The great weekend of racing all began with the weather. Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny and fairly warm however Saturday definitely became a challenge due to the wind. The Baraboo Cat 4/5 race started off with a easy tempo until we hit the first climb. From the base of the climb a number of riders attacked which picked the pace up quickly and the field strung out and quickly broke up. Once our lead group crested the hill we put the hammer down and continued up the gradual uphill to the backside of the course. I sat in as the 5th wheel for the majority of the backside of the race until the second climb. Myself and another rider took off up the hill and continued to press the pace into the long downhill section. We pushed hard into the with at 40+ but were caught at the bottom of the hill as the main group worked together to catch. I remained on the front keeping an easy pace (and held up by the manure spreader) until the first climb on the second lap. David Paquette from the Wheaton team made a massive attack on the climb which no one countered. We left him go for half the lap and began working together to catch. We caught David on the downhill before the second climb in which he launched another attack which split our lead group into 3 smaller groups. I fell off the pace but managed to get some help from another rider who pulled me into the headwind downhill. I worked with that rider to catch a group of 2 riders in front of us and we sprinted into the finish. My legs were dead but managed to sprint to an 8th place finish. This was an absolutely challenging but awesome course. I still need learn not to work so much on the front and plan my attacks out better, but there’s always another race to try something new!
Sunday’s race in La Crosse turned out to be a fast paced pedal masher, however no one knew how to pedal through the corners. Way too often riders would brake hard into the corner and cause near chaos, especially when going into the corner 3 or 4 wide. One of my teammates Jeramey Werbelow was really working on the front to keep the pace high and couldn’t get rest of the front group to continue to hammer through the corners. I noticed that no one else wanted to work hard on the front so I took a flier hoping that the field would let me go. The flier didn’t last long as I unknowingly went at the start of a prime lap. Another rider flew past me and I was able to catch the wheel of Mark Howe (Gear Grinder) and sat in until the sprint for the prime. I took second on the prime lap to earn some bar tape. At least the flier I took wasn’t for nothing! The rest of the race I sat about 10 wheels back. On the last lap Jeramey worked hard to provide for a lead-out. As we hammered into the last corner I hit a nasty bump in the road (man hole cover) and skipped the back wheel out a bit. I unfortunately lost Jeramey’s wheel but managed to crush the pedals and finish just behind Jeramey in 4th place. I couldn’t be happier with the finish as I think I got lucky I didn’t wash out on the final corner and since my legs were hurting pretty good after Saturday’s brutal climbs.
Good job to everyone who raced this weekend, Team Extreme continued to show a strong presence. Let’s dominate again this coming weekend in Muskego. Go Blue Train!
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