Two For One: Grafton and Sheboygan
Hello dear readers. Let me tell to you the story of woe, adulation, and intrigue that is the Wisonsin Cycling Series. (aka Giro d' Grafton and d' Sheboygan)
Prologue:
It starts with some preliminary drama. Bam! My room mate has my car parked in. I called him all over, but his cell phone was home. Just like his car and motor cycle were. Luckily he left the window open. My other room mate and I shifted it into neutral and rolled it out of the way. The motorcycle was a little more challenging. I'm still sore from that.
But I got the car out, picked up a racing dude, and we were off. And then 94 was down to one lane because of some dumb nature conditions. "Flooding" or whatever. But with perseverance, we prevailed over all that crap.
Grafton:
Awesome race. The plan was that Ryan and I would go for all the early primes, and then block for Jason's break with four to go. I got the first prime. It was a massage prime, so I don't think people were feeling too motivated. I wasn't feeling nearly as good for the next one, $50. Despite being denominated in US dollars, there was still significant interest in this prize. I was nowhere.
Deep in the middle of the race, I found myself behind a Baraboo Shark way on the inside of the final and sharpest turn. He clipped a pedal hard and went down. I rolled over his arm or something. I think it put a wobble in my precious front wheel. I hesitated for half a second and spent the next 500m trying to catch up to the group in front of the split that had been created. It shortly all came back together anyway.
The laps kept ticking by. With all the turns in the course, I figured a small group might be able to make it. No one could get away, although plenty of people tried. Final lap, final turn: I was maybe 15th wheel. Way too far back after coming out of the corner. My sprint was feeling good though. Unfortunately, two up-sitters converged on my location from each side. I had to drop ~5mph, move around them, and try to salvage what I could. 12th in the 3s. That paid $25. These are some well paying races.
Note to self: Move up earlier
I stayed overnight in Milwaukee, because the next day was
Sheboygan:
A totally flat long skinny rectangle of a course. This probably has the longest straights of any crit course I've ever seen.
The streets were just drying out as we started. At some point during the race, I think it started raining again, but I didn't really notice. It's funny how much I dread rain before the race, but can't even notice in when it's in progress.
In the first half, Jason made an epic bridge to a 3 man break that I knew would stay away. At that point, Endeavour, GDVC, and B&B totally shut down the pack. The break quickly gained a half lap advantage. Geargrinder and shark attacks came frequently, but they never worked together.

It came down to a sprint for 5th. Wait, what lap is it? Oh yeah, last lap. I waited for the firetruck sign and jumped. I got out in front of the Shark train suspiciously easily. Here's a picture of my confusion. Of course, it was actually one lap to go. Damn! At least I messed up the Shark train. Supposedly Chris and Ryan went to the front on the back stretch, but I was busy paying back that oxygen. I was maybe 10th in the pack at the final corner and turned in a modest sprint to pick up a few places to net 10th overall, good for $50.
At least I followed my advice from yesterday and got to the front early. Still needs a little tweaking.
Note to self: Practice watching lap cards every lap.
Prologue:
It starts with some preliminary drama. Bam! My room mate has my car parked in. I called him all over, but his cell phone was home. Just like his car and motor cycle were. Luckily he left the window open. My other room mate and I shifted it into neutral and rolled it out of the way. The motorcycle was a little more challenging. I'm still sore from that.
But I got the car out, picked up a racing dude, and we were off. And then 94 was down to one lane because of some dumb nature conditions. "Flooding" or whatever. But with perseverance, we prevailed over all that crap.
Grafton:
Awesome race. The plan was that Ryan and I would go for all the early primes, and then block for Jason's break with four to go. I got the first prime. It was a massage prime, so I don't think people were feeling too motivated. I wasn't feeling nearly as good for the next one, $50. Despite being denominated in US dollars, there was still significant interest in this prize. I was nowhere.
Deep in the middle of the race, I found myself behind a Baraboo Shark way on the inside of the final and sharpest turn. He clipped a pedal hard and went down. I rolled over his arm or something. I think it put a wobble in my precious front wheel. I hesitated for half a second and spent the next 500m trying to catch up to the group in front of the split that had been created. It shortly all came back together anyway.
The laps kept ticking by. With all the turns in the course, I figured a small group might be able to make it. No one could get away, although plenty of people tried. Final lap, final turn: I was maybe 15th wheel. Way too far back after coming out of the corner. My sprint was feeling good though. Unfortunately, two up-sitters converged on my location from each side. I had to drop ~5mph, move around them, and try to salvage what I could. 12th in the 3s. That paid $25. These are some well paying races.
Note to self: Move up earlier
I stayed overnight in Milwaukee, because the next day was
Sheboygan:
A totally flat long skinny rectangle of a course. This probably has the longest straights of any crit course I've ever seen.
The streets were just drying out as we started. At some point during the race, I think it started raining again, but I didn't really notice. It's funny how much I dread rain before the race, but can't even notice in when it's in progress.
In the first half, Jason made an epic bridge to a 3 man break that I knew would stay away. At that point, Endeavour, GDVC, and B&B totally shut down the pack. The break quickly gained a half lap advantage. Geargrinder and shark attacks came frequently, but they never worked together.

It came down to a sprint for 5th. Wait, what lap is it? Oh yeah, last lap. I waited for the firetruck sign and jumped. I got out in front of the Shark train suspiciously easily. Here's a picture of my confusion. Of course, it was actually one lap to go. Damn! At least I messed up the Shark train. Supposedly Chris and Ryan went to the front on the back stretch, but I was busy paying back that oxygen. I was maybe 10th in the pack at the final corner and turned in a modest sprint to pick up a few places to net 10th overall, good for $50.
At least I followed my advice from yesterday and got to the front early. Still needs a little tweaking.
Note to self: Practice watching lap cards every lap.