TOAD: Tour of Americas Dairy Land

Unlike some of my recent post where I have purposely edited my comments down to just the bare facts, this particular post may bit be a bit more verbose as I want attempt to capture some of the details that might allow me to look back at a later date and remember what was the toughest week of bike racing I have ever had. The week was made difficult not only by the fact that I raced five days in a row, but also because the fields were chalked full of talent as the race attracts the best riders from all over the country. I would venture to say that not even Nationals would be quite as fast, as my category at Nationals is now 45-49, and these races were 35+. The size of the fields made for fast racing as we always had around 80-100 guys lined up at the start. So, relatively young competition, ex pros, several National Champions, and over half the guys being Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders, equals fast racing!

Well, I am already a little ahead of myself as I need to back up and explain how I even came to the decision to fly halfway across the country to Milwaukee, WI to race bikes. It all started at Tour De Grove when I met Pablo Santa Cruz, a Cat 1 out of Clearwater, Fl that I competed against in Saint Louis for three days of criteriums. I wrote about those races in a previous blog. Pablo mentioned to me there that he was taking a "composite team" to TOAD in June to compete against the incredibly strong fields there. He mentioned the names of a couple of the guys that he had spoken to already and I was familiar with their names as I knew them to be some of the strongest Masters riders in the country. At the time, I was luke warm to the whole idea but later decided to leave straight from Junior Nationals where Evan competed in all three events, and fly up to Milwaukee from Augusta on Saturday, June 23rd. Upon my arrival I was greeted by Pablo Santa Cruz, Curtis Tolsen, Tony Scott, Steve Carrel, and Andy Mapple. Pablo is 48 and is a very quick sprinter. He wins most of the Masters crits in Florida and is also ranked very high on the road as well. Curtis is also 48 and a multi time National Champion on the track and has podiumed at Nationals on the road as well. Tony, 41, has gotten a silver medal at the World Championships on the track and has won Nationals. Steve, 47, has won the World Championship on the track! Andy Mapple, 50, is a multi time World Champion Slalom Water skier and is a world class athlete at 6' 4". He just started racing bikes four years ago and is already a Cat 2 and winning local races with his incredible ability to produce huge power. This group would prove formidable over the course of the week.

The first race was a criterium in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin. It was a typical downtown crit course and had a huge crowd there to watch the races. The 35+ Cat 1,2,3 Race would start just prior to the men's Pro race and thus the crowds were arriving en masse. Seeing these crowds was exciting and made even more so by the fact that my good friends, John and Cindy Amato, from Milwaukee, were there to watch the race. Our field would have 80+ guys on the starting line, the majority of which were Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders. The start of these races can be hectic and getting a front row start is preferable when so many are on the starting line. Once we were allowed onto the course, I took a quick warmup lap, but had to stop on the back side of the course to take a nature break. By the time I came back around to the starting line I was in the very back of the group! After instructions from the chief official we were off. Once the group started moving to the left to take the first right hand turn, I sprinted up the right side gaining about 30 spots. After the first corner there was a gradual rise up to turn two so I punched it again and gained another 30 spots! Almost up in the front now I slotted into the pack and waited until the start /finish straight before moving up into the first eight or ten riders. I felt very fortunate to have moved from the very back to the very front in just one lap.

The first 15 minutes of the 70 minute race were very hard. The strong men were in the front going full gas on the gradual rise after turn one and up the start/finish straight which was also slightly up hill. At around the 20 minute mark a group of eight had torn itself off the front of the field and I happened to be in that group. Shortly after that a chase group of six joined the break and then we began to put serious time into the field. The gap went up to 45 seconds fairly quickly and ultimately we would come close to lapping the field. Our team, "World Masters", had three in the break of 14 and were thus the best represented. Tony Scott, my teammate from Atlanta, would prove to be one of the stronger guys in the field over the week of racing. He is 41 years old and at 6' feet tall is a very powerful rider. The other teammate in the break, Greg, was only racing for us in one race as he had to go home the next day. He was a pro racer that raced for the old "Saturn" team back in the day. With ten laps to go Greg attacked our break and got a nice gap. Amazingly he began to put real time into our group and with six laps remaining it appeared he might hang on for the win. There were five or six guys working to bring Greg back and they finally succeeded in doing so with only three laps to go.

Once Greg was back in the break he went straight to the front with Tony second wheel and me third. We looked like a pro team setting up a leadout as Greg kept the pace high enough to discourage any attacks. I, unfortunately, was beginning to feel the twinges of cramping at the critical moments of the race. I rarely ever cramp in crits and was shocked to be feeling the all to familiar electrical currents start coursing through my legs. I did not feel I would have my typical explosive sprint in my legs that day and began to question whether I could win a 200 meter drag race against some of these younger sprinters. I ultimately decided I would need to try to do something a little different and after Tony took over with one lap to go I decided I would jump early. As Tony was about to go into the third to last corner I jumped as hard as I could barely squeezing between him and the curb on the inside and leaving no room for another rider behind me. Tony yelled "No G#@ D%&%*t". I hit the 2nd to last corner with a 15 meter gap on a guy from Boulder, Co. that had won the previous two races. When we hit the last corner he had closed the gap and came around me with 200 meters to go. Perfect! I jumped on his wheel for 100 meters and came around him for the win, all the while cramping in both hamstrings and quads! I was ecstatic as the win was probably my best ever given the competition and the size of the field. Tony thought I had gone way to early and that is why he had yelled at me. I think knowing he would have kicked my butt if I lost is what provided me with that extra little bit to come around Carlos Casali at the finish.

After the race the official on the motorcycle following our break found us and told us that our tactics in the race were perfect and that it was the best race he had seen the entire week. As a team, we were pleased with the effort and knew we had accomplished something special in such a large field of talented riders. John and Cindy had watched the whole race and Cindy had taken several photos. She took the photo of the podium ceremony included here. We then all loaded up and drove to John and Cindy's house on the lake and had an incredible home cooked meal of steak and Salmon in their beautiful back yard. A perfect way to cap off a perfect race!

The Podium in my Cow Jersey!

The next day was a 60 mile road race on a 10 mile circuit with two nasty five minute climbs. Attrition took its toll and by the end of the race only Curtis and I were left in the field as our teammates had all dropped out saving their legs for better days ahead. I ended up 15th which was the last paying placing. That race would be our worst team performance the whole week. The third day was the Schlitz Park crit with a very steep climb every lap followed by a screaming descent back down to the start/finish straight. I felt incredible on the climb which required a short, but explosive effort followed by a nice recovery on the descent. I was able to win two out of the three primes offered by attacking up the climb. My teammate, Tony won the only other prime. Attrition began to take its toll and soon there were only 20 guys left in the front group. I liked my chances given the ease with which I was climbing the hill relative to the others but I missed the winning move and ended up in 6th place. I was extremely disappointed with that placing as I thought I could win that particular race because of how well the course suited my strengths. It just goes to show how the strongest guy does not always win and good tactics can prevail on any given day. The next day was another 60 mile road race around yet another 10 mile circuit. It was very hot and although there were no big climbs attrition quickly whittled down the field. I ended up in a 4 man chase group trying to bridge to two leaders. We were unable to catch the leaders but I lead out out Tony for 3rd place and I was able to hang on for 4th. Another good day for the World Masters team. The last race was another crit in Sheboygan. It was a fast four corner course that would prove to be dangerous as the weaker riders were able to stay in the group causing us to go into every corner with as many as five riders wide. A break did not look likely so I just rode wheels toward the front of the field, although, staying in front proved to be much more difficult than in the other crits with more selective courses. With 5 laps to go the pace increased dramatically with riders constantly swarming the front. With 3 to go two teams were on the front keeping the pace over 30 MPH so I went forced my way into about 4th wheel and got a perfect single file leadout from another team. As we came into the 2nd to last corner some guy dove into the inside forcing everyone to the outside whereupon a guy next to me hit the curb and crashed. The chaos caused me to lose a couple of spots and I came out of the last corner in 6th place to start the sprint. I past 3 riders and ended up with 3rd place for my second podium finish.

I came away from TOAD with an appreciation for the Masters field there and just how fast the racing can be when you have that many strong guys in the group. There was a competition within a competition for the highest placed 45+ rider each day and I ended up in 1st Place after our last crit in spite of missing the first two races. I remained in 1st until the last race since we also missed the last three races. I ended up 3rd in that competition, although, I really had no aspirations. Pablo, who had organized our team and provided the jerseys etc... was very pleased with our performances overall and announced his intention to sponsor us again next year. We were also proud to have donated money for Pediatric Cancer Research for each race in which we participated. Pablo deserves special credit for having pulled our team together and organizing our contributions to charity. I had an incredible time racing at TOAD and hope to return should I ever have the form to do so again. Thanks for reading!