Stage 12, Cedarburg, WI. TRP started the week fast, and we don’t seem to be slowing down (other than Walters, he hit the deck on stage 13).
After Ryan’s strong win at the Holy Hill RR, we lined up the next day, stage 12, for a 115k (yes, 115k) 6 corner crit in Cedarburg, about 20 minutes outside of the city. On the line for TRP were the only 4 riders we have here, Walters, Roth, Thuss, and myself. The racing started fast. Thuss was riding sharp, not leaving the top 20 riders for the life of him, with Walters not far behind. The two of them policed the front well for the first half of the race. At about half way, I heard some bells ringing and I thought I’d test the legs, I took off from the field alone, rode past the start finish as they rang a $100 prime, I got caught on the last corner by a Columbian but waxed him in the sprint for the cash.
Then it was Ryan’s turn. He noticed 2 riders up the road at about 20 seconds. He launched out of the field with one rider in tow, Carlos Alzate from Columbia. The 2 of them soon became 2 off the front of the field. Behind Thuss, Walters and myself floated around making sure nothing got across. The break didn’t want to lap the field so they stayed just behind us in the closing laps. Walters tested his legs and won a field sprint for another $100.
As Ryan was busy taking care of business off the front, Mark and I were banging elbows behind setting up for the last remaining paying spots (25 deep). Mark was towing me around well, so well in fact I told him to go it on his own. Mark managed 25th, last place in the money for $50 and Ryan managed a solid 2nd place in front of thousands of fans, after a great effort. We finished the day a little richer and got some fast racing under the belt. Those are 2 great reasons to come out here.
Stage 14 – Racine, WI
Last night was a new course here at Superweek. A four corner crit, with one sweeping turn on the backside. Only Walters and I started as we took a “day off” the day before, where Ryan and Thuss didn’t.
At registration I noticed a new face, a big tall guy well known to many bike racers, who had a solid career, but now races “for fun” by the name of Paul Martin. Here at Milwaukee many faces come and go, for training and whatnot. The “new” guys have the advantage of being a little more fresh, having not raced the whole 2 weeks before like the GC leaders. I knew Paul Martin would be the kind of guy that would slip under the radar of the big teams like Kelly, Rock Racing and Jittery Joes. I saw Paul dangling in front of the field and I flew out of the pack with one Kelly rider in tow, caught Paul, and we started working well together. 3 laps later we were joined by Cyclocross stud John Page and one unknown rider. We hovered at about 30 seconds for a while then started pulling away as we were all taking quick, fast pulls. Soon we saw the tail end of the field and managed to lap them with 20 to go. Walters took good care of me in the mixed field. Here in the states when you lap the field, you’re back in the field, and you can get all the help from your teammates, even if they’re a lap down, so it changes the dynamics of the race. Kelly had a full squad for they’re boy Brian. I had Mark. We put up a good fight, but in the end I was only able to get 2nd, John Page just got me. He was strong in the break and in the field sprint, so I have to be happy with 2nd.
So, we’ve managed 3 podiums in 4 starts, is pretty good for a small army. Tonight is a very fast 1k 4 corner crit in Kenosha WI, check back here for updates!
