Seemed like an odd place for a wreck. I don't even think I was pedaling through there... and it was straight.

I didn't get collected, but I end up being run into from behind while I was off the side of the road. It was nearly impossible to chase back on through that downhill, and that was pretty much the end of it for me. Not that I expected much out of that race... but I wanted to go more than 3 laps!

Tough course. Hopefully it will be back next year.

In.

Is BH getting its hands in this race?

Team Psimet representing in the Cat. 4/5. Beautiful day here in Sheboygan today - 86F bright sunny skies.

Rock'n the 3G/4G from the car while I grab a bite of lunch. More later.

Who?

Not formally. A bunch of us showed at one of the meetings to offer support. It's being organized and put on by Mill Race.

Interesting little course running off 3rd street. Unfortunately I may not be able to race it. Or ride between now and then. Yesterday was the official end of my bike. Waiting to hear on warranty claims now...

Jared is out there all week.

Dang MJH. What size bike you ride? How bout a full report?

1/2 way through the series report:

Thiensville - I was really dehydrated and had a hard time doing anything. I was getting gapped and having a hard time recovering. I got dropped/stopped trying with two laps to go because I was getting really lightheaded. Teammates took 3rd and 4th.

Grafton - I did a lot of work trying to keep the field together and bring back a group of 5 that established. I put in a long hard pull with two laps to go and was sitting ~20th at the start of the bell lap. Going up the hill after turn 2 and ABD guy clipped a wheel and took out both of my teammates and a few others. I jump across the gap created by the crash and sprint for 17th after redlining for 2 laps.

Appleton - Teammates didn't show up after their crashes so I got to ride for myself. I was stupid and did everything I didn't want to do, like chase breaks, follow attacks and other pointless wastes of energy. I moved up at the wrong time and too late in the game and finished 21st.

Road America - One teammate was back in and he was too active at the front. So I had to go to the front so he wouldn't be in the wind. with 3 laps to go he wanted to attack so I put in a long pull on the backside of the course and he attacked at the base of the shallow climb/ crosswind/ finish climb section. I blew up along with 15 or so other guys. I chased to the top of the hill hoping they might sit up after he didn't get a separation but they didn't. Pulled out after finishing the lap easy and handed up bottles to our P12 guys.

Sheboygan - Everything went wrong again. A break went away pretty early and Rick Dahm and I were the only people who would chase. It stayed away and so did another group of two. Teammate attacked last lap and again didn't get separation but managed a sprint in the points. I finished 19th.

Overall I'm not doing that great, but I'm really just trying to help the teammate and race into shape for the late season. And funnily enough my results aren't that much worse than last year's.

I ride a 57ish. The bike is at the dealer now, and I'm waiting to hear from the Swissy's what's going on. Thankfully I'll be fishing for the next week. Hopefully we'll hear something in that time.

And, FWIW, the bike didn't get jacked up completely at RA. I notice the crack after Wonder Lake. After the RA hills, though, it's a billion times worse. That frame is dead. According to the guy at the bike shop, it's the first time he's ever seen an aluminum BMC crack like that. Being fat really doesn't pay in this silly sport.

Anyhow, RA was fun while it lasted. First lap seemed tame. Small ring between 5 and 6, coming up through 13 and then again on the start finish straight. Nobody really tried to do much of anything. Second lap was a little more animated with a few riders getting shed on the hills. Coming around for the third lap, things were fine through turn 1, down into turn 3. On the LOOOOOOOOONG downhill run to turn 5, though, some dudes touched wheels and set off mayhem. I was sitting towards the back of the pack, and it looked like the domino effect of the wreck started moving right. I was already on the far right corner of the road and headed for the grass. As I did, I got run into from behind and knocked out of one of the pedals. By the time I made it back over to the pavement, most of the pack had rocketed down the rest of the straight. I chased and did managed to get on the back coming out of 12, but I had nothing left and was dropped hard on the finish straight.

Looking at the stats, I was doing about 30 before going down to about 0 and then having to get back to about 30 running into turn 5. For the 35 minutes or so I was in the race, I think it was a 20 MPH average with NP just shy of 300.

Graham Watson must have a gazillion Terabyte hard drive on his computer.

Anyone know how to look up the registered field size, current riders on Truesports for the SW events?

There was a link you could get to through the pre-reg page, but I'm not sure it's still around.

Hey from Waterloo. 84F partly cloudy. Pretty decent crowd gathering for the Pro race in 25 mins. Having dinner at Le Subaru - charging batteries. Surprise ride from Frankie Andreu in the Mast. 1/2/3 riding for Kenda. Was off the front for a bit in a break, but finished in the field.

Well John, You're officially official. You made it to cyclingnews. Congrats on the W.

Yawn! What day is it? ... Where am I going?

Ohhhh .... Greenbush.

Awesome.

Hello from Greenbush USA! Am sitting at the highpoint of the course (mile 5 on the map), sitting at a picnic table having lunch. It's sunny, temp. about 75F, light breeze, and very few bugs. Ahhhhh. The Pro men start at noon, Pro women not long after. Come on into my office, enjoy the view!

Say hey to Jose for me!

John Never saw ya... probably because of where you're situated on the course..... Fun course today, seemed like a lot more descending than climbing. Not sure how that works.

I would think the CCW route is more fun than CW. Twisty decent is more funner.

I got some shot's of 'ya, but all were out focus. Julie's photos look awesome.

Off to Fondy for criterium racing. Should be lots of northwoods roadies there. The Appleton races were 30% or more locals, I'd expect the same today. Short course, 0.6 miles. Rudy Napolitano (Team Helen) got a kick out of that.


. . .

@ John - Did you happen to get any photos of the Masters 4/5s group at Greenbush? I would like a shot of me racing poorly.

Edit: Since posting this, I've learned how to read. I'll look again once the series is over.

Uh .... yeah.

My days are SWAMPED. This has been a VERY hard job. Very tiring, but very rewarding, and very fun.
I have been so lucky having the opportunity to do this for ToAD. It's like being the working cycling press in Europe!

A childhood dream! As far as I know, this is a first in this area. Evar!

Two days to go. Gonna try to ramp it up and get the best shots yet. At least I don't have to drive any farther than 30 miles.

Shooting that rock band tonight was just an extra bonus.

Found their Myspace: https://www.myspace.com/roadtripband

They did some powerful covers tonight.

Got some redemption for most of my failures of races earlier in the week. Too bad I didn't get to step on the podium though.

Nobody's into details these days, are they?

Frunkin went off the front for 3 or 4 laps and eventually got caught by (?) Matt Foley of Connecticut who's been on the podium at least once. Foley tried to ride through Frunkin, but couldn't and those guys rode together a few laps. Meanwhile, a chase group formed behind who eventually caught the lead duo, and that was it. They were GONE. Frunkin with (?) 4th in the sprint.

About to leave for Downer Ave. *FREAKING OUT* believing that I left $6,000 of gear in the parking lot up on Fondy when it was actually packed away ina very over stuffed backpack. Time to wrap this series up!