Race Report: Tour of America’s Dairyland Centraal Bay View Classic

Race Report: Tour of America’s Dairyland (ToAD) Centraal Bay View Classic

Date: June 26, 2025

AVRT racers: Robin Betz

Top Result: Robin 31/56 overall, 23/39 in cat 2/3

Course: A bow tie from hell. Corner 2 is a very sharp right hander that you can’t pedal through and has a slight uphill after. Pavement is generally terrible but didn’t require changing lines.

Strava:
https://www.strava.com/activities/14925937909

Race Recap:

Felt better about this one despite doing about the same results-wise.

My main goal was to figure out staging, especially with a somewhat technical course. I inspected the course from the sidewalks and watched how the previous field of junior boys took the corners, so didn’t need to do a free lap. This was good because the race was a bit behind due to a rain delay, so there were no free laps. I noted the nearest spot to enter the course before the line and camped out there with some other riders who had the same idea. Unfortunately the refs let the riders at the spot about 5 feet after the line go backwards to the start, and someone in my group shoved past me and stepped on my shoe to the point my boa came undone, so once more I end up lined up in the back (where I promptly fixed my shoe). I don’t think this one was my fault!

The first few corners in the group were really frustrating, especially the sharp right hand one where everyone started braking about halfway between corners 1 and 2 to prepare, and then sprinted out of it with much more power than I have available. I quickly discovered that while I’d lose spots on that stretch, I could easily make them back up on corners 3, 4, and 5, all of which I could take the outside line and pass people, then be well positioned on the long finishing stretch to make up more spots on the outside.

This worked well for a while and I start to think I might actually be able to finish the whole race or even get near the front, but the thoughts are very much in the background as I’m navigating the group, bumpy pavement, and trying to figure out the best line for the left hand corner 3 which has some divots right at the apex. The group starts to shred and I can feel myself tiring, and sprinting uphill out of corner 2 gets very painful and I lose more spots there every time. The back part of the course lets me rest so I just imagine it as one of the 20/20s workouts I did in preparation for this week.

My tailgunning comes to an end when the sprint omnium lap is followed by a $50 prime lap and I discover the finishing stretch has a headwind after I lose the wheels when the group speeds up there. I chase as hard as I can, seeing a second group of riders behind with me in no mans land in between. I catch back on near the end for a few laps but it slowly slips away and then I just try to do my best corners and stay aero.

The group of four riders behind me catches up to me and I am very happy to have some friends as it is so much easier with a draft. Unfortunately one of these riders is from a team that is notoriously great at power numbers but not skills and she keeps attacking us for no reason out of the corners, then braking and taking the inside line into them and we all catch her back. I try to explain that we should work together, you can pedal through most of them, just follow my line!! but clearly I am too slow to be giving advice because she just attacks me again after I say this.

This also irritated the other riders in the group, one of whom was nice to me at staging, so when she asks for a leadout I oblige, and pull hard for the last lap, pedal through the last corners with my best lines, and give it the beans to launch her after the final one (for a 5sec max heart rate of 2025!). It works great and actually no one comes around me for a while until she does to win out of the bunch. The annoying rider does catch me at the line but I’m a leadout man today and I did my job.

I think that’s actually my best role on the team and I rarely get the chance to actually deliver in a race environment so I am grateful for the practice. I also am proud of being a good wheel (to the point that someone mentioned it to me at the beginning) and a positive rider. Also I think this race fixed up a lot of my hesitancy really leaning into corners so maybe I will go for the Kings’ Mountain descent QOM again this year.

Three days remain, as does my goal of figuring out staging. Not sure what the other goals are but I just want to get better every day. Thanks for everyone’s encouraging Strava comments and emails; it means a lot to have teammates cheering me on even when I’m riding solo.