The US Pro races are coming soon

I can’t believe that it is already the end of August, but the US Pro Championship races are right around the corner. Just as I have for the past two years, I will be photographing both the time trial and road race and will post the shots to my Flickr account soon after the races. This year, I know of a few other bike bloggers who are going to be in town for the races. DL Byron and the guys from BikeHugger, Frank from TdFblog, Briggs from Euro Peloton, and most likely Ken from Spare Cycles and Cyclodro.me will all be here over Labor Day weekend. This last one isn’t a bike blog, but I also know that Olivier from The Brand Builder blog will be out photographing the races as well. I am sure that there are other bloggers coming to cover the races that I don’t know about, so let me know if I am missing anyone. It would be great to get together for a bike blogger meet-up either Friday night or Saturday afternoon after the time trial. Also, if you don’t have a blog but are a regular reader who plans to be at the races, let me know. It would be great to meet some of you. I will update the post when we have a time and place set for the meet-up.

Update 8/27: The bike blogger meet-up will take place on Saturday, August 30th, 5pm at Barley’s Taproom in downtown Greenville. Meet us there if you are in town.

Also for the 3rd year in a row, I will be participating in the Palmetto Peloton Project Stars and Stripes Challenge ride, which is held on the road race course on Sunday morning just prior to the pro race. It is a fun event and it is for a great cause- to raise funds for the Greenville Hospital System Oncology Research Institute and the Lance Armstrong Foundation- so consider doing the ride if you are going to be in town. You can still register for the ride at the P3 website. If you won’t be in town for the ride, but still wish to contribute, you can go to the secure donation page of the P3 website. Scroll down to pick James Thomas in the “choose a rider to support” box and go from there.

For more information about the races and events taking place on race weekend, check out this article at the Daily Peloton. It is going to be a great weekend of cycling and racing. I hope to see some of you here in Greenville.

Photo: one of my shots of Levi Leipheimer on the way to victory in last year’s road race.


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11 responses to “The US Pro races are coming soon”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Will Levi be back to defend his title?

  2. James Avatar
    James

    Anon, no Levi will be here. He will be in Spain for the Vuelta. The big names confirmed for the US Pro race are Hincapie, Zabriskie, Vande Velde, Rodriguez (I am sure that I am forgetting some). I won’t list all the well known guys from the domestic circuit, but most of them will be here too.

    The timing is bad coming off the Olympics and competing with the Vuelta, but it still should be a good race.

  3. James Avatar
    James

    Oops, I meant to say Levi will NOT be here

  4. Euro Peloton Avatar
    Euro Peloton

    James,

    Are you sure> I don't have it that Levi has definitely said no to US Pros . . . . yet.

  5. James Avatar
    James

    No, I am not sure, but I thought he planned to race the Vuelta after Beijing. I could be wrong though. I probably should have just said that he is not confirmed to be at US Pros at this point.

  6. ps Avatar
    ps

    Levi is confirmed by Team Astana to be participating in Vuelta a Espana, which begins same weekend as USA Cycling Pro Championships. David Zabriskie is confirmed to defend the ITT, and the RR will have a full field.
    -ps

  7. Ron Avatar
    Ron

    James :

    Do you know how that 22 mile course is like?

  8. James Avatar
    James

    Thanks PS, I saw the confirmation today too. I guess I just spoke a few hours too soon yesterday.

    Yeah Ron, it is actually a loop that I ride pretty often. It is generally hilly with one big climb over Paris Mountain. Go here for a map with an elevation profile.

  9. spokejunky Avatar
    spokejunky

    Sucks about Levi, but I’m sure he’s looking for some Tour redemption.

    I’ll be down at Fork Shoals on Saturday morning for the state amateur races, but I’ll be up in the evening on Saturday. Staying across the skreet from one of the race hotels so I can whore some team mechanic photos. I’ll be at the Peloton Project ride Sunday morning and camping out on Paris for the first two or three laps.

  10. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Hello, my name is Mike and i want to say that i love you blog, it is very interesting.Good luck

    P.S: every day o read you blog

  11. James Avatar
    James

    Spokejunky, good luck at the state championship race Saturday morning. Say hi if you see me at the races or the 3P ride. You can recognize me from the picture that was in BikeBiz.

    I’ll keep an eye out for that pink BMX bike, but I am assuming you might be riding something different.

    Thanks Mike, glad you like the blog.

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