21 Jun-1 Jul ToAD

Green Jersey podium at Tour of America's Dariyland.

Eleven straight days of racing spanning ten cities sprinkled throughout southeast Wisconsin—that was the 2012 edition of the Tour of America’s Dairyland. The series comprised two road races and nine criteriums in an omnium format, with the last four days of racing part of the National Criterium Calendar, guaranteeing fresh legs and top riders joining in on the series in the later days.

One of many mammoth cheese wheel awarded at ToAD.

Presented by Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, the series boasted on day 11 having given away over 13,000 cartons of chocolate milk and more than $135,000 in cash and primes, numerous mammoth wheels of cheese and tens of thousands of coffee beans.

Call up in Stage 2 for my aggressive
riding in Stage 1 at Shorewood.

The series is among the best in the country, drawing America’s top women’s teams and most talented criterium riders. I knew going in that 11 days was going to be a big challenge for my body given my lack of solid base training—and the oppressive heat added to the challenge. The last 5 days of the series we were drown in suffocating humidity with temps topping 95 (35 C).  Ugh.

Damage to my front wheel after crashing in Stage 2.

I started the series with a bit of bad luck, crashing in Stage 2 with only 2 laps to go in the race. I came away uninjured, but impact with the curb destroyed my front wheel and gave me last place on the day. Determined, I fought back with some decent results over the next few days to put me in the Oarsman Top Amateur Rider Green Jersey. I faded in the latter stages though, as my body decided it had had enough and started to rebel with a notable degree of enthusiasm.  

Scotti Wilborne (Mellow Mushroom) and me with our new
wheelsets from Mercury Wheels

The last race of the series was the most exciting for me, with Scotti Whilborne (Mellow Mushroom), in close contention for the Green Jersey, escaping early in the race in a 6-rider break. My efforts to join the break were unsuccessful and by the end only 3 riders remained clear as the grueling heat took its toll. All stakes on the finish, and in the points count on the line I finished well enough to hold on to the jersey with Scotti finishing only 3 points behind in second and Katie Spittlehouse (Nova ISCorp) third. The biggest surprise for me and Scotti was Mercury Cycling's awesome sponsorship of a set of their top carbon wheels to the top two Cat 2 finishers. Wow!

Overall Podium: Emily Collins (Vanderkitten), Laura Van Gilder
(Mellow Mushroom) and Nicole Whitburn (VeloClub LeGrange).

Amazing riding by Mellow Mushroom/Rose Bandit Racing saw a Mellow Mushroom rider on the podium every day of the series with eventual overall leader Laura Van Gilder standing on the top step in 8 of the 11 races. Amazing. Super talented Kiwi rider Emily Collins (Vanderkitten Focus) rode with impressive consistency to finish second overall while Aussie Nicole Whitburn (VeloClub LeGrange) took third.

Thanks to the Midwest Cycling Series for a gargantuan effort in putting on an incredible series and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for keeping us supplied with chocolate milk, and especially Don Becker of Becker Law for his generous sponsorship of the women’s series and Oarsman Capitol for making possible the Cat 2 Jersey. Huge thank yous also to my awesome sponsors Rob Curtis at PSIMET Wheels and Wayne Simon at ENZO’s Buttonhole, Brain Grant and Paul Schilling at Mack Racing for keeping both me and my bike functioning, and to John Fleckenstein for being an amazing host and incredible friend and to whom I am indebted for my green jersey win.