My Second Day at Tour of America's Dairyland at Waukesha

Spending half the race off the front with the Murf

Waukesha (day 4, roster: Max, Clay, Matt, Cory, Brandon, Myself)

Heading into my second day of ToAD, my excitement grew.  This was also one of the two NCC races going on in Wisconsin this weekend.  More money up for grabs and faster competition. 

During my pre-race lap, I found the course to be very well suited to the style of racing that I excel in. A long slight uphill would create some difficulty for many riders, plus some fast tricky corners would prevent swarming of the front.

I got a poor starting position and ended up at the back of the group. Still, I was confident in my ability to move up, and knew I could get up to the front to help my team in the early laps. As the race started I did not panic, and I was able to move towards the front with more ease than I had anticipated. Once I got near the front, I worked with Max and covered a few early moves that were trying to get some separation from the field. As I fell back to recover a bit, I was able to find Matt and Clay who were riding near each other near the front. I was able to easily stay on their wheels because the difficulty of the course was already stringing things out, keeping the bunch from swarming me and my teammates. 

At this point in the race, two riders have gotten off the front and the pack was chasing full-throttle.  Many riders were trying to create some sort of separation from the peloton and bridge to the leaders. I unexpectedly got in a 4-man chase group with Clay shortly after a brief lull in the pace. The four of us bridged to the leaders after two or three fast laps, making the total group up to six. The six of us got in a quick rotation, and opened up some daylight on the chasing peloton. Before I knew it, I was in the “Break of the Day.”  We worked well together to try to stay away from the pack.. The clock ticked as the laps were counted down. I was working hard yet, I felt  comfortable. It was only a matter of time until the promoters would start ringing the bell for some prime laps, and I knew I needed to jump after them if I was in any sort of position. I got 2^nd on two primes, and Clay was able to get one for the team over the next few laps. Surprisingly everyone in the group stayed together and we were still working relatively smooth with one another. Before long Andrew Dalheim (teammate in 2010) joined us as he bridged across solo from the peloton. With the extra set of legs in the group, our time gap away from the peloton started to increase. However, I could feel that my pulls were limited. The pace was very jumpy now as riders in the break started attacking each other. I would eventually fall of the pace as the break was cut in half with about 6 laps to go. 

Clay would stay off the front but was captured with about 2 laps to go. Brandon would then follow up in the sprint to get 7^th place. Another top 10 for the team!

This race would mark the first time I got myself into some sort of break at an NCC or NRC level. It felt good to be able to help my team more today then I have in several of the past few races I have been in. I know I am strong enough to ride at the front of these races, but I am just still learning the ropes of a professional peloton. I had an awesome time flexing my legs, and I plan to do it many more times in the upcoming races!