SRAM Men dominated the podium at another great opening weekend at the USGP races in Louisville, KY. check out the pics in the Flickr file capturing the two events, I’ve also loaded some fun videos in the previous posts.  SRAM riders Johnson, Powers, Anthony, and Rachel Lloyd all stood on the awards podiums sometime during the weekend. In fact for the Men, 2nd thru 7th were all SRAM riders and day two SRAM riders took the top six spots overall. A great reflection of both the domination of our athletes and the durability of the componentry.

The SRAM Most Aggressive Riders from day one were Rachel Lloyd (Proman) and Jesse Anthony (Jamis), both showed incredible determination just hanging with on or near the front when the odds were staced against them. On day two the SRAM Most Aggressive Riders were Coloradan Joey Thompson, who moved up from 46th to finish inside the top 15. Throughout the race we paid attention to the battle that was brewing between Thompson and Ben Raby, who was burying himself in a group just behind the leaders. Raby even spoke to me about it before the race started, saying he was focusing on it. Both riders earned it but Thompson finished one ahead of Raby and his start number was three positions back. Regardless, as I told Raby, that was some of the best riding I had ever seen and one of the internal battles that kept you interested, aside from the obvious fight for first. Newcomer to Cross but 3x Crit National Champ Lara VanGilder took the Women’s Most Aggressive Award with some serious moving up action, gaining nearly 30 positions during day two’s event.

Overall it was just great weather, great racing, great crowds, and another successful event. Thanks to all the folks that raced and took a moment to stop by the SRAM booth. Also a big thanks to Butch Balzano and Jose Alcala, who took care of anyone and everyone in the SRAM Neutral Race pits.

See everyone in Jersey in a few weeks.