ToAD- A summary

Well, I’m en route to SLC and finally have a moment to sit down!  The past six days or so have been a bit of a blur.  Kinda the nature of traveling and bike racing.   Also, my excuse for not posting any race reports? :) I know... horrible excuse.  I apologize.

Courtesy of Michael Chiang!  

Unfortunately, we don’t have amazing results to show from our time in WI...we were on a mission for them…but that’s not how the racing played out in the end.  Mechanicals, sickness, crashes, and then sometimes the legs just checked out early ( what’s up with that legs???) resulted in a number of mid-pack finishes.  Regardless of results, we had a lot of positive experiences in the races and that’s always something to be excited about.  Attacking, getting in good position, being aggressive…all good things. Also, more fun times and making new friends! 

 Snippets from Tour of America’s Dairyland!

-After a grueling race at Nature Valley and feeling under the weather, Justine was a trooper in WI.   If she was grumpy from being tired and sick, you would never know!  What a pleasure to have such a nice and cheerful teammate for ToAD.  Nature Valley and ToAD were her first national/professional level races and she did awesome, working on process goals in the race and keeping a good perspective.  She did great and I was thankful to have her racing with me! 

-While I may not be fond of flying with a bike or road rash, I love that I get to make friends through cycling and that I get to visit with them throughout the year.  How cool that I get to catch up with friends who live in other time zones at least once every year!  How neat that every week or two I get to see and race with friends.  I most certainly don’t remember many of my results over the years, but I absolutely relish in all the awesome memories and conversations I’ve had with so many neat folks all over the country.  So awesome to be able to catch up with so many people over the course of this racing trip:  Paul Warloski and Lori, Karen & John Larson, The Pekarek Family, Ellen Comiskey, and the Chiang Family!  Thanks for all the cheering too!!!

The Chiang Family! 

-Ice cream.  There was a lot of dairy on this trip and I LOVE IT.  Voted Best *by me*: Mascarpone pistachio in a waffle cone.  Justine’s find in Grafton.  Voted “Kickin’ it Old School Awesome” *again, by me*:  Bubble gum ice cream in a waffle cone.  A post-race Waukesha tradition.   This was one of my fav flavors as a kid because if you wait (ehem Justine) and save the bubble gum pieces until they warm up a bit, you can continue to enjoy your treat long after the ice cream is gone.  Awesomeness. 

-Our fan club!  Kids are hilarious and a lot of fun.  Justine and I made friends with the school kids watching our race in East Troy and we had a pretty big cheering section on the last corner.  It was great!  After the pro race, I lined up for the parking lot race to ride with the girls.  One of the little girls rode without training wheels for the first time!  That was awesome.  There may have been some crashing involved but no tears.  One of the little girls was pushing the limit of her bike and bee-lined it for a plastic toy in the parking lot.  She hit it, sent it flying across the street, fishtailed it, managed to somehow run off her bike as it fell, and then just kinda stumbled onto the ground.  As I walked over to her to see if she was okay, she was shaking, and I thought she was hurt and crying.  Nope.  As I got to her I realized she was laughing hysterically.  She looked up at me and said, "Wow, that was awesome."  Her mom caught the whole thing on tape.  Those were some mad bike handling skills. 

-The fan club continued in Sheboygan with Molly and Morgan!  Morgan sported the SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects jersey at the race while Molly rocked the Pepper Palace jersey. They are too cute and I couldn't help but give them a thumbs up and wave when I was off the front.  It's also very possible they beat me in our ride and our race the next morning.  The legs were starting to check out... or they've been training over this past year.  :)

Off to post-race ice cream...Morgan rocks the SKINourishment  tattoo ...I'll have to figure out where she got that done. I'd like one myself.  

Our morning ride!  

Big thanks to everyone at ToAD for their help, cheering, and general awesomeness!  Up next on the National Crit Calendar:  Manahattan Beach Crit!