December 14, 2004 - Win for Huseby

Johs Huseby did some New England races as part of his final preparation for Nationals and came up with a win in Lowell.

Huseby Wins BRC/Slick Willy Cyclocross - Lowell, MA , Dec 5th

This was a first time event and very close to home. I had told myself that I was only going to race today if I felt good when I woke up. I did! I drove to the race with my friend and competitor Adam Hodges Myerson. We got there and there was a very small field signed up for our race, but nonetheless, the course was laid out and we came to race. The course was twisty, technical, and rolling, but mostly dry.

We started slowly so we could let the other guys stay with us for a little while. We didn't want to ride by ourselves the whole race. We slowly separated ourselves from the rest taking one guy with us. We then once again separated from him and road a few more laps at a high tempo. We then eased up and he caught us once again. He stayed with us for a bit and then we saw 4 laps to go. Here I lit it up for a lap and a half and Adam stayed with me. I was then waiting for him to take his turn, but he clearly did not want to get in front. I slowed down once again and we took it easy for another lap and he then got on the front.

With a lap to go, we went through the start finish, with me on his wheel - we did a short loop around and then started approaching one of the more challenging portions of the course - a steep long run-up. I attacked very hard 150 feet from the barrier at the bottom and sprinted up the hill and kept going hard. I took a U-turn and saw that I had a comfortable gap and pushed the pace to the finish feeling great - coming up with a win! Nationals is next week and I feel like I am in the right place.

Huseby 8th at WE Stedman Grand Prix, South Kingston, RI, Dec 4th

This was the final race of the Verge New England Championships Cyclo-cross Series. The night before we had our team Christmas party where all sorts of savory Italian delicacies were served. There was plenty of fuel in the tank from the previous night's dinner to keep me going today. I had won this race before and really like the venue. It was a solid field and the temperature was cold. The course was mostly dry which meant we most likely would not have to be changing bikes. The start was fast and Jeremy Powers - just back from Belgium took the hole shot and was really driving it up front. Before too long, a small group of us joined him at the front.

I was able to stay there for a little while and then slowly settled in unable to hold their wheels. I ended up in a small group of 3 and took several turns at the front and then made some efforts to attack to separate it out. I was only able to shed one and it left us with two of us fighting for 8th and 9th. As we were making our way around on the last lap, we saw Adam Craig going slowly - a flat (second one in two weeks) and this was the opportunity to gain another spot and more UCI points. I was unable to catch the rider in front of me, and clinched 8th spot.