Madison Criterium Bike Race Report

Today my cycling buddies and I went to Madison, WI (The People's Republic of Madison) for a criterium bike race. A criterium is where a bunch of cyclists go around a one-block square again and again. It's good viewing for the fans because the cyclists go by every minute or so and it's a bit dangerous as 75 cyclists turning sharp corners at very close proximity inevitably leads to crashes.

I usually do long-winded reports of these things but The Boss has a way with words that has a special charm. Here is his report;

"75 entrants...fast start....round and round we go...Aaron attacks and gets a nice gap for a few laps...gets reeled in....round and round we go....Aaron try's again and gets no where.....round and round we go....Aaron rolls off the front...I tell a bunch of 30+ers from Madison on the same team that he's going to win....they do nothing....Aaron wins, I sprint pass 4000 people and get second...".

I'll just add that Aaron is a good friend of ours so it was a pleasure to see him win. The Boss won the bunch sprint and was also first in his age category. Russ finished snugly in the pack, me a bit further back. Two crashes resulted in one ambulance trip to repair a broken collar bone for a cyclist that we don't know.