Another edition of the USA Professional Championships is in the books, and I will once again be waiting for another shot at the title in a few months time.  Thankfully, the event is remaining in Greenville for the next two years and is moving to a new time-slot in the month of May.

Greenville once again proved to be a worthy host to the championships.  Each of the past five editions has seen wins from a number of fashions.  From sprints to long solo breakaways, a worthy winner has always been crowned here.  This year’s race was made even more unpredictable with the race radios being banned from the riders.  This added to the confusion, and forced teams to remain together at all times in order to communicate.

Ben King is a very deserving winner after the effort he put in yesterday.  Blazing temperatures wore down on the sluggish field throughout the day.  In the beginning, talk was of how slow and easy the race was.  “Easier than an training ride,” was heard throughout the bunch during the first hour of the race.  After that, there were few left in the race with the energy to do much talking.

It was a strange race, to say the least.  The required effort needed to close the gap to the leaders came far too late in the race.  Since not a single team was willing to take control of the race when it was still within reach, the gap to the leaders skyrocketed without them having to put much effort in.

I leave the race with mixed emotions.  I am happy to have the event in my hometown and proud to have such wonderful fans.  Yet, I am also happy to have the week behind me.  So much stress throughout the week, to just watch the race roll up the road minutes after we started.

If there is one thing that has been made obvious this week, the organization running these two ProTour races in Canada knows exactly how an event should be run.  From the courses to the hotels and transportation, everything has gone perfectly smooth and been top-notch.  The race through the streets of Quebec yesterday was one of the best one-day events I have attended, and this is in its first year.  The crowds were amazing and I feel the riders provided an exciting race.

Quebec is making a big push to host the 2015 World Championships.  The UCI President, Pat Mcquaid, was even on hand to view the course and see how it handled race conditions.  From the riders view, the course might be a little too tight in some sections, and there are a few too many potholes and manhole covers in my opinion.  Plus, adding another five to eight more laps to yesterday’s race and another thirty or so riders would make for a very demanding day on the bike.  Not to mention that the weather in Quebec in early October is questionable at best.

Today the riders and staff are in route to Montreal for the 2^nd race on Sunday.  After an early wakeup call we were all bused to the train station and boarded a chartered train for the 300-kilometer trip.  Like I side, the organization has everything dialed.  Our lives have been made as stress free as possible while here.

This week has seen the arrival, for the first time ever, of the ProTour to North America.  Riders and staff from Europe made the trip across the Atlantic this past Tuesday on a chartered plane from Paris.  A few lucky leaders had the cushy seats of the business class, while the rest were cramped in the back.  Regardless of how they traveled, each is dealing with some serious jetlag at the moment.  Just being around my teammates, I too feel like I traveled from Europe, and I have quickly fallen into the routine of passing out in bed just past 9 o’clock.

The weather in this part of the world at the moment resembles early winter.  Grey skies, passing showers and howling winds are ever present.  With the first race set to take place tomorrow in Quebec City, we are all hoping that the sun is able to push through the cloud-cover.  The course seems to be quite technical and undulating.  And if you threw in some wet conditions the race would be made in a matter of a few laps.

My first impressions of Quebec City so far are all positive.  The city is very beautiful, and is as close to Europe as you can possibly get, maybe too close.  Most locals really believe that this is France, and I have found that they seem to speak even less English than they would even in France.  Quite surprising as I sit in my hotel room watching Al Roker drive a streetcar through New Orleans on the Today Show.