Lost USGP lead in Louisville, hopes to secure overall victory in Bend
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Ryan Trebon (LTS-Felt) was well off the leaders pace due to a pre-race knee injury(Image credit: Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net)
USGP series leader Ryan Trebon (LTS Felt) finished the race in agony after competing with an injured knee and would relinquish the leader's jersey to Jeremy Powers.(Image credit: Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net)
Ryan Trebon's injured left knee, two days after a pre-race crash at Sunday's USGP Derby City Cup.(Image credit: Ryan Trebon)
Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) is aware that he will win the race as Ryan Trebon (LTS-Felt) slipped a gear.(Image credit: Dave McElwaine/ www.trailwatch.net)
Ryan Trebon hasn't ridden his bike since finishing 10th on day two of the Exergy US Gran Prix of Cyclocross Derby City Cup on Sunday, but the LTS-Felt rider is optimistic that the knee injury he sustained while pre-riding the course on Sunday won't have any lasting effects. Trebon, who surrendered his USGP lead on Sunday, is hoping to regain the leader's jersey at the series' finale in December.
"I was able to get some physical therapy this morning," Trebon told Cyclingnews on Thursday, while in the midst of a 10-day stint in Florida. "Nothing's broken and I didn't tear any ligaments, it's just a lot of swelling and bruising. I'm bruised pretty much from the middle of my calf all the way up to my crotch.
"I haven't been able to ride yet. I'm going back [to physical therapy] tomorrow morning to get some more treatment on it and hopefully I'll be able to ride in the afternoon for a couple of hours to see how it feels. Right now it's the swelling which isn't giving me any kind of range of motion."
Trebon had already planned the trip to Florida for a respite from the harsher weather in his hometown of Bend, Oregon prior to injuring himself on Sunday.
"I was going to come down here to do some training because the weather's really good. It's warm and sunny versus cold and snowy back in Oregon. It didn't really pan out as well as I hoped, but at least it's someplace nice to sit around and do nothing which is pretty much what I've been doing all week so far."
Trebon entered last weekend's Exergy US Gran Prix of Cyclocross's Derby City Cup with a commanding 42-point overall lead on Jeremy Powers, but events on both Saturday and Sunday contributed to Trebon surrendering the leader's jersey to the Rapha Focus rider.
Trebon finished a frustrating second place to Powers on the opening day of racing at Louisville, Kentucky' Eva Bandman Park, the site of the 2013 cyclo-cross world championships, when a missed shift on the finishing straight cost him an opportunity to sprint head-to-head with Powers for victory.
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On Sunday, however, Trebon's troubles were much more serious as he crashed while pre-riding the course and injured his left knee.
"I was just riding on these little rollers where you pre-jump them a little bit," Trebon said. "It was pretty windy and a big gust of wind kicked my front wheel sideways, I landed a bit off balance and went down pretty heavily on my left knee. It hurt right away and started to swell up almost immediately. I didn't think I was going to be able to race but I iced it a bunch and took some ibuprofen. I got on the trainer and it loosened up a bit, enough to race.
"It was pretty uncomfortable during the race but I got through it. I could still put quite a bit of power out but I couldn't physically lift my leg up. During pedalling when my right foot's going down it was bringing my left foot around. It was just I couldn't lift my leg up over the barriers or up the stairs so I was really having to limp through that. It was a really sharp, uncomfortable pain."
Trebon nonetheless persevered to finish in 10th place, but the rangy rider dropped to the ground almost immediately after crossing the line. Clearly in pain, Trebon had to be lifted back up to his feet by Dusty LaBarr, Trebon's mechanic and co-owner of the LTS-Felt team.
Trebon had finished off the podium for the first time in six USGP events and as a result lost his leader's jersey to defending series champion, Jeremy Powers, by six points. Trebon had held the lead since the start of the eight-race national series. Only two rounds remain in the USGP, the Deschutes Brewery Cup on December 10-11 in Trebon's hometown of Bend, Oregon. Prior to that Trebon will race in Iowa's Jingle Cross on the final weekend of November.
"It's a little disappointing because I had a pretty good lead in the series going into last weekend," said Trebon. "To go into the weekend with a 42-point lead and leave with a negative six deficit is never a good thing, but it could have been a lot worse. That I was able to race on Sunday makes it possible that I can win the overall series once we get to Bend, otherwise it would have been an almost insurmountable lead.
"I'll be here (Florida) until next Friday then I'm going to go to Iowa for Jingle Cross. It's a little bit of down time I didn't want to take but I'm going to take it for what it is, get a little bit of recovery in, do a lot of training when I can and get ready for Bend and the rest of the season."
Based in the southeastern United States, Peter produces race coverage for all disciplines, edits news and writes features. The New Jersey native has 30 years of road racing and cyclo-cross experience, starting in the early 1980s as a Junior in the days of toe clips and leather hairnets. Over the years he's had the good fortune to race throughout the United States and has competed in national championships for both road and 'cross in the Junior and Masters categories. The passion for cycling started young, as before he switched to the road Peter's mission in life was catching big air on his BMX bike.
