After not having been here for 3 years I'm back up in Wisconsin for the last couple of races of the 40
th edition of
Superweek and the Chicago
Crit. Together with Chad and Chris Z. of Tulsa we are having a great time up here in
Kenosha. We got a nice spot right.at the bay of
Kenosha in walking distance from the local bike shop, coffee extravaganza and Kaiser's Pizza - a real post-race treat.
Friday night was a good opener, 100k
crit with 29.6mph avg raced like a track race on a .6mile course. Lots of Texans up here:
THSJ, Ryan W.,
RBM, and Ronnie S. along with some other guys. Good times.
The following morning we got to check out the
beaches (!) and some history of
Kenosha on our morning 1hr spin. Lots of interesting things to see here - not only beer and brats!
Chad pulled off a nice 9
th place
Saturday evening at Downer's Ave in Milwaukee and this was one of the harder
crits I've done this year. A beer-drinking and screaming crowd of 15,000 was there to support the 150+ rider P/1/2 race. I got in a break of 4 together with my German 'brother' Markus W. At one point but was reeled in only 2 laps later. A couple of nasty crashes marked the race for the 2
nd night in a row but I was lucky and stayed away from that type of action. The best part of the night were the friendly locals post-race who brought out a keg and cookies to us racers. Some Colombian family came up and took pictures while we chatted about racing, Colombia, Germany and beer (in
spanish, of course).
The final day of racing for me was the inaugural
Chicago Criterium on Michigan Ave & Grant Park. They are trying to set up a big event and a $25,000 payout for the P/1/2 definitely helped out. The
Superweek organizers must be pretty pissed about that since only some 70 racers showed up to the final race of their series whereas 130 riders showed up in Chicago. Both races were only a 2hr drive apart.
Anyhow, after a short drive down from
Kenosha we arrived just in time for Chad and Chris' warm-up: the $3000 Master race. Chad made some serious cash and got a nice warm-up in. For the big race, there was some good competition with
Horner, Toyota, Kelly, and Rock Racing. The 50mile race seemed very slow from the
beginning so due to a lack of warm-up I jumped a couple of times and only 15minutes into the race I found myself in a break of 20 which stayed away. We rotated very well, courtesy of every pro team represented. I did my share and felt good. With 10 to go the sh... started to hit the fan as everybody was chasing and attacking everyone and we went back-to-back from a 12mph granny pace to 36mph in an all-out attempt to decide the winner. Well, I followed wheels and tried my luck here and there but in the end I just finished in the group, 17
th, just a few seconds before the field came back down on us.
Thanks to the generous prize-list, 17
th paid for most part of the 3-day trip.
Side Note: I don't know why everyone is talking about
"end-of-season", "time to wrap it up", or
"getting into base for next year" - it's still July and there are plenty of races until the end of September. For example
TxTough is Sep. 11
Chad gets in some "training" for Crit Nationals...
The break rolls over the bridge back to Grant Park...
Enjoying racing down Michigan Ave in a "Bissell draft"...
mhhh...following eventual race winner A. Bergman
...Girona - now wonder why so many cyclists claim a home here
...Palacio Nacional in Barca
...'Estacio Olympico' from 1992
...late night bike training through Barca on a rental
...La Sagrada Familia with Gaudi's influence
...over the French Alps, Le Mont Blanc?
...London Bridge
...they love US movies, especially advertising them in the subway
...night club in Covent Garden
...Sheri got to meet Queen Liz at Madame Toussaud's
...me and the 'Governor'
The Canadians from Louis Garneau are making a special edition Mercy Cycling Team kit in white. Bib Shorts, Jersey + gloves all together for $155. Interested? Order online here.
...last out of the water in the Open Wave...and yes, pink caps are gay...
...trying to get low...
...5K of pain...
...Awards with fellow Sourcie Derick W.
Chad gets in some "training" for Crit Nationals...
The break rolls over the bridge back to Grant Park...
Enjoying racing down Michigan Ave in a "Bissell draft"...
mhhh...following eventual race winner A. Bergman
That's Bert Grabsch's new TT rig on which he won the German TT Nats 2 weeks ago with a blistering time of 46'51" (!) for the 39.8k course. That's 50.8kph (31.36mph) for almost 50minutes of riding time.
So I ended up 2nd Overall there and got a nice paycheck in return. Pretty much covered the trip up there. I now feel like a fat sprinter, as I got 3rd-to-last in the Overall Classification :-)
