The 2014 season is starting to take shape which means the Flying Bobcats are starting to move up in the pecking order of bicycle racing in the state of Wisconsin. Training is also picking up and so are my choices of beer. My wife must think I am doing pretty well at racing because I now have choices when I go to the fridge. My riding week didn’t get off to a good start until Friday. Christine Schultek talked me into a 35 mile jaunt through southern Dane and Green counties, where the wind really worked me over. When the wind starts gusting I start to get mad. It always feels like someone is pushing on you trying to slow you down. For the last 15 miles of the ride though, the tail wind fit me to a tee. I was able to get my spinning and power workouts on the small to medium hills on the fairly flat route. Once I got home my ole friend Guinness was waiting for me. A good day of riding. Saturday’s training pick up right where I left it off on Friday with 40 more miles through the same roads as Friday. Chip Camillo, Tyler Byrnes, Christine Schultek, and I, made it around all of the rain drops and the wind again. We took a rest stop after about 30 miles for hot coffee and a blue berry muffin at that Fire Fly Coffee Shop in Oregon. Thanks to Jerry Tyler for the great birthday gift card. I am going back to that place again. The Fire Fly really warmed me up.
Matt Wurz, Dan Van Der Weide, and Matt Hanson powering the train at Great Dane Crit #2
Sunday found me once again at the Great Dane Velo Criterium #2. A small chat with my teammates over strategies and I was ready to go. Tim Skinner and Dan Van Der Weide’s jobs were to try and start a breakaway a few laps into the race where I could bridge up and we could ride away. Matt Wurz was to follow me and keep me out of trouble so I could try for the field sprint if the break did not go. I told Matt to just follow me and I would take him to the front in the field sprint if he kept me out of the wind for the first three quarters of the race. The whole race stayed together mostly because if anyone went we were there to cover the move. With one lap to go Dan and Tim took two huge pulls which led to a small gap of about 10 seconds on the field. I covered what I thought was the counter move on the outside but misjudged the guy going up the right side of the field. I put my head down and took an all-out sprint for the line with 300 meters to go. First place was out of the question but there were still two podium places left. I took a small glance out of my right side to see my new teammate Matt Wurz even with me. Looking back I could see the two of us had a good size gap on the rest of the field so I sat up and urged Matt onto his first podium finish with me bring up third after being challenged by my good racing friend Nate Phelps. What a great day finished off with a couple Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout Beers! Great Dane Velo Criterium #2 Sunday April 13, 2014 Flying Bobcats results Masters Cat 4/5 Cat 5 2nd place Matt Wurz 15th Place Matt Wurz 3rd place Matt Hanson 26th Place Tyler Byrnes 5th place Dan Van Der Weide 16th place Tim Skinner Cat 4 Masters Cat 1, 2, 3 8th Place Dan Van Der Weide 3rd Place Anderson Bortoletto 9th Place Tim Skinner