Downer Ave & Tomasz Pac 100 Lap Race

The Tomasz Pac 100 Lap race was last Thursday which is a race I won last year and helped Randy win two years ago, so needless to say our team's done very well here. Nikos and Johnny got off the front real early and were able to hover at the back of the field for the majority of the race. As they got off the front, I went to the front of the peloton and set false tempo and just watched the gap grow from a quarter lap to three quarters of a lap incredibly quickly. I tried to get off the front probably a dozen times during the race after that but no one was going to let me go. Johnny ended up winning which is a great first big win for him and the third year in a row our team has won that event. It's nice to have won it once because I don't feel like I 'need' to win it anymore.

I went up to Milwaukee on Saturday for the Downer Ave Criterium which is part of the Tour of the America's Dairyland Series, one of the major racing series held throughout the summer in United States. The field was incredible. Daniel Holloway, probably the best criterium racer in the county was there with his team, Rashaan Bahati was there, a former national criterium champion, Jack Bobridge was there - a stage winner of the Tour Down Under earlier this year, as well as a lot of local pro teams and high caliber guys. The crowd seemed lined 2 deep the entire course, it was the most electric atmosphere I've raced in in awhile, such a cool experience. I felt great the whole race, never under pressure at all. With 2 to go I was in a great spot, with several of the who's who in the race right in front of me but entering the first turn of the last lap someone directly in front of me had to get on there brakes which caused me to have to as well and I lost a dozen spots. From there it was just a matter of hanging on which was good enough for 30th. Really cool race and I'll definitely do it again next year.

Tomorrow we're driving out to Colorado Springs for the week of UCI/NTC racing. Looks to be about a race a day so hopefully it'll be a fairly relaxing trip otherwise.