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OK, here it is. Tuesday I raced the track and one of the races was a "snowball". For the uninitiated, it's a points race where the number of points awarded to the winner of each lap increases from lap to lap.

After the neutral lap I was in the back of the field when they rang the bell for the $15 preme and I didn't get to the front in time to snatch the point on offer or the fifteen bones. By the time we were in the third lap I figured I better leave with a few points anyway so I jumped and took first place points in the third lap. I looked back and by that point there was only one rider with me, meaning that if we played our cards right, we would be taking all the rest of the points on offer between the two of us. I let him come by me underneath in the turn, figuring I'd rest a lap while he pulled me around. He did, taking the four points for first while I scooped up the 3 points for second. Then I felt like I was in good shape because I was on his wheel and I was feeling pretty good so I let him lead me out all around the final lap and then coming out of turn 4 I came over the top of him and it was a dead sprint for the big points. I must have eaten my wheaties that morning because I ran him down by half a bike length at the line to secure my first ever race win!

Ta da!

Kris denied speculation that the six big ones he'd won (yeah, we're talking dollars) would change him.

A peek at the Domes:

Miss N Out details to follow.

Congrats, Lyle and Kelly! Now, for advertising your website, we'll be taking this hat, the Zebat, which we have reason to suspect came from a very rare zebra pegasus (or zebasus).

Wait, that's two links. Two hats, then, and we'll call it even.

A bad day turned good. The morning of the 11th stage of the Tour of Americas Dairyland landed me in the Cat 3 crit in Waukesha. Per usual, I was running late but especially late because I woke up at 12:30 and had to stage for my race at 2:00. Problem was, I had to first stop at BEN'S CYCLE to see if I could find my helmet, no such luck, so I headed to the race taking Greenfield Ave all the way there, Don’t ask me why!! Nonetheless, I showed up 5 min before registration closed and started to settle down and headed back to my car only to find out that I had left my jersey at home! I started to freak out as John Reynders was riding past and he shouted, I have an extra jersey if you want it. I took it, and for they day it looked as if I rode for Team MC2 (team Wisconsin) but had Pegasus bibs. SRAM provided my helmet. Twenty or so minuets of warm up and it was time to stage.

The race started off smooth and quickly ramped up. About 5 laps in I took a pull at the front and sort of just stayed there for a little while, next thing I heard from behind me was "Um dude, we've got a break" from and IS Corp rider on my wheel, ME: "oh yeah?" IS Corp: "YEAH! GO!" so I went, sped up a bit and it was he and I for about four laps on our own off the front with a considerable gap. That’s when the 20$ preme was announced. It was my pull leading into the line and I was riding forward while staring my chaser down to see if he was going to try and attack for the preme, he didn't so I took it with ease but the next time around they announced "30$ to the next rider across the line" he quickly shouted, "that one's mine!" I wasn’t arguing with him. The pack caught us before we made it back around for "his" preme.

I sat back in the field to re-gain some energy for a few laps and nothing really went off the front again until the last 5 or 6 laps. I looked up to see that there were some riders making a break off the front but with six laps left I figured we would pull them in. I worked my way up as the laps came down. Five to go, moved up some more, four to go, looked for the break and they were still out but I wasn’t getting nervous about them, still figured they would get caught. With three to go I was second wheel in the pack and started to worry about the break that was about 50-60 yrds ahead of our group, maybe a little less. Halfway through the 3rd to last lap I attacked started to bridge the gap. Luckily I didn’t have any chasers directly on my wheel so I wasn’t worried about bringing the pack back together. Two to go and I was still chasing, alone but not by much, I was almost to the break and the field was almost to me. One to go and I hadn’t caught them yet but I was gaining ground, my chasers were coming strong. With 1/4 of the final lap to go I caught the break and about 3-5 seconds later the chase group caught me, by then I had been pushing so hard that I just kept on pushing. Final turn and I wasn’t letting up, I still had a little gas left in my legs and took the wheel of one of my chasers who had just passed me up and I sat behind him as he blew up. I jumped right and launched my sprint at 125 meters. I was started to gap the riders that were in that break and I couldn't hear anyone coming up beside me, still I pushed harder and harder. Then I heard it, the sound of Andrew Stolls wheels to my right as we both started to charge for the line. I was able to hold Andrew off for a few more feet threw my bike forward and got the win by about 1 or 2 feet (judging by the photo finish). Both Andrew and I had no clue who had won it though, so the anticipation before podium was a little nerve racking.

Congratulations Andrew Stoll with 2nd place at Waukesha and 2nd place overall at the Tour of America's Dairyland. You are a beast!!!

Thank you to SRAM and Team MC2 for the help. Those acts of kindness make the WI cycling scene what it is, and what's more, give us that warm and fuzzy feeling in our tummy.

Or maybe we've seen the future, and it's good.

The second event was an unknown distance with a combined 4s and 5s field. But hey, there's my winning cat 3 roadie teammate Brandon Meineke racing his first night on the track as a 5. So after a little while Brandon took a flyer, and I stayed near the front but not at the front, keeping good wheels and not working to chase. Brandon was out alone for maybe 3 laps before they rung the bell, and I was still in good position. I ramped the speed up, kept another rider on my right hip through turn 3, (I think one of the Kenosha Velosport kids who beat me in the sprints earlier in the night), and then I kicked entering turn 4 and held him off to take the sprint and 2nd in the race behind Brandon.

The consolation race was a 20 lap scratch. After maybe 3 laps Brandon got bored and jumped out front. I let him get about 50 feet before jumping out after him, and then we were off together. Without a word we started taking half lap pulls- he's new to Kenosha but he raced at Alpenrose when he lived in Portland. We kept it up for about 8 laps. It was really hard', and with 10 to go I was fading off of Brandon's wheel, and I told him to GO! LEAVE ME! (not like that, but you get it). He went on ahead on his own and I dropped back. Avi from Cuttin' Crew had been chasing us solo, and as he passed me I latched on to his wheel. No way I was working to catch Brandon, and he knew it. So I got a nice ride for a couple more laps, until Stacy Applewick and a fast junior caught us. After this I just stayed near the front again, defended second or third wheel, and then as we came around for the sprint I was able to come out of the middle and kick, again, entering turn 4 and won the sprint by a good margin. That race was really tough, definitely the most I've worked in a track race this year.

Pegasus with the one-two punch two races in a row!! I love teammates! Even ones who are more interested in trashy romance novels than racing. (KATY)

FYI, BEN, it wasn't a bodice ripper, because there were scenes of doin' it throughout, and EVERYBODY KNOWS they never do it 'til the end of a bodice ripper.

The events were three lap sprints, and an unknown distance. We had: Cale, Katy, Ben VC + a mattress, Brandon, Marcus, and Jon.

Last night was the second and last practice night; it went very well for the pinks, and the publicity is very prominent down in K'nowhere. Oh man where to start...so many good results, the weather was good, and no need for the anti-mosquito iPhone app.

I won my first three's race (the three lap sprints). Jon and I made the finals, that was the first important step. I found that I have a slightly longer threshold than I thought at 100% expenditure, so my sprint started about 400 meters from the finish. I quickly got the jump on the big sprinters of the group, but I knew they would be breathing down my neck. I glanced back with just a straightaway to go, and saw a distinct purple and yellow guy right behind me. I turned on the afterburners and squeezed out everything I had and won by about 3". It took them a while to decide, but I agree with it. Kaleb was half a bike behind. Overall: Lots of strong sprinters, very fast finish.

We were grateful to meet Brandon for the first time, and apparently the 4-5's didn't feel the same. He won three races total! after doing some engineering math, that's the maximum possible number of races you can win in a night!! His most impressive victories that left us jaw dropped, were the ones where he solo'd off the front without even making a pain cave face! Good job, hope to see you every week. Ben VC got 2nd place in the unknown distance. He worked hard for this victory over the pack, and didn't exactly get the coattail effect from Brandon who was way out front.

The three's unknown distance consisted of unlucky timing by all three of us (Cale, Marcus, Jon). We jumped and took the lead after about 6-9 laps, but the bell was rung after that.

Congrats to all who went. We got 5 bikes on top of the Subaru! Everything went smoothly. Thanks for the ride Katy and Cale.

Mike and I drove out to LaRue-Denzer-LaRue for a 50 mile, super hilly road race in the Cat 3's. The weather was perfect for an early morning race- just below 60 degrees and sunny at the start. The first 10 miles were a half lap, then we did two 20-mile full laps.

I wanted to make sure to warm up for this race because the first climb was just a couple of miles in. We rode a little far from the start for our warm-up, so when we turned around we had to pick the pace up a bit. I told Mike that I'd be just a second cause I had to run to the car. I stopped at the car for 30 seconds, then rolled over to the start. I looked around for the Cat 3's in the crowd of racers (there were 2 groups starting right after us). I asked an official after a minute of searching and he said "they're already gone, get going!". Wow. I messed this one up.

So, I was at least a minute behind and I started giving chase. I headed for the first corner and I yelled at the corner marshal "Straight?! Straight?!" But unfortunately he was texting someone, so I headed straight just when he looked up.

"You racing?"
"Yeah, I'm racing! Which way do I F'in go?!"
"Turn here!"

I turned around and rode through the grass to start my chase all over again. Granted, it was my fault that I was behind, but that wasn't the only corner marshal issue of the day. It took me 5 minutes to catch them, just at the base of the first climb. I guess I got my warm-up.

The first climb was at its steepest for the first mile, then gradually kept going up for another mile and a half. The pressure was put on but no attacks were made. We plateaued, made a few turns, and descended toward the start/finish.

The second lap was mostly uneventful. We did the first climb, everyone stayed together, descended, rolled along the flats, and hit the base of the second big climb. This thing was brutal. About a mile long and around 10%, this would be decisive on the third lap. A good sized group made it together to the top, and any stragglers regrouped with us on the flat/downhill to the finish.

As we were climbing the first hill on the third lap, two juniors, Jordan Cullen (MBRC/Flanders) and Darrell Kohli (Geargrinder), attacked and opened a gap. They were almost out of sight by the time we reached the top, and several of us got organized to chase. Unfortunately, this 'paceline' was more like a practice paceline without the speed, so the break was temporarily out of sight. We hit the 50+ mph descent and a few of us kept the speed up after that. I pulled really hard on the flat and as we pulled closer to the small hill that Darrell and Jordan were on, I hammered up to reel them in for good.

A few people kept asking me when I would attack. I was definitely being watched, so I figured I'd keep attacks under control, and feel it out.

No one wanted to pull, so I sat on the front cruising toward the base of the final climb. Liam Donoghue (xXx Racing) attacked on the flat and I jumped after. He was definitely someone to watch out for, and seemed like a good person to break away with, but he slowed down when he saw me with him.

I kept the pace up since we were starting to climb. Twenty feet on the peloton isn't much, but everyone works that much harder to catch back up to you. We re-grouped and I stayed on the front for the whole climb. Near the top, Jordan made another attack and gapped the group, but we quickly made a right turn and flattened out, then descended a steep hill. Again, I got on the front and pulled downhill and we rapidly caught him.

Only 6 or 7 made it over the climb together with about 2 miles of flat, then 2 miles of slightly winding descent leading into a flat finish. With 2 miles to go, the pace kicked in to high gear, and this being my second bunch sprint ever, I was unsure how it would unfold. At any given moment, there were 3 people on the front, and I made sure to stay on someone's wheel. I was nervous and feeling boxed in, but it being a small group, I knew it would open up in the sprint, and sure enough, as everyone went for it, a gap opened on the right and I sprinted hard for the line and got my third win of the season!

By the way, the second corner marshal incident was on the second lap when Mike fell a little off of the group on the first big climb. He was reeling us back in, and because the second lap was different than the first he was supposed to go a different way to follow us, but the corner marshal was GONE, and he went the wrong way.