Madison Criterium – Tour of America’s Dairyland – Day 11

Strava map of the Madison Criterium course – 2011 Tour of America’s Dairyland

Mmmmm – chocolate milk at the finish in front of the capitol after 11 days of racing

This was a great way to end up the 2011 Tour of America’s Dairyland. I put the course map first because it highlights the unique location for this criterium. We raced around the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison. The course was a square with a downhill leading into Turn #2 and #3 and then an uphill leading into Turn #4 followed by a short flat finish.

I started about mid-pack and sank backwards on the first few laps so that by about the fifth lap I was somewhere in the back 1/3rd of the field. Eventually, I started feeling more confident about the race and started to move up. The best place to move up was immediately after turn #1 on the run-in to turn #2. This meant that you had to take turn #2 on the inside, but then you were in great position sheltered from a pretty strong cross-wind on the fast stretch from turn #2 to turn #3. The problem with this line, though, is that the inside of turn #3 wasn’t the best place to be if somebody decided to cut you off. This happened several times where I lost a lot of momentum and had to accelerate hard up the hill between turn #3 and turn #4.

Towards the middle of the race, I had worked my way far enough forward to attack when a $100 prime was announced. I got a gap after turn #1, but was chased down by about halfway up the hill before turn #4 by a Garneau Test team rider. I ended up crossing the line 3rd behind the Garneau rider and a Foundation CRC rider. Then I tagged onto the back of two more riders who had attacked from the field. Our five-man break lasted about a lap before Kenda brought us back. The move of the day went fairly early on with Dan Holloway (Kelly Benefits), Timmers (Garneau Test), and Sergei Tvetskov (Aerocat) braking away and gradually increasing their lead. Kenda chased hard, but the short hilly four-corner course did not lend itself well to a steady chase.

About 50 laps into the race (out of 70 laps), I attacked going up the hill into turn #4 hoping that a prime would be called on the next lap. As I attacked, somebody yelled “Watch out for the squirrel”. I was a little frustrated because I was thinking that they were calling me a squirrel even though I thought I was riding a very good, safe race. In a hilarious coincidence, though, there was actually a squirrel that was in the road at that exact spot at the time that I attacked. The squirrel was dodging back and forth trying not to get run over and eventually leaped over the barriers to escape. Kristine was right there and watched the whole thing – including the person yelling “watch out for the squirrel” so she can verify that they weren’t shouting about me!

After my lap solo, there were a bunch of attacks / chases. I ended up sliding pretty far back in the field, but with about 10 laps to go I decided to do everything I could to move back up to the front of the field. With a couple laps to go, a group of 3 had separated themselves from the field and were just a few seconds up the road. With one lap to go, I had worked all the way to the front of the field sitting second wheel behind Emile Abraham (Aerocat) who was setting a very fast pace on the last lap. He attacked going into Turn #3 at the bottom of the hill and I went with him. I stayed on his wheel until his teammate, Josh Carter, who had been just behind me attacked and Emile sat up. I swung out to the left of Emile and gave it everything I had getting passed by only Chad Hartley (Kenda) between Turn #4 and the finish to place 9th.

Here is a link to the interactive Strava data: http://app.strava.com/rides/824628

NAME   DIST   ELEV  SPEED    POWER     HR      TIME
Lap 1  0.6 mi 23 ft 24.9 mph 319 watts 149 bpm 0:01:23
Lap 2  0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 421 watts 159 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 3  0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 433 watts 157 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 4  0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 421 watts 161 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 5  0.6 mi 23 ft 26.9 mph 362 watts 159 bpm 0:01:17
Lap 6  0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 400 watts 157 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 7  0.6 mi 23 ft 30.0 mph 470 watts 162 bpm 0:01:09
Lap 8  0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 429 watts 161 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 9  0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 338 watts 159 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 10 0.5 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 369 watts 162 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 11 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 413 watts 155 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 12 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 368 watts 160 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 13 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.5 mph 364 watts 159 bpm 0:01:18
Lap 14 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 465 watts 161 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 15 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.9 mph 363 watts 163 bpm 0:01:17
Lap 16 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 453 watts 172 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 17 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 455 watts 162 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 18 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 441 watts 153 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 19 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 413 watts 152 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 20 0.5 mi 23 ft 30.4 mph 445 watts 153 bpm 0:01:08
Lap 21 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 375 watts 158 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 22 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 430 watts 156 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 23 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 378 watts 154 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 24 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 450 watts 160 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 25 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 463 watts 156 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 26 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 484 watts 158 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 27 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 494 watts 159 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 28 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 398 watts 161 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 29 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.9 mph 426 watts 168 bpm 0:01:17
Lap 30 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 417 watts 160 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 31 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.6 mph 503 watts 178 bpm 0:01:10
Lap 32 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 431 watts 173 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 33 0.6 mi 23 ft 25.9 mph 449 watts 164 bpm 0:01:20
Lap 34 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 402 watts 155 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 35 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 381 watts 147 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 36 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 412 watts 148 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 37 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.2 mph 400 watts 155 bpm 0:01:19
Lap 38 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 443 watts 159 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 39 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 425 watts 154 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 40 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 445 watts 155 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 41 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 406 watts 157 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 42 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 472 watts 158 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 43 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 399 watts 151 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 44 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.5 mph 407 watts 150 bpm 0:01:18
Lap 45 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 363 watts 151 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 46 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 391 watts 156 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 47 0.6 mi 23 ft 25.6 mph 409 watts 169 bpm 0:01:21
Lap 48 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 446 watts 156 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 49 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 352 watts 145 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 50 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 421 watts 140 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 51 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 434 watts 147 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 52 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 396 watts 153 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 53 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 393 watts 150 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 54 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.5 mph 381 watts 149 bpm 0:01:18
Lap 55 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 414 watts 151 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 56 0.6 mi 23 ft 25.2 mph 363 watts 152 bpm 0:01:22
Lap 57 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.5 mph 432 watts 157 bpm 0:01:18
Lap 58 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.2 mph 405 watts 149 bpm 0:01:11
Lap 59 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.6 mph 403 watts 160 bpm 0:01:15
Lap 60 0.6 mi 23 ft 31.9 mph 408 watts 161 bpm 0:01:05
Lap 61 0.6 mi 23 ft 27.2 mph 460 watts 172 bpm 0:01:16
Lap 62 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 426 watts 167 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 63 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.0 mph 433 watts 166 bpm 0:01:14
Lap 64 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 465 watts 164 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 65 0.6 mi 23 ft 29.6 mph 518 watts 162 bpm 0:01:10
Lap 66 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.4 mph 380 watts 164 bpm 0:01:13
Lap 67 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.9 mph 435 watts 168 bpm 0:01:17
Lap 68 0.6 mi 23 ft 26.5 mph 463 watts 167 bpm 0:01:18
Lap 69 0.6 mi 23 ft 28.8 mph 421 watts 173 bpm 0:01:12
Lap 70 0.6 mi 23 ft 31.9 mph 560 watts 181 bpm 0:01:05

Finally, Kristine and I got some good pics from the day – check them out in the gallery below! Summary post tomorrow…