Genevieve Whitson Elite Road Cyclist

Things just didn't really go according to plan for me or my team at Tour of America's Dairyland. My team was missing riders with two members out of action with injury. Ryan had a mechanical in one of his races and in general things just didn't seem to be working for us. 20 minutes into the first criterium I managed to shave my bike and right hand side of my body into the sidewalk after getting air going through a pothole at 24 mph. I lost control of the brakes and became well acquainted with the cement and grass on the pavement. Not pleasant, but it was my fault for not paying more attention in the race, so there is no one I can blame this on apart from myself. The medics at the med tent were fantastic and patiently redressed my wounds every day for an entire week, by the 7th day they were saying 'Okay Genevieve, same as usual today?"..

So there was my first 'DNF' for a race in about 4 years. It was also my first nasty stack on the bike in 6 years, so I am pretty lucky. It was just a shame that it knocked my confidence quite badly as I ended up riding quite passively for the next two criteriums not managing to make it any better than 22nd place and outside any prize money. The peloton was strong, there was no doubting that. On stage 3 (Giro de Grafton - part of the USA criterium series) we averaged 26 miles for the entire race and the criterium had a few bumps, so it was no wonder it was hard.

There were two road races mixed in with the 10 day tour, and my legs were actually firing for Elkhart Lake. It was such a cool, fun course. We did 11 laps (4.6miles per lap) around a racing car circuit and the road was soo smooth. There were no concerns about pot holes, cracks, bumps, just lovely groomed tarmac. It was aggressive from the start with girls jumping off the front all the way. In lap three going up the 1st major climb of the circuit about 7 riders got off the front. No one chased them down and then I noticed that they were getting a bit of break so I thought 'what the heck, let's try and bridge this gap and join them'. I managed to get across and thought the bunch would chase me down but no one did and once we got over the 2nd climb we had had 30 seconds from the main group so we started working together and managed to open a lead of 1.45 by the last lap. Because the break went so early and we were lapping it out for 50km I was pretty fried by the finish and didn't go well in the sprint up the final climb. I came in 7th but was really happy to finally have a solid ride after such a roller coaster few days.

Of the other nz female riders there Emma Peterson was firing in the criteriums, hitting a few top 3 spots. I also got the chance to meet another kiwi rider Jeannie Kuhajek. Jeannie managed to crack into the top 20 at the Giro de Grafton - nice work.

Results can be found here:
http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/results/results.php

Wisconsin was noticeably hotter than Rochester and it took a few days to get use to racing in the late 80's (around 30 degrees) but this should make racing in the UK totally doable as there certainly won't be any issues with that kind of heat in September in Oxford. I also finally managed to sort out of my cramping issues which have been plaguing me for about 6 months now. Our host accommodation Patrick and Jess introduced me to Hammer Electrolytes. They are amazing. You can take them every hour while racing and for the first time since January I didn't cramp at all, even on long stages over 2.5 hours. They will now be one of my 'essentials' when packing for races.

I need to say a big thanks to Patrick and Jess for hosting Ryan and I for the week and also thanks to Ryan for driving us to Wisconsin, all 1760 miles of it that we endured. Thankfully Ryan likes 80's music like I do so we had no problems with the choice of stations all the way.

Next stop Tour of Fitchburg...