Tour of America’s Dairyland
I’m back from my home state of WI. I love WI, especially in the summer. Matt Muyers joined me for the first day at Greenbush for the road race, a beautiful course through some great wooded backroads. The course was reversed from last year and now included a long gradual uphill grind to the finish. There were also several climbs but only two that could really force a selection. The rest was rolling over varying roads, some bumpy and rough, others pristine, smooth and narrow. I managed to sneak away in a three-man break near the end of the 2nd lap, roughly 15 miles into the 60 mile race. It was a bit too early for a breakaway but we worked well together and established a nice gap. Soon the Cafe Hollander rider was popped and there were only two of us remaining but, with a long ways to go, I didn’t want to invests too much in the effort so I only did my share. A small chase group was forming behind us, including Chris Halvorson from IS Corp, so we let up and allowed them to come up to us. Now, with an IS Corp rider (and arguably one of the strongest master’s races in the country) and two others to share the work, I knew the break would succeed. Fearing an attack, I tried to control the tempo on the climbs and it worked. We stayed together until the final lap when the XXX rider attacked on the second climb splitting the group. Chris responded and I hung on his wheel and he brought him back on the descent through the trees. With about 3K to go I was stuck in second covering another attack and knew Chris was behind me waiting to jump. With about a K to go he did and I tried to react but he had three bike lengths before I could get up to speed. The finish was a tough uphill on a bumpy road into a headwind. I was worried about cramping in the sprint but hung on for second, albeit barely. My bike toss at the line made the difference! It was pretty cool to get on the podium but I never got a kiss. The podium girl told me that he heals weren’t high enough to reach my on the 2nd step!
Later that night Brian Krueger joined us for Leon’s custard and spent the night at my dad’s place in Oshkosh. We had a fun morning drinking coffee and riding down to check out the marinas on lake Winnebago. Later that day Tracy came to meet me and we headed to Fond du Lac for the 6:00 pm start. As soon as we started I know the leg were there. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had the legs to sit in comfortably and actually make the front and get in a few moves. I was positioned well for the final and feeling fabulous. Unfortunately, with just 300 meters to go when my front derailleur tore of the frame and blew to bits. I was forced to coast it in as the money spots passed my chattering bike by… I found out later that my SRAM Red chainrings were so worn that the chain was lifting off the rings under pressure. I was pretty upset about not being able to sprint but it could have been worse. I could have crashed or broken the frame.
After the race we headed to Milwaukee watching the moon rise and enjoying another beautiful day… Before we checked in a Casa Eccles we hit Piccola Pizza. Yum.
