For starters, not the prettiest of days, but this is cyclocross racing and there really isn't anything pretty about it. Here is Yancey's MEECH after a quick spray at the World Cyclocross Championships. It was a brutal day for everyone. I think the pit guys had it almost as rough as the racers did. Larry was changing bikes every half lap and luckily he had an old friend in Nate Rice, who was a mechanic in Jonesboro for a while, helping him out. Nate is a pro cyclocrosser as well as mechanic and his race is coming up I believe today in the Masters 30-35 or 35-39, I'm not exactly sure but either class will be pro level competition. Anyway, Larry got a front row start after a good qualifying race on Tuesday and I think he got a decent start off the line in the main but the course was such a mess that the race was basically up for grabs for whoever had the least problems I suppose. Larry did say that it was a day for the guys who produced big horsepower and could just power through the slop. They had winds gusting around 35-40 mph as a chain of storms was blowing across the central states these past few days. Apparently by the end of the first lap Larry's front wheel wasn't evening spinning and I'm guessing those guys were running even more than they were riding. Definitely not my kind of race. I never was big on riding in the mud be it on bicycles or motorcycles. I always felt like you didn't get a chance to show your true ability or speed, however I guess if I would've won a mud race then i would be happy about it. Some guys are just naturally good in the mud and I take my hat off to them. I really admire all you guys who get out there in this slop and put the hammer down. Its super-hard work and its about as rough as you can be on a bicycle's components. Larry spent quite a few hours and days prepping both of these bikes for the race and now he's gonna have to tear 'em all down and clean 'em all up after a 45 minute race.
These are photos taken by Nate and his crew in Louisville that were posted on Facebook so I kinda stole these. Even though the bike doesn't look so bad here I think it was the kind of mud that they were racing in that made it so bad. All mud is not created equal.
Thats looks to be about a 5 lb. blob of Kentuckey mud covering up Larry's new TRP mini V-brakes. They're red as you can see. After building the bike up he took it for a couple of training rides and said the brakes are awesome. Unfortunately slowing down wasn't a real problem in Louisville.
How do you race a bicycle when the front wheel won't spin? Can it even be considered a bike race? Oh yeah, it's not a bike race, its a cyclocross race. That MEECH headbadge looks good though.
This is half, if not more, of a rider's race this year at Louisville. If you don't have a couple of bikes I think you're in trouble.
This is Nate looking a little dapper. Larry said he couldn't have done it without his help so thanks go out to Nate and all the others who helped out. Larry managed a top-10 finish this year and I know he was training for a podium spot all year long so I'm sure he wasn't completely happy about 10th overall but on days like this you can finish
anywhere if you even manage to finish at all. Bottom line is he just put in another hard race at the World Cyclocross Championships. If you are into cyclocross at all this was the place to be. People are traveling from all over the states and other countries as well to ride in this mess, unbelievable. Larry was there grinding it out, sporting the MEECH logo for me as he does all year long and I appreciate it. I have to give a bow to all the racers giving it a dig in Louisville and to the pit crews as well. Thanks for lending me the photos Nate and I hope you have a good race this year.
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