If you’ve ever raced a bike in the Midwest – nay, the U.S. – there is a chance you have seen a photo from Ethan Glading, or his alias, @thepenultimatestage. Ethan takes some nice photos and is also a really nice person. We were fortunate enough to have him capture some moments of our races this past weekend at the Derby City Cup and PanAm (is this one word or two?) Championships, in LO-VUL, KY.
The races were a jump back up to heavy competition after two race weekends of split fields: many of the top dawgs rested while we raced in D.C., and many of those same folks raced in Cincinnati on the same weekend that we raced in NJ. But mostly everyone (with the exclusion of some West Coast racers) was in Louisville for PanAms, ready for me to avert eye contact when coming out of the porta-potty.
The course was A+. It was UCI quality, heightened by the mud each day. Sharp downhill off camber turns in the mud and long slog uphills through the mud, and riding through the mud that the pit created in order to wash mud from your bike in the pit, were some notable course features.
Louisville as well, is always a lovely city to visit. The cycling culture there is welcoming, the architecture is beautiful, and it’s not hard to get a good espresso and also see some fall colors while you’re at it. Overall a really fun weekend of racing, and we’re confident nationals in Louisville is going to be a great success.
But without further ado, we’ll provide you a race report, as narrated by the roadie versions of ourselves.
“ok so this doesn’t look so bad”
“wait what the hell is this”
“I look so thin. I can’t race a crit like this. Power to weight ratio = too low.”
“I grew this face mole for you last night, Lily. I hope you like it :)”
“oh my god”
“last time I did this it was at North Star when I was right behind that dude who crashed in corner 3”
“I literally just polished my shoes >:(”
“can someone tell my why these hoods are so high?”
“sand on the road!! sand!”
“I started road cycling to replace my career as a runner”
“the best climbers have the smoothest pedal stroke with quick turnover. dudes in front of me – pedaling squares”
“I’ve got a small gap!!!!”
“reminds me of that 5 hour road race where I was in the break and no one would stop to go to the bathroom”
“that wheel is MINE”
“excuse me what are you doing?”
“look at this cool trick thing now where is that girl’s draft I can’t find it”
“they just announced a crowd prime”
Thanks for reading y’all, and stay tuned for our podcast, coming before the end of the week I promise maybe.
Pony Shop CX Team 