Disappointment

Tour of America's Dairyland is OVER! I raced this past weekend in Milwaukee on Downer on Saturday. The weather was perfect for me, not windy and temps in the low 70's. I had family and friends that came down to watch.

Race went like this for me, started about 3 rows back and when we started I was able to clip in right away and move up quickly. I stayed to the front the best that I could and found it quite easy to move up. At one point there were 3 guys up the road and I managed to bridge up to them and pull ahead hoping to start a break. These guys were just going for the prime, oh well, was feeling good. We were getting close to the finish about 4-6 laps left (I have heard both), but anyways in turn one I was behind my team mate and I heard yelling at the guys in front of him and then I crossed his wheel BAD, I went down and tucked holding me head as I got pelted in my back and piled onto. Free laps are over and so was the race, well at least for me and a few others.

I took a look at my bike and my lever was moved 90 degrees inward, both my wheels are out of true, my rear derailleur is bent, and who knows what else is wrong with it. I gave my bike to shop owner John Timm to take to the shop and have them fix it. Not sure when I will be getting it back, but hopefully soon. For myself, I have road rash on my left elbow, left hip, left shoulder and big bruise on my back, but hey no broken bones and I didn't injure my hand or wrist. So, that is good.

Not sure what to think about this criterium racing, well at least T.o.A.D.'s 2/3 category. I think I might have to change my mind set and start racing races that I think I can win. What does that mean, well this year for WCA races I have been racing much harder races using them more for training and not concentrating on winning. Been racing M1,2,3 and P1,2,3, I only raced one Cat.3 race in the series and really haven't done that many WCA races total, well, not like in the past years.

So, do I try to get upgrade points by racing M3/4 and Cat. 3 races in WCA, and hope to hold onto the P1,2 field next year, or just skip T.o.A.D. races next year?

Upcoming races, WCA TT and State Criterium Championship? Depends on when I get my bike back and how much it will cost me to fix it.

Later

T.o.A.D. (Thiensville, Grafton, Waukesha)

Team Extreme hosted the Thiensville race for T.o.A.D. This is also the same team I race for. I was there early helping set up and was there late helping flag and clean up. The weather was perfect! The course was new this year and I loved it, 6 corner course with a very slight ascent on the back side. For the ToAD races I am racing Cat.2/3 which is new this year. Last year the Cat. 3's where seperate. Having this new category has upped our pace a bit. So, anyways onto the race, I had a terrible starting position. The race started fast and stayed fast for the most part, and there were also a lot of crashes. I was behind a pretty bad crash on the start/finish straight and had to ride onto the sidewalk to avoid it. There was a bike that was flying through the air that wanted to take me out, but I was fortunate to avoid it. By the time I got back on the road I couldn't chase back on. I should have tried to get a free lap, but didn't think of it until a lap later. I then hooked up with 2 other guys and we were working well together, but not enough to catch the field and we were eventually pulled. You are welcome for my donation! I was hoping that riding with 2's would make the racing more strung out and safer, but that is not the case.

Grafton race, weather again was perfect, well at least for me. No crashes in this race that I recal, just one person getting a flat and trying to get out of the field in the last turn. I was on the front once for a 1/4 of a lap and I felt good, but couldn't get to the front at the end of the race, finished 36th.

Waukesha race, weather was 100% humidity, this made it a little bit harder to breath. I did feel ok, but not great, and never really got to the front. Avoided the crashed here too, so finished rubber side down, this is always a good thing. Finished 33rd.

I am not racing again until this weekend, Downer and Madison. Looking forward to it and looking to stay upright and get a little bit better results.

Later