Tour of America's Dairyland (TOAD) Day 1

Today was the very hilly road race held on the course that they hope to use for the 2016 Chicago Olympics. After preriding on Wednesday I knew it was gonna be a tough day for me and everyone else. It started off with a very fast downhils section for a few miles and then hit some pretty steep rollers. After more descending we hit the first big climb and I was able to barely hang on to the back of the pack. I actually chased back on with 2 other guys right as Chris and Greg crashed. We all caught back up to the back which had slowed significantly on the flat sections of the course. We began the climb up to complete the first lap of 4 and I was feeling OK but not great. While climbing I realized that I could push it hard and make it over with the main group of 30-4o riders but I also realized that i would probably get dropped hard on the next lap. So I conserved a bit and checked out my position at the top and after riding about 1 mile of the next lap decided to call it a day with Andy M. We gave water to Greg and Vince who finished 13th and 11th which was awesome. It turns out there were only 26 finishers! Hopefully I was right to conserve my energy for the rest of the weeks races! Today is a criterium in Waterloo, Wisconsin where Trek bikes are made. I am hoping Panther can pull off some good results against this tough field.