I love the Tour of America’s Dairyland-henceforth referred to by the initialism ToAD. It’s an 11 day crit series in the Milwaukee area, and it’s some of the fastest and best run crit racing I’ve ever done. And that’s just Cat 2/3. I was racing five of the days in the middle, as I wasn’t prepared to race all 11 days this year.

I headed down Thursday after work so I could get a little time to settle in at the Madison house. Friday I went to the dentist and visited the new house my parents are building out in Fitchburg, WI. It’s going up crazy fast. Fun Fact: Fitchburg, Wisconsin is bigger in area than the capital city of Madison, Wisconsin.

Anyways, Saturday morning I was off to Grafton, Wisconsin for the first race. Coming into the race I was seeing that the first few days had a lot fewer people than last year. Along with that, I recognized a lot of names that had gotten in the top 15 the first days, and felt like I could be pretty competitive overall.

The race was quite aggressive, but none of the breakaways were lasting very long and I was comfortable surfing wheels and staying in the top 10-15 positions. 5 to go a guy escaped by himself and there was a moment in the front group where everyone just looked at each other, giving him enough time to escape. Through the last corner, which was quite technical, I was about 10th, a bit further back than I wanted, and I rolled in for 11th place and $40.

Sunday was in Waukesha, and I was determined to be aggressive. I was in a couple early moves, including one where I had maybe 15 seconds solo, but I was brought back each time. Towards the end I was sitting further back and a strong move escaped. It was completely gone by the time I made it to the front. Last lap through a corner someone came out super wide and caused me to hit my pedal, (I kept it upright) but I was forth back. Came in 20th, and was disappointed.

In West Bend, my Grandma came and watched me, which was cool. She’s turning 90 in September. I was stoked and aggressive but couldn’t manage a split. Came in 12th in the sprint.

Schlitz park was more of the same-on a course that really suits me, I tried to be aggressive and couldn’t break away for long. It was frustrating, and was proving to be a long standing theme in all of ToAD this year. It’s easy to blame it on my legs, but simultaneously, I think that could be a cop out.

I was aggressive this week-which was a large goal. But it’s not enough to attack and to stay away for a lap or so. I really need to save my energy for one big attempt to break away and to legitimately have a shot of winning. It’s not enough to be aggressive for aggression’s sake.

Port Washington was the last day, and a course that suited me. I focused on a good result, I meditated on it, I knew that this was the course and the day for me. I was going to leave nothing out–today was the day.

When I rolled up to the start, my legs were tired, but ready. The first few times up the climb were tough, but by the third lap my legs started to come around. I started to force splits, to follow moves. It was hard for the next few laps, completely strung out. But when you’re at the front of the race, putting the hurt down, it hurts a whole lot less than when you’re at the back getting dropped.

Finally there was a split, but we couldn’t work together well and were brought back. Two or so laps later was the move. It was four of us, and we got into a good rotation immediately. I was second wheel going into a downhill corner, and the guy in the lead went down. And that was it. I slid on my butt for about 22 feet and destroyed my chamois and that was it. ToAD had come to an end.

I went to the medical to get myself checked out and patched up, and I was ok. Then I drank some chocolate milk, picked up my payouts from the week, went to my car, and cried. I didn’t cry cause I hurt, but I cried because ToAD is my race series, the set of races I base my season around, and I couldn’t pull a single result out.

I’m kind of at a crossroads now. The season more or less winds down in a month, but I’m not even sure if I can scrounge up enough motivation to finish it out. After Collegiate Nationals, I thought my future was set out for me–a great summer crit season, and then a jump to a higher level team for next season. But with my results the way they’re going I didn’t even touch my bike after I got up to Minneapolis until the following Sunday

It’s easy to focus on how you feel day to day when the macroscopic ups and downs are harder to see. That’s what’s interesting about bike racing, and sport in general, and what makes it so hard, and what makes it so beautiful. I love it, but sometimes I don’t. But that’s why I love it.

 

Jack