Drove up a little north of Milwaukee for a twilight criteriium in Grafton. It was a great course. About a mile in the downtown area with a slight uphill on the backstretch and slightly downhill on the finish stretch. 6 corners with a tight last corner to a long 500 meter wide open sprint.

The race was pretty active right from the start. Lots of small groups forming and getting reabsorbed. The last corner was so tight that it made the drag to the finish line a nightmare if you were more than 20 guys back. My max speed was 39 mph, which surprised me. It was barely downhill. I guess there was a lot of attrition. Over 100 riders started and I heard the group was pretty small at the end.

Garrett Peltonen, from Bissell, was the strongest of the day by miles. He never missed a move and could bridge to anything that looked dangerous. Grand Performance put their million guys at the front with 5 laps to go. They weren’t going anywhere nearly fast enough to keep it stung out. Garrett took off with 3 laps to go and got an immediate 15 second gap. It was a super move and should of worked. Not quite. He made it to maybe 50 meters from the line before being passed.

I got into pretty good position going into the last corner. Adam Bergman was leading it out with Chad Hartley behind him. I was right on Josh Carter, who I thought was the fastest. But, plans were spoiled. Eric Marcotte came into the corner super hot on my inside and strafed me off Josh’s wheel. He was at the wrong angle going the wrong speed. We ended up all the way across the road up against the curb. Needless to say, a bunch of guys went by. I was still on Eric, but going nowhere. Then I figured out that I was in a 12, not an 11. I shifted and passed a few guys back. Barely cracked the top ten with a 9th place finish. I was correct in picking Josh Carter. He was the only guy to get past Garrett. With Chad Hartley finishing 3rd. I felt pretty mediocre, but had enough to at least stay on Josh’s wheel. Bad luck.

My dog got sick last nite and I had to take him to the emergency vet at 12. Didn’t get to sleep until 3. I’m thinking of just going for a long ride and skipping the Sheboygan Criterium tonight. It’s a long drive and I need to head back to Kansas.