Arrival in Louisville
Today was a short travel day for the Vic's boys, so Mike let Joe "sleep in" until 7 AM. After breakfast and the espresso pit stop, they were headed east again by 8:30. They were running ahead of schedule, so they swung by an Illinois winery that was close to the interstate to taste a couple of samples and pick up a couple bottles of the local offerings.
They pulled into the New Albany, Indiana Hampton Inn, their home for the next several days, about 1 PM. After tossing a few things into their room, they headed out to Taylorsville, Kentucky to check out the time trial course.
The 14.4 mile course gently curves through country hills, on a wide divided parkway with no tree cover to offer shade. The on-line course profile claims maximum grades of 3%, but Joe's new Garmin was claiming 4 and 5% grades on some of the climbs. The course seems similar to the Record Racer TT course on US 36 between Lyons and Boulder.
After riding the course, the boys mopped off, changed clothes, and headed to downtown Louisville to grab some dinner on the "Fourth Street Live" pedestrian mall. The boys then headed over to race headquarters at the Galt Hotel to check in, pick up their race packets, and have their TT bikes checked against the UCI jig.
The USA Cycling official in charge of bike checking was a no-show, but another official gave his best opinion on bike set-ups. Joe's seemed okay, with his bar extensions right at the legal limit, but Mike's saddle was too far forward to meet the 5 cm setback rule. After grabbing some tools from the van, Mike slammed the seat back as far as the seat post would allow, and it seemed to pass muster.
Arriving back at the hotel near sunset, the boys unloaded their luggage and settled in for the night. Racing for the Vic's contingent starts tomorrow with Mike's 2 PM road race; Joe and Brian compete in the road race on Tuesday at 2 PM, with all time trials following on Wednesday. After that, a well-deserved break before the criteriums later in the week.
Today was a short travel day for the Vic's boys, so Mike let Joe "sleep in" until 7 AM. After breakfast and the espresso pit stop, they were headed east again by 8:30. They were running ahead of schedule, so they swung by an Illinois winery that was close to the interstate to taste a couple of samples and pick up a couple bottles of the local offerings.
They pulled into the New Albany, Indiana Hampton Inn, their home for the next several days, about 1 PM. After tossing a few things into their room, they headed out to Taylorsville, Kentucky to check out the time trial course.
The 14.4 mile course gently curves through country hills, on a wide divided parkway with no tree cover to offer shade. The on-line course profile claims maximum grades of 3%, but Joe's new Garmin was claiming 4 and 5% grades on some of the climbs. The course seems similar to the Record Racer TT course on US 36 between Lyons and Boulder.
After riding the course, the boys mopped off, changed clothes, and headed to downtown Louisville to grab some dinner on the "Fourth Street Live" pedestrian mall. The boys then headed over to race headquarters at the Galt Hotel to check in, pick up their race packets, and have their TT bikes checked against the UCI jig.
The USA Cycling official in charge of bike checking was a no-show, but another official gave his best opinion on bike set-ups. Joe's seemed okay, with his bar extensions right at the legal limit, but Mike's saddle was too far forward to meet the 5 cm setback rule. After grabbing some tools from the van, Mike slammed the seat back as far as the seat post would allow, and it seemed to pass muster.
Arriving back at the hotel near sunset, the boys unloaded their luggage and settled in for the night. Racing for the Vic's contingent starts tomorrow with Mike's 2 PM road race; Joe and Brian compete in the road race on Tuesday at 2 PM, with all time trials following on Wednesday. After that, a well-deserved break before the criteriums later in the week.
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