This stage of the Draft was full of surprises. When Phil and Bob announced Cannibal and Hit-the-Wall as contenders in this year’s tour, the crowd went wild to have the boys back in the line up. Perhaps a little disappointment seeped in with the realization that Cannibal would not finish the Champs-Middleton Hills bearing garden drinks and wearing an apron.

The heat is a great equalizer. 18 Drafters started and finished, mostly together.

There is a brief pause in the Tour coverage when the photographer gets dropped.

While we await his return, please enjoy some of his footage from the Riley Tavern route last week: YouTube Link to Skipper’s Drafting by Riley Highlights – July 25.

Coverage resumes as Skipper digs deep and overtakes the peloton with a brilliant break away maneuver up Buethin Rd.

Skipper was able to maintain the lead until Pheasant Branch, when Gopher sprinted for the town sign. Iowa was in it to win it, as Hawkeye gave chase. Gopher and Hawkeye were wheel to wheel at the finish. Phil and Bob are awaiting the judges decision.

Octane had to drop out of the tour after crashing in the MTB stage, but dropped by to single handedly enjoy a cold beverage.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Drafters in the wild. Please feed the animals.

A bit further north, things really got wild at Wausau24. Skipper is nothing shy of a celebrity in the area, recently being hired to build miles and miles of MTB trail. Build it and they will come. And they did…. the largest MTB race in the Midwest sold out! Skipper took time out of his 12 hour race to grant an interview and announce the 6 hour winners. Despite several social engagements during the race, this beast managed to place top 10.

The rho Chi Minh Trail isn’t the only thing Skipper cleared. The race director cleared an entire camping area just for Skipper. BrickO couldn’t clear the rock garden, but she was happy to help fill the camp site space.

Before and after photos tell the story.

The Tour de France Femmes is underway. And starting August 1st, so is the Tour de Dane Femmes! Let’s make this the best tour yet.

On tap for Monday August 4: DEPARTURE FROM CROSSROADS COFFEHOUSE in Cross Plains. Two routes: short pour 23 miles and full strength 31miles. One departure time: 4:45PM. Given that this is a bit further of a drive from our usual launching pad, give a shout out on GroupMe if you are seeing other folks to leave at a later time.

RidewithGPS link: Drafters | CP Beast of Barlow Short Pour

RidewithGPS Link: Drafters | CP Beast of Barlow

PIZZA ORDERS: Please text BrickO by Monday noon if you’d like to pre-order a pizza: cheese, pepperoni, deluxe or veggie.

Draft responsibly,

BrickO

The Drafter Grand Tour continues. 22 drafters set forth to Riley Tavern.

Skipper and Goose flew in hot in just after the photo, and Pepe joined the fleet from his home base, and Hammer Time started just as the group finished, sporting her new white Trek Madone. The bride to be choose her steed wisely.

The trickiest part of the ride was navigating through the chaotic intersection at the epicenter of Middleton Hills, where apparently blinkers, full stops and any other semblance of order imposted by traffic laws was largely ignored by drivers. But not the by the Drafters, who had two feet down and thumbs up at the red light.

Traffic quieted down and the drafters heated up once through the round-about on Blackhawk Rd. Skipper captured this gorgeous photo of the peloton climbing Blackhawk and Twin Valley.

The pecking order was established fairly quickly as Vilks and the Iowegian Birds of Prey, Goose and Hawkeye took flight. BrickO, von Diesel and Air Bourne managed to stay in formation until Riley, and then fell back into a more sustainable pace.

As is tradition, beers and smart talk commenced after the Draft. Shameless plug for Super Tuesday: for those who missed the rooftop concert last Thur, you can catch Queenie this weekend at the one and only WaunaFest!

Slim took a different route, MTBing through Cross Plains and Blackhawk trail systems to find his way to the backyard.

The Grand Tour was even more grand with a surprise drop in by Billy Boy, who actually intended to draft but was thwarted by a flat tire. There’s something a bit more Grand about Billy Boy this month…. congratulations to Sir Billy Boy the 6th!

Grandma Pit Stop and Grandpa Billy Boy were just ga ga over their grandkiddos.

Another surprise! A fly by visit from Gopher and a junior Drafter.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS: Congrats to Keez and Hawkeye on their Blue Mound Classic Cap Brew Ride event on Sunday.

Coming soon…. Calling All Femme Drafters! The 4th annual Tour de Dane Femmes will take place during the month of August. The format will be slightly different this year. There will be 8 stages with 4 classifications of awards: GC for most miles ridden during the tour, polka dot points for 2 climbing stages, green points for 2 sprint/TT stages and pink points for most spirited rider. Riders must complete ALL stages to be eligible for awards. Be sure to enlist on BrickO’s Drafters Strava Group in order to participate. You must be 18 years or older (for beer delivery purposes) and identify as Femme. No other restrictions apply.

On tap for Monday July 28: Full strength Latham Loop 30 miles and Northbound short pour 21 mile routes. Departure time 4:45. This worked well last week! The full strength self selected B team will roll out first, followed by A team, and then the short pour!

RidewithGPS link Drafters | Northbound Short Pour

RidewithGPS link Drafters | Latham Loop

Draft responsbily,

BrickO

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Bah. Enough complaining about mercury rising. 25 Drafters showed up and got after it.

MIA since 2019, welcome back von Diesel. Close to missing the action, Skipper rolled in with 1′ to spare. Gopher arrived on time, but ran out of time to ride as Daddy Day Care duties materialized 1′ before wheels up.

Fashion and Fashionably Late. Shaq strikes a pose for the cover of for her new catalog, “Fashion Forward”. Taking two styles of older Hincapie kits to create a new one (leave it up to the reader to decide if she misordered or mixed and matched on purpose), this kit is also her first “onesie”. The Fashion Forward catalog will reference bibs as “onesies” for adults.

Fashionably Late was Twinkle Toes. At least this week he remembered his shoes.

The pace set by both groups was as blistering as the heat. Check out the bike etiquette on Schneider Road. Red hot!

The group sizzled down Schneider Rd.

Breunig Road was a good mixer, with the A Team and most of the B Team having a chance to say hello.

It was also a chance to say goodbye, as Hawkeye, Vilks and Hammer Time turned on the afterburners. BrickO’s flame burned out, but thanks to Duracell, was pulled back to the group. Twinkle Toes‘ light was also burning a little less brightly in the heat. Spigot benevolently stayed by his side, possibly relieved, given the 177 miles he had put in his legs Saturday at Ride Across Wisconsin.

Z, Knievel, Skipper, von Diesel and Air Bourne were on fire and could not be hunted down by the A Team.

The wise decision was made by the A Team to refuel at Missouri Tavern, honoring the “Brewin'” part of Brewin’ on Breunig.

Everyone drafted responsibly back to home base, where chocolate cake complimented the PBR in celebration of Speedy’s birthday.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Congrats to Keez on wrapping up her criterium season at Momentum Indy, racing with Apex Cycling Team. She lost a little skin on Saturday, but gained a ton of experience in her first season as a Cat 2.

Could this Junior Drafter be the next phenom? Watch for her at Chequamegon MTB Festival!

Not just another pretty face, this Fashion Forward Model also finished the Ride Across Wisconsin. Congrats to Shaq, Special K and Spigot on their feat!

Cycling. Fashion. Music. We are such a cultured group. Please join Queenie and Super Tuesday this Thursday at Concerts on the Rooftop. Wear your Drafter jersey and get in for free. Not really.

Check out Queenie’s song, It Only Trickles Up, and earn a free scotch (need to get clarification on size of pour) on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or Bandcamp.

ON TAP FOR MONDAY July 21. 2 Routes: full strength Backdoor Riley 30 miles and short pour 25 miles. Departure times 4:45 and 4:50 from Middleton Hills.

RidewithGPS Drafters | Backdoor Riley Short Pour

RidewithGPS Drafters | Backdoor Riley

Reminder to women looking to get dirty: Women’s Wednesday night MTB ride from Blue Mound at 5PM!

Draft responsibly,

BrickO

Hills and root beer floats were on tap Monday night. A huge shout out to Katy and Abby at Creekside Scoop for supporting the Draft. Climbing 2405 feet over 34 miles required massive refueling. There was no shortage of pizza, ice cream and beer to fill the tanks of 19 thirsty and hungry Drafters.

Safety first. Dan-yelly was anticipating sketchy descents and donned her helmet as soon as she departed from work.

Sherlock deduced that she left her helmet at home. Drafting responsibly, she drove back home to fetch her helmet and then sprinted to catch the group, earning the green jersey in the Crossroads Coffeehouse stage.

The drafters rounded up in the corral to discuss team strategy and examine closely the holograph on Vilk’s shoes, which apparently was a 3D rendition of Z.

Queenie mistook the Shimano S-Phyre for S-Piffy. That works. For sure, the new Drafter socks are spiffy. Thanks to Andrew at Beaker Concepts for spiffing up the Drafters.

The B Team went big, with nearly everyone riding the full strength route. Apologies to those who faithfully followed the short pour route, only to find Moe Road full of gravel. Kudos to Presley and Nemo who embodied the Drafter spirit, “We were so focused on navigating the gravel, we barely noticed the climb”. Watson succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss, bypassing Moe Road completely. Elementary, my dear Watson.

The 4:45 and 4:50 departure times are working out beautifully. Thanks to all for adapting to this change. The groups now enjoy some playful banter on the course, with riders being able to switch groups as they feel more or less powerful. So good.

The two became one on Pleasant View Road, a fitting name for the reunion.

Emerging rather than merging on the climb was Coach Arms. We’d all go guns with her arms.

For the third week in a row, the skies once again grew dark. Queenie threatened to file a libel suit if the blog opposed Duracell’s weekly forecast for rain. Maybe a drop or two, but nothing that registered in the rain gauge. Unless it was collecting sweat from Vilks, and then it was at least 2″. Vilks and 2″ might be an exaggeration. Whatever was lost was replenished at Creekside.

PVL: Pizza position vacancy listing. Last month, Twinkle Toes was shorted a pie. This month, the hardship fell on McGritty. The current pizza order recorder has been terminated and a PVL has been posted. Resumes will be accepted up until our next Crossroads adventure on Aug 3.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Congrats to all those who finished the Ridin’ Dirty Gravel event on Saturday. Spigot, Shaq, Cujo, JRad, and Hammer Time (who happened to be Ridin’ Pretty on the Podium for the 100)!

Shaq was on the fashion podium. In her recent Drafter kit purchase, she chose this curious combination.

Off road but on podium, congrats to K2 on her 50k trail run in Ontario, the Summit700.

The route for Monday July 14 will head north just shy of Roxbury. Due to construction on Parmenter, we will continue out of town on High St. to Greenbriar instead of cutting through by Graber Pond. NOTE OF CAUTION: it is unlikely that I will have time to pre-ride this route. If anyone has updates on unfavorable status of these roads, please post in GroupMe. Thanks.

The full strength 34.8 miles and short pour 33.7 miles only differ by taking bike path home. Departure times are 4:45 and 4:50PM.

RidewithGPS Link: Drafters |*Brewin’ on Breunig and Bike Path

RidewithGPS Link: Drafters | *Brewin’ on Breunig

Draft responsibly,

BricKO

More photos than words.

26 Drafters. 2 Newbies. 2 New bikes. 2 Dead batteries. 2 Missing shoes. 1 Broken cleat. 1 Dog. 1 Dozen oysters and 1 bottle of white burgundy.

A big line up for the B team. And somebody has to be responsible for riding Sweep. Thanks to our Newbie for accepting the challenge!

Our wingman, Goose, brought his Mavrick to the Draft. Married for less than a month, it is clear who wears the watts in this family. Welcome!

In addition to two newbies, Sweep and Mavrick, we welcomed two new bikes for Squeak and Air Bourne.

Squeak took one look at the Pinarello and had second thoughts about her purchase. Not because the BMC isn’t a fabulous bike, but the gold sparkles in the Pinarello match her sunscreen. Today happens to be Squeak’s birthday. Maybe the bike fairy will sprinkle some gold dust on her BMC?

Pit Stop didn’t get a new bike, but upgraded her old cassette to include granny gears. Officially a grandmother, it is only fitting she has granny gears. We are still waiting for her timeless smile to show signs of age.

There were signs of aging at the Draft. Twinkle Toes forgot his shoes. Again.

If the shoe fits, wear it. Twinkle Toes has been there, done that. Z had just the right size shoe, but the cleats were not up for round 2 of goodwill. Maybe when Squeak’s birthday fairy sprinkles some magic dust on her BMC, she could drop off some cleats as well?

And while she’s flying around distributing magic dust and cleats to Drafters in need, maybe drop a few extra batteries Rimshot’s way?

Goose, being a faithful wingman, was able to provide Rimshot with an extra battery. That got him from Lodi Springfield Road to Woodland Road, and then his other battery died. Goodwill has limited miles.

Despite 2 forgotten shoes, 1broken cleat and 2 dead batteries, the Drafters finished strong. Or at least finished.

There was plenty of wildlife in the backyard. Slim and Drafter Dog, Lozi joined the fun. The gnats were in full force and seemed to be drawn to Vilks. Or at least his chamois which was hanging up to dry.

The wild life ultimately found their way into the kitchen for oysters and white burgundy.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

Race #6 in Wauwatosa for Keez. What a remarkable comeback. Nearly two years ago, she was recovering from VMO detachment (sort of a key part of the quadriceps) and ACL reconstruction after being hit by a car on a training ride. Two weeks ago, she entered the Tour of America’s Dairyland series as a newly upgraded Category Two racer.

Z entered his first event after his accident back in March and was a top finisher. Granted, his registration noted his gender as female, but still….. a strong finish at SBT GVL.

No room for third person here. I am so very proud of my daughter and husband, in general, but specifically for their display of grit and determination in overcoming their horrific cycling injuries. And to all of you, the Drafters, for your support in their comeback. Z and Keez truly embody the Drafter spirit. It definitely was an uphill battle, and they dug in and climbed their way to the top.

ON TAP FOR MONDAY JULY 6. It is the first Monday of the month, so we will be departing from Crossroads Coffeehouse/ Creekside Scoop in Cross Plains. The 4:45 and 4:50PM departure times worked really well. It was fun for the groups to see one another on the course and finish at the same time, so let’s stick with that plan. Two options: full strength 34 mile route and short pour 25 mile route.

Link to RidewithGPS Drafters | Crossroads Coffeehouse Short Pour

Link to RidewithGPS Drafters | Crossroads Coffeehouse

Have a wonderful July 4th holiday.

Draft responsbily,

BricKO