Omro RR (WiSport) Sunday, July 2nd – Omro WI. I took off after work on Saturday and headed up to Mike (Slick) Bobusch’s house in Greenville (by Appleton) and arrived around 10 p.m. It was just in time to catch highlights of the first stage of the tour. After some catching up with he and Michelle we hit the hay early in preparation for tomorrows event. After a good nights rest we headed over to the inaugural event and Max Rhyner from team BBS made it as well. I was there to ride hard and hopefully do some work for Mike so he might achieve a win. Since the event was sponsored by Wheel and Sprocket their complete team showed up en-mass to probably ensure one of it’s riders won the inaugural event. With riders like Andy Crater and Brandon Gavic it was a good bet one of member of their team would be crossing the line first. I was along to help ensure it was going to be Mike as he and I’ve raced together for many years and he’s helped me get some of my better placing's. From the start Andy and Team Wheel and Sprocket were dictating things. Since the race was only like 32 miles long it was going to be fast from the start and it was. At 30 minutes we had an average speed of roughly 28 miles and hour. Andy’s plan was to keep the pace as high as possible and to burn off as many as they could. It wasn’t really working so I decided to do some attacking. I punched it into a headwind with Mike on my wheel and we got a good gap. We took a couple turns and the gap widened. Brandon and Andy came across with a couple other strong local riders and the group was 7. I looked back and saw some more people trying to bridge and someone said Gordy was in that group and to speed up. I said why don’t we slow down and let them get here because I know he’ll work. He and four others finally made it across but Max was dangling about 20 feet off the bridge and out of gas. I went back to help him and told him to get on my wheel. He did but we couldn’t close the gap as every time I’d accelerate he’d gap. Finally I went back and gave him a good couple of pushes and yelled at him to dig deep and he did and we finally reintegrated the group. I told him just to hold on and rest and not to work as this was the break that would stick so he’d have a top 10 at least. I was wrong. Brandon went up the road and no one followed. Mike was still in this group but he wouldn’t have been able to bridge alone. Andy wanted me to attack and then he and Mike would counter and go up to Brandon. I thought that might work but said, “why don’t I just go across to him and you guys will get a free ride up and counter after that?” He said sure. Easier said than done! I attacked and pinned it at about 30 mph for what seemed like eternity but finally I got across to his wheel. (Brandon and I used to race together for Salsa Cycles in 2003…he has since raced in Belgium and become a really decent cat 1 racer.) I rested for a while and then we took turns pulling. The group was slowly chasing us down but we didn’t let them get there without a good fight and as soon as they did the course was full of rolling hills. Now everything is starting to blow up and I’m just letting gaps open because Mike and Andy are up the road. As soon as someone started to fall off I’d shoot around them to the next wheel so no one could follow. As we neared the top of one climb I caught back on with Brandon, Mike and Andy and proceeded to punch it on the descent. Only two other riders made this group and they were from the same team and were local cat 1 racers. On the last climb they couldn’t follow and Mike and Andy took off. I was with a rider named Greg Bednorski and he looked at me to chase. I told him I was actually hoping my friend Mike would stay away as he was in that group and told him that I wasn’t going to chase so if he wanted to get there he was on his own. I said I wouldn’t jump him at the finish if he managed to get us there as I was first WiSport racer on the road. He didn’t look too happy about it but put his head down and tried to get there. Brandon and Greg’s teammate caught us and soon the four of us started just rolling through and talking. I told them I wanted to go fast enough to keep the hard charging Lance Niles and Gordy Paulson behind us. It worked out that Mike beat Andy in a staged sprint for the victory and Brandon took 3rd with Greg and his teammate taking the next to spots and me easily crossing the line in 6th. The average speed was almost 26mph and it was a good event. Max didn’t stay with the group when it splintered and ended up finishing in the middle of the pack in the group sprint. Congratulations on your win Mike! I’ll be back next year to help you defend your title!
