ToAD - Sheboygan

This was one of the wettest days I've spent on my bike. When we arrived, it was only drizzling a little bit. After checking in, I went over to the medic's to get a new wrap for my arm that was race safe. It looked pretty sweet. Very Euro!



By the time we would have gone for a warm-up ride, the sky opened up and poured on us. We decided to jump back into the truck and stay warm instead of properly warming up the legs. About 25 minutes before the start of our race, I got out to go pee and try to get my legs warm. I spent the next few minutes shivering while my body got used to the cold and wet and my big engine got warmed up. By the time I hit the start line, I was actually pretty warm. During the time we were standing on the line, many of the racers started shivering again. Knowing that all of the corners would be slippery, the field actually went a little slower than usual for the first few laps while we were figuring out the turns. About 4 laps in, I saw one of the Team Extreme guys I know, Andrew Rossa, laying on the ground in the line that I was taking in turn 1. To avoid a more serious crash, I tried to get around him by slowing down and turning. Instead of getting by him cleanly, I ended up falling near him. I checked both my bike and myself, all good, and then grabbed it and ran back to the SRAM Neutral Support guys to take my free lap. The more I race, the more I value the free lap. Once back in the race, I started working back towards the front.

During the race, I noticed a lot of guys falling and crashing. I started thinking that this would really be a race of attrition. With about 10 laps to go, I went on a solo flyer off the front and stayed off for a little over a lap before a few other guys caught me to tell me we were in a break. I moved to the back of the breakaway group to rest a bit. Within another lap the field was back together. I started trying to find some guys who were willing to try for another breakaway in the final laps. I knew that a breakaway would have a greater likelihood of survival in the conditions. I learned quickly that there were guys in the field who were scared to challenge the big dog on the front of the group, guys who just wanted to stay upright, and few willing to chance it. By 3 laps to go, I had a 2 other guys willing to take a chance. I hammered to get us off the front, but by the time the second guy rolled through, I had nothing left in the tank. The field sucked me back in and I settled in to finish with the field. I ended up 14th on the day and Chris took 34th. At some point, Chris got pulled. He thinks that the officials lost track of who was on what lap. In their defense, it was a mess out there and they were trying to grab guys off the course before too many dangerous things happened.

Today, we have Fond du Lac in what should be a dry race. It should be flat and fast.

Happy Racing!