I’ll start by saying that I am not historically a good criterium racer. I am lightweight, I don’t have a sprint to save my life, and I’m not super physical. All of these traits work against me when I do decide to race crits. Unlike the previous races in Iowa, Tour of America’s Dairyland (formerly known as Superweek) is 11 days of pan flat crits drawing some of the best talent in the country. This would be my first year racing ToAD and first time racing crits with proper big field sizes. Now, I couldn’t ride from the back to the front in one straightaway so I would have to get more crafty to put myself in a good position.
Day 1: Wauwatosa, WI
A super short 4 corner corse meant that we were doing laps in around 50 seconds which in a 50 minute race meant that we would be doing close to 60 laps total. Racing that course felt like going around a go-cart track except everyone else can’t seem to figure out how to turn. It can be so frustrating for me in some of these races when I know I have the skill to race at higher categories but not the raw power. So when I get frustrated I just ride on the front to stay away from the riff-raff.
For most of the race that was essentially my strategy until the end when I drifted back to go look for my teammate who is a marginally better sprinter than I am in the hopes that I could give him a leadout. But as I was drifting backwards another rider, who would turn out to problematic in the coming days, crossed my front wheel and took me out. This probably could’ve been avoided had I been more aware of who was around me. Even worse for me, as I crashed my bike slid across the road surface destroying the saddle, bar tape, my jersey and consequently taking out my teammate as well. A really face palm moment for me as the teammates who took each other out both hobbled to the medical tent across the road. Not a great start but nevertheless got some good photos pre-crash
Day 2: Racine, WI
Day 2 was a significantly longer and more technical course just a couple miles from my team’s AirBnB on the coast of Lake Michigan. With a 180 degree corner in turn number 2 I knew it would be chaos from the start and if the day’s previous races were any sign of what was to come, crashes would be highly likely. So after a lackluster start I quickly made my way up to the front of the race by the end of lap 1 and stayed there for the first 5 laps or so. After crashing the day before, it was harder to race aggressively with the thought of crashing again still in the back of my mind. So halfway through the race I started to drift backwards ending up in the middle/tail end of the peloton, not the place I needed to be in order to stay safe. In the last 10 laps, a rider from Piedmont’s varsity team sent a flier. Turns out that he races UCI pro XCO races so he had the strength and the skill to stay away which he subsequently did. I stayed in the top 20 for the sprint finish after a sketchy last few corners.
Day 3: Kenosha, WI
This course was wide open and void of any skill required to ride it fast so I knew that it would end in a bunch sprint no matter how hard anyone tried to get away. Nevertheless, it’s always good to send a flyer or two just to see if people are willing to let folks get away and maybe eat up some primes. My teammate griffin is a bigger rider with lots of raw power so we thought that I could help set him up for a flyer in the last 10 laps or so but that didn’t end up working out. We did our best to position ourselves for the sprint but the last 2-3 corners got really really dicy. Griffin almost got sent into a metal fence and I barely squeezed through two riders who almost came together. If anyone fancied themselves a field sprinter it wasn’t going to be me.
Day 4: Suamico, WI
Saturday’s course was arguably just a touch less easy than Friday’s race. While we had some long straightaways similar to the day before, a nearly 180 degree corner similar to Racine’s course provided an opportunity to create gaps and potentially hold a long breakaway. Sometimes on the easier courses, breaks can go simply because the field thinks it will all come back together for a sprint. There is a certain herd mentality that happens in bike races which can make it difficult to race your own race. I knew that after the initial excitement, everything would lull and an opportunity to get away would come. Sure enough, I snuck away with 3 others and managed to stay out for 5 laps. Unfortunately it seemed as though the announcers didn’t want to call any primes for the only cohesive breakaway of the race and instead started calling field primes to try and force the race back together. When this happens, the breakaway almost never stays away and like clockwork we too got reeled back in.
From here, I was pretty spent and knew I wouldn’t have the speed in my legs for a sprint. So I decided to leadout Griffin for a sprint and successfully strung the field out from 4-2 to go. I got the timing wrong and went a lap early which was a bummer because I could see from the back Griffin get swarmed when the bunch slowed down. He still did pretty decent but not where he could’ve been if I had been just a little more patient.
Day 5: De Pere, WI
Last day best day right? I don’t know but when you have to go to work the next day it’s hard to take the same risks you did earlier in the series. But at the same time you can’t just check out of the race either. I can usually take pretty calculated risks during a race and day 5 was no different. A really technical course with a CX style chicane up a surface parking lot meant bad pavement, and a strung out field. I would need to stay in the top 10 wheels or at least be ok moving up through the corners. It was a course that suited my strong bike handling skills and the relatively short distance between the final corner and the finish meant that in the inevitable reduced sprint I wouldn’t lose too much ground.
After dive-bombing into the chicane on lap 1 I made my way into the top 5 and stayed there most of the race. I did miss the winning break but it turns out that after 4 days of high-intensity efforts my legs were pretty cooked and I just wasn’t on it when the move went. From that point, I knew I had the energy for a field sprint but nothing more. After coming into the chicane in the top 15 I only lost 4 positions by the time I crossed the finish line. De Pere is a fun course and one really suited for me and I’d love to come back next year and race it again.
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