MDW Madison Camp - Big Bike Weekend
I don't have time to do a full report, but wanted to put some quick thoughts up to share.
Friday - I road at home, 2:51 - 60 miles @ 0.75. Only a few people were able to make it into town and attend dinner.
Saturday - 7 of us gather at 8:30 and we head off to tackle the 100k route of the Horible Hilly Hundreds, and hilly it was. About 5 miles in we hit a climb that lasted a few miles at mostly 14%. The rest of the route is just like IMWI except steeper and longer climbs, always up, down, left, right, never striaght or flat for more than a mile or two. There were only three climbs I would consider really rough, the first, one out by observatory drive on the IMWI course that hits a 21% grade for a bit, and the last climb which is a repeat of the first only you get to turn and continue going up another couple hundred feet on an even steeper grade.
Jim, Robert and I rode together and about 40 miles in Jim's rear shifter jams, so we messed with it and got him into a 23 tooth gear by chanigng the cable tension. He road the remaining 30 some miles with only three gears (I bet he was glad his road bike had a triple). It was a seriously impressive effort. Around 70 miles it started to work a little and he had about 9 gears so we continued until we hit 100 miles. The plan was to just spin easy after finishing the HHH route, only problem was we could find a flat road and ended up continuing to ride rollers. Our total ride was 100 miles in 6:20, with 7000 ft of climbing.
I was very impressed that everyone in the group did the HHH route. It is very very tough and everyone got it done.
We went to a Mexican restaurant across the street from the hotel and like most EN gatherings had a great time. Even though many of us had never meet in person it was like hanging out with old friends. Thanks for buying us dinner RnP!
Sunday - 10 of us met in Verona and took on the IMWI course. After riding the HHH, the IMWI course was a peice of cake in comparision. Everyone did the first loop and then a number of us decided to continue on. The weather was great and we all had an awesome time. Jim was now on his tribike so he had all of his gears. I pretty much sat on his wheel the entire second loop as he was so aero I was just strugling to hang with him on my road bike. 100 miles in 5:17 with close to 5000 ft of climbing follow by a brick run and quick soak in a lake.
We all gathered at Gray's Tied House for diner and drinks before heading home.
Monday - I wanted to get 60 miles in at an easy pace to finish of my big bike weekend, but about 30 miles into the ride the weather started to change. As it got darker and the wind picked up I started pushing more and more to bet the storms home. I ended up covering the 60 mile out and back through Barrington in 2:43 with the second half at over .8 and 22 mph the whole way. I made it home with about 10 minutes to spare before it poured for about an hour.
Tuesday - This morning I wanted to get up and swim or run, but my body was exhausted so I slept in. At lunch I went for a run and made it 6 minutes before my legs said they were done.
We had an awesome time and now I'm really looking forward to the July Camp.
Here a a few pictures from the weekend:
Comments
Sorry we had to bail.....Observatory ismy favorite near the IMOO course
...I got soaked on yesterday trying to race from Buffalo Groove back to the Barrington High School....it got ugly fast!
Sounds like a great mini-camp/BBW. Nice to know that even you need to recover now and then, Matt.
Good times! I am so looking forward to the tri rally.