October 19, 2007 - UCI Cross Under 23 Wins

White Visits Las Vegas, September 26th

Las Vegas, Sin City, was the first UCI race of the season for me, and what a trip. I could have done a better job planning this one, as flying in the morning of the race, and taking a taxi to the venue isn’t really ideal prep. The course was not my favorite, a really simple, thick grassed crit, not much elevation, not a single slippery turn. As soon as the gun went off I felt that lack of sleep from the night before, but it was pretty exciting at least.

Tons of fans came from the trade show (including my friends from Cannondale), the race was under the lights, and the beer taps were flowing. I did my best on a course that didn’t suit me, but ultimately lost places all day to finish 18th, out of the points, and not really a impressive ride by my standards. I left Vegas a bit dejected, thinking I really wasn’t on form for this season yet. The next weekend I had off, a good chance to collect myself and further prepare for the season. I did get a chance to visit the tradeshow, and I enjoyed my time in the Rudy Project booth!

White Pulls Top 10’s at Whitmore’s Landscaping SUPER Cross, UCI, October 6-7

Next up was this 2 race series in beautiful South Hampton Long Island. This is a race I have done really well at in the past, with a couple podiums over the last 3 years but never a win. With the World Champ Erwin Vervecken, and Kona boy’s registered, the win was looking tougher and tougher. I love this course because it’s really technical with lots of elevation.

Both days I was able to make the front groups for a while, with the world champ, I’ll pat myself on the back for that one, but would ultimately fall off the pace and then the second half of the race would be about fighting for best finish possible. On Saturday I held that front group long enough to be dropped off with a nice big gap to buffer loosing anymore spots, and finished 7th on the day.

On Sunday, I had a bit more of a race on my hands, and after the opening lap chaos, I found myself in a group of 5 or 6 guys. With one push of the pace, I limited that down to 3, but then could not separate myself from Greg Reign, and Matt Talouse, so I waited for the sprint and waxed ‘em both, it felt great! I finished 6th as the World Champ dropped out due to a mechanical. I felt much better about this weekend, and felt the form had improved a bit since Vegas, but reminded myself it should probably get worse before it got better.

Driscoll Wins Under 23 Title at Grand Prix of Gloucester, UCI, September 13-14th

White writes: Gloucester, my Achilles heal was up next. These super fast courses with long straights always get the best of me. I typically have some of my worst rides of the year on these courses. But chin up, I did warm up on double Michelin Jets, and they felt GREAT! I can rarely run a Jet up front, but this day was different. I decided my pressure for the day was 36 psi, and Double Jet’s were the choice. Next I visited our friends at Mavic and picked up a brand new set of R-sys wheels, man this day is looking up!

Next, yes there’s more good news, I met our new Mechanical Staff from Landry’s Bike Shop. We had 4 people to help the 4 of us in the pits, and that was fantastic. These guys really knew their stuff too. So off to a great start I hit the line, and off we went. I rode my typically race, hold the front group for 30 minutes or so, tail off because I was blowing up, and TT in, pretty simple really.

I slipped a little bit not holding onto the second group, which was Tim Johnson and Adam Myerson, I just couldn’t hold Tim’s big accelerations, but I did hold everyone else off to take 7th on the day. The big story on the day was Jamey Driscoll and Toby Marzot making the U23 podium together, it’s always fun to see the red train on the podium in mass.

Sunday was a really exciting race, as it was just crazy, not what anyone expected. A crash took Tim Johnson out of the mix early, and Jeremy Powers, Saturday’s winner, was having bike trouble. At one point I was leading the race, which rarely happens in a UCI level event. There were so many shuffles in the top ten riders over the course of the hour race, it was real racing for once. Everyone agreed, it was fun to not have the Kona Boys just crushing everyone from the first lap, that’s not exciting racing in my opinion.

So I was in the front group, I was in the second group, I may have even been in the third group for a while, but in the end I was alone as usual, fighting for my typical 5th – 8th place finish time trial style. I took 7th again. I really enjoyed Gloucester this year, it was a fun weekend of racing, tons of actions, and unexpected happenings. Driscoll put in another great race to win the Under 23 classification for the 2nd day in a row!

From now on, I will make a major effort to stay more on top of my race reports, as they will more interesting if I can take a little time each week to write something up, rather than writing 2-3 laborious pages all at once. Next up is the first MAC (Mid Atlantic Cross) weekend, of Granogue, and Wissa”chicken”. I love Granogue, some might say was first break out ride back in 2004 where I got 8th. I haven’t done that well since at that race, but we all agree, the sport has come a long way since those days. Right now I’m praying for a top 5th spot.