Washington crossed the Delaware this year.  It is just miles from the course and I hear that it is astounding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_State_Park

So we are preparing the course materials and getting it loaded in at the park ready for Race week.  I hope to check in again soon with more!
Cheers
Bruce