A couple weeks ago, with the Tour of America's Dairyland (TOAD) fast approaching the legs were showing signs of life. On June 4th, I raced at Fitchburg in the M3/4 and felt pretty good for the first time in a while. I was sliding up the sides easily and even got myself into good position for the last lap. And then turned around and did the M1/2/3 field. I was actually feeling better in that race. My acceleration was OK and because the race was much smoother than the M3/4, I was able to use my energy positively. But it was a hot day, the first hot day of the season, training or racing and started to overheat with 6 or 7 laps to go. A couple more laps and I decided it was a good time to have a hefeweisen (one of my home brews, of course) and watch the races.
Friday, June 17th was the start of the TOAD races out in Thiensville. Last year, I won a 6-pack of race entries to the TOAD series and signed up for the first 3 in the Masters3/4 field. It was a tight twisty course and I knew I needed to get to the front to avoid the whip-sawing. About 70 people were on the starting line and well, they all looked too young but perhaps you know how it is - the older you get, the younger they look. Anyway, even with a good start and being up towards the front, there was a LOT of charging into the corners and then hitting the brakes. I tried to be as smooth as I could but too often, someone would jump in front of me and then hit the brakes. I tried to slide inside or out and often passed them back but eventually decided it would be safer to just chill towards the back half of the pack where I did not have to be charging so often. Besides, I have only so many accelerations in me and that number is not nearly what others in the race have. Of course, that puts me potentially behind any crashes and while there were a few dramatic changes of line that got everyone excited, no one went down in front of me. The big mistake I made was with 4 laps to go, I was too timid. No one wanted to be in the wind but everyone wanted to be the 4th or 5th wheel. That meant that coming into the corners, you had a 3 or 4 people at the front and then everyone else spread out across the road. And those folks had to then sort themselves out going into the corner. I had been watching this for the last few laps and with 4 to go, I knew I should have jumped around the group and gone to the front - and I easily could have - but that would have meant fighting to maintain position for the last 4 laps - something I was not sure I had the fitness to do. So , I decided I would do it NEXT lap. OOPS! Should have known better. The folks at the front decided to ramp it up on the next lap and I did not have the opportunity to jump to the front for the rest of the race. So instead, I was content to keep it smooth and keep my eyes open to avoid any last lap crashes.
Saturday, June 18th was at Grafton. I forgot how much I like that course. In some respects it was like Thiensville with an "S" section but much looser and so one could slide up in the corners easily. But I had a lousy start. Could not get clipped in and found myself at about the back of an 85 or 90 person pack. #%$! Then just as I started to roll, got caught behind a crash. I perhaps should have had the presence of mind to "fall down" and take a free lap but instead chased after coming to essentially a standstill. For the next few laps, I was back in the cheap seats and thougnt I was gonna be dropped. Fortunately, there were others behind me and I rode a few of them as best I could and then started to slide the corners to move up towards the middle of the pack so that I was no longer tail-gunning. Still in survival mode but the precipice was edging away. Then, unexpectedly, I started to feel good! I got out of the saddle, charged up the little ride on the back side and sid through on the inside of the next corner and up towards the front of the pack where Tom Hooyer and David Bloome were. With Tom's help, I stayed up towards the front and thought we were in good position with 1 to go but then got blocked in as a bunch of folks came up the side and had to settle for mid 20s position. And good enough to be the top 55+ finisher.
Sunday, June 19th was a different story. This race was at Waukesha, another technically demanding course. Again starting position was going to be important and when they staged the M3/4 field, I found myself at the back. And thoug I had a good start, I really needed to be up further in the field. There was an off camber turn that had a lot of people hitting the brakes coming into and then accelerating out of to make up for the gap they just opened. They might have that acceleration - not me! After just a few times being stuck behind a couple of the strong, timid types, I was hosed. Off the back. At least I was not the only one and got in a little chase group almost immediately and we rolled thru for the next bunch of laps, picking up a few more stragglers. Amazing how much easier it was when I was not braking into the corners!
And I had to finish. I was in contention for the overall prize in the 55+ group. And despite being off the back, there were other 55+ folks behind me and only one in front. What to do, what to do. With a relatively few number of 55+ folks in the M3/4 field, the overall prize is more a matter of showing up, rather than placing as points are awarded 20 for first, 19 for second, 18 for 3rd and so on. If only 3 55+ folsk show up, finishing 3 laps down still gets you 18 points for the race. Despite this, I decided that it would be stupid for me to race today (Monday) in the road race. Time for a rest day. The Tuesday race will be hard enough being a little rested! And we shall see what we shall see for the rest of the week. At least I am having fun, something I was not so sure of when I was getting dropped unceremoniously in the early season.
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