A Weekend in Wisconsin

This past weekend Kristen and I (and our Chicago friend Molly) did a few races in my neck of the woods, a real treat for me, since I do not normally get company, or a chance to race close to home! While western Wisconsin is not exactly France, it can serve for some good racing, and we drove to a remote area near Durand for a road race on Saturday.

I carpooled with a racing friend, which ended up adding some additional interest to the morning. My friend became distracted enough while driving that we got pulled over for speeding. Kristen, not knowing the directions to the race, pulled over with us. Luck was on our side, and we only got warnings. Thank goodness!

The course was a 13 mile loop that we would do twice. While there were no huge hills on the course, there were plenty of them, and a few were rather demanding. Our race was a Women's Open event, so we had quite a few riders starting. One of the good things about racing in new places is that you get to ride with/against people with whom you are not necessarily familiar. It teaches you to ride smart and pay attention, since you don't know quite what to expect from other people in the race. I think Kristen and I were reminded of that lesson in this race. One of the girls from Flanders started out pretty aggressively, and after a few times of chasing her down and dragging the whole field with her, Kristen felt it was time for someone else to do the chasing. It proved to be a decision we would regret, as no one took up the chase (I was boxed in, honest!) and the girl was strong enough to get a good gap and hold it. We tried to rally a chase but our group had dwindled to a handful, including two teammates of the Flanders girl up the road. We contemplated trying to do a two-person time trial and take matters into our own hands, but it seemed like we would not be able to get away by ourselves. We settled in for a rather boring second lap. I don't want to say much about my finish, because it was not pretty. I jumped early but inexplicably faded very quickly, despite feeling adequate during the race. Kristen pulled off the field sprint win, though, even more impressive since she did more work than anyone else in the race, in my humble opinion.

But wait, the excitement did not end there. We wanted to ride a few extra laps for milage, which was fine. It did, however, make us one of the last cars to leave (I had arranged with my friend that I would ride back with Kristen since we would be staying longer). Turns out we had left the back hatch of Kristen's car up for the entire time we were out on the course, and her battery was now dead from the dome light having been on......here we are in the middle of seemingly nowhere, with a dead car. Again, luck was on our side, as the good folks of Brone's Bike Shop were still there with their RV. They were able to get the car going again, and we were off to mingle with the millions of motorcycles that were on the roads for a rally nearby. We got some funny looks as we drove by with three bikes on the car, right in the middle of a string of nearly 100 motorcycles.

Sunday I joined Kristen in Madison for a criterium in a technology park on the west side. Kristen had to be home by 4pm and I had to get up early Monday, so we opted out of the 5pm women's event and chose a master's men's race. The weather was threatening but the rain held off, mostly, and despite the cold and wind we got some good speed work in. I was surprised at how good I felt after putting in quite a few miles in on Saturday and not getting a very good warm up on Sunday due to my delaying getting out of the car until the rain stopped (wimp, I know).

I think I rambled enough. Since every blog post deserves at least one photo, here is how the dogs felt after a long day at the races...

(Grace and Winne)

Forgive any weird errors on this blog. It's my very first entry!
--Anne

Couldn't resist adding a couple of highlights from my weekend:
Traveling with Molly. We like coffee and the same sandwich at subway. She also likes to drive and doesn’t mind learning stickshift on the highway on the way to a race.
Getting out of speeding ticket. That officer was lucky he let us off with a warning and I did not have to employ my “bat shit crazy” technique of getting out of a ticket (it doesn’t actually have a success rate).
LaCrosse, WI. I am ready to move there. It is a gorgeous place. I have family in MN so I have traveled right by there so many times, but have never gotten off the highway to see how wonderful it is. So excited to be heading back on May 3 for a crit.
Staying with Anne & Peter: What a lovely and comfortable place. Molly and I both felt like we were away at a bed and breakfast. Peter made us a several course breakfast both days including some of the most wonderful pancakes I have ever had and packing us travel mugs with additional fresh coffee. Thanks so much!
-Kristen