The Tour of America's Dairyland race ended last Sunday (7/1/2012). Now that I have had
a chance to catch up on work, sleep, and general recovery I feel I'm ready to
tell of my experience at America's largest amateur cycling event. Each race is held around the Milwaukee area,
Sheboygan, Fond Du Lac, and Madison Wisconsin. Even if you don’t race, the
scenery is wonderful to behold and there are many events going on around the
race too, it’s a festival like atmosphere. Not to mention the temps were at least 20 degrees cooler than Lincoln
Nebraska.
This
was my second year of doing this event and it was just as fun as the last time.
Ten days of cycling, 8 criteriums and 2 road races with 60 to 100 racers each
day in just the events I participated, Masters 3/4. Each venue had hundreds of
spectators cheering on participants in all the races, starting with the juniors
all the way to the Pro/1’s.
I had
been feeling really good going into this race and was ready to do what I could
to improve on last year’s effort. (11th
overall) The first few days everyone is spry and ready to prove something to
the world, and I was one of them. My plan was to not let any breaks get away
without me. I positioned myself at the front and would jump on any attack.
Unfortunately, everyone else had the same battle plan too and nothing ever got
away except for one day which happened to be the road race. Still feeling
strong I even attempted a few attacks myself to no avail.
Then it
was time for the final sprint. I’m not a sprinter, nor do I pretend to be;
however, I will give my best effort to maintain or try to gain positioning. The
first race of the series had me finishing 10th. First time I’ve ever
finished in the money. I was having good hopes for the series. My plan was to
have a few more of those and finish in the top 10, top 5 if I could finish well
in the pack every day. Rest of the
series I would slowly give up positions as I could feel the toll all the races
were taking on my legs. I think I did well in keeping my position at the front
of the pack (top 10) throughout the race, but always on the last lap I lost my
aggression. There were at least three crashes in my race every day this year,
this made me edgy. There is nothing like crashing in the middle of a long race
series and then having to go home with a busted bike or body. This happened to several riders this year.
Day 5
was Schlitz Park. This criterium has one huge hill, think Iowa City Cap Crit
hill extending 2 blocks, and a very technical descent. I really wanted to do
well at this race, but alas it wasn’t meant to happen. My problem is that if I
get to the front of a race with a hill in it, I am terrible at pacing myself up
a hill. For whatever reason, I treat each time up as a hill sprint. This is
what I did the first few laps of the race. Slowly but surely, I got popped off
the back. Just as I was finally getting a rhythm and making up a lot of lost
ground, the front of the pack was too close to my backside and was pulled from
the race. Even though I placed 22nd, I decided to wallow in my own
self-pity for a while and rode over to Lake Michigan. I wanted to take a long
ride off a short pier; however, you are not allowed to ride your bicycle on the
pier there, so I opted to sit on the rocks for a while. After a while, the cool
water was too enticing to ignore and decided to jump in for a bit. Oh boy, that
was cold, but it felt so good and seemed to have rejuvenated me a little.
Rest of
the week went fairly well. Wednesday’s road race was not playing nice with me
either and decided to just ride it out at a steady tempo. Frustration was beginning to take hold of me.
The
final two days of racing, Downer Ave and Madison, were finally upon me. Where
did the week go? Downer Ave is a touchy race for me; weekend warriors show up
with fresh legs and gutsy attitudes, which do not make a good combination for
this course, and the road is very rough in several spots. The second turn is slightly off camber and
greater than 90 degrees turning. Riders have a tendency to sprint to the turn,
then jamb on the brakes to make the turn, sometimes chopping the corner in front
of other riders too. Last year there were three wrecks, this year the tally
went up to well over a half dozen. Thankfully, I was able to avoid all of them.
After the final turn it is a long way to the finish line and on the last lap it
became apparent as I was trying to hold my position and thinking that it was
never going to end.
Final
day in Madison and I’m feeling good and slightly sad that it’s going to be
over. This is a simple square course with a nice little kicker of a hill
between turns three and four. We arrived in plenty of time to warm up and get
some laps in in between races. I mounted my trusty steed and it felt like I had
suspension on my saddle. I pull over and notice that the carbon rails on my
fizik saddle were snapped between the nose and mounting brackets. Apparently
all those chuck holes I had been hitting at Downer Ave caused the rails to give
way. Not good. Thankfully, the Team Mack mechanic had a spare saddle I could
use. A few minutes later and it was good to go.
A
little over halfway through the race, I saw a friend, Lami, go off on an
attack. I got on his wheel and let him know I was there and we were good to go
to try and break away. When we came across the line they announced a $50 prime.
Lami looked at me and said, “Go!!! It’s yours!” So I went and I didn’t stop, I
wanted this. Take it I did and by a considerable gap too. Then I so wanted the pack to catch back up to me so I could get some rest for the final nine laps.
I
tucked myself in and held my own all the way to the finish. The bonus side was that no one crashed the
entire race.
It took
a while for the results to be posted and I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I
ended up 5th overall. It might not seem like much, but to me it was
an accomplishment I didn’t think I could make this year. Now the bar has been
raised and next year will be another whole new adventure. Hope to see more
Nebraska riders out there next year.
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