Who's doing RR #2 on the IMOO Course next weekend?
I am planning on heading up on Friday and staying through Sunday (my mom has graciously offered to drive me up there since my car officially died, so we are making a weekend of it). Anyone else going to be up there?
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Or at least that is the plan, a shower before driving home sure would be nice, I need to put some more serious thought into how all this will work out before the 21st though that is for sure.
P
X2 - except I'm driving back home to MN after. I'm not sure I'll do the run. I'm mainly going for the swim and may as well ride the course as long as I'm out there.
My wife is coming with which will be great. The kids are staying at my Mom's. So my wife will get to check out Madison and do a sort of spectator rehearsal.
Sheryl W. and I will be up there on Friday staying through Sunday. We are staying @ the Clarion again. What time is the OWS? I would love to do that also, then I could skip the RR 2.4 in the pool! which would be awesome
Currently we are planning on driving to Verona....park the van and ride the loops twice. We have done the sticks, so don't feel the need to do those. Our main purpose to drive, is to bring water and other stuff we will only get on the course during the race. RR #1 we stopped at gas stations, so it wasn't really an RR....getting more serious this time around. Anyone using wheelcover and aero helmets? Sheryl and I were also thinking of dinner saturday night somewhere.....Beth I am kind of hooked on harvest now thanks to you 
Anyone want to join us? It wouldn't have to be harvest (good but spendy) we could just go have a burger or whatever. No worries if peeps have other plans or just wanna do own thing...it is all good 
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1259&smid=2254
In terms of riding the loops, I like the idea of using the cars as a staging area and cutting out the gas station stops. On the other hand though, my temptation to cut out the sticks is in part why I feel I probably should ride them-- I hate the stick back in from Verona and I'm not a huge fan of the way out either. On the way out I'm eager to get out and on the course, a point where it would be very easy for me to spike my watts, something I definitely need to mentally practice. On the way in on my 2 previous rides I found myself prematurely declaring victory upon reaching Verona on the second lap and struggling to stay focused and in aero on the stick back in, again something I need to beef up my mental toughness on in order to have a great race.
Dinner next Saturday...so many options...Weary Traveler or Bluephies or Monty's for places with varied menus, Edo Garden or Wasabi for sushi, Tex Tubbs for tex mex, Sa Bai Thong for thai, or Cooper's or The Old Fashioned for casual outdoor dining on the Capitol square. There are also a ton of places to sit and eat outdoors along state street. I would love to join you guys!
Jim - why did you choose the non-wetsuit division?
Trevor - are you going wetsuit or without?
I signed up for the wetsuit division since I plan on wearing on during the race. I am not realy comfortable in it... so I gotta figure it out!
BTW, anyone know anything about algae eating snakes in Monona? I saw a thread on ST that kinda freaked me out.
Pretty sure I'm heading up there too. Wasn't aware of the OWS, will have to consider. Am riding from my parents house to stick and two loops - almost exactly 100 miles, then doing a loop of the Arboretum from my parents house - probably 7ish miles? I'd be up for meeting for dinner with folks. The Memorial Union Terrace is the best place on earth to people watch and take in the sunset. They have a grill, pretty basic - burgers, brats and chicken - but the atmosphere is total Madison casualness and they sell a million different kinds of beers (unlike during my college days when it was, beer or beer? of course, it didnt' matter then as long as it was beer
).
OMG-----snakes in lake monona!!! Thanks David, now I am really freaked out and scared! Maybe skip the swim until race day when hopefully the lake will be cooler and less snakes ???????
The Memorial Union Terrace sounds good to me....say when......7ish?
Ignore ALL threads on Slowtwitch regarding Lake Monona! Seriously. Every year there is a flurry of posts like that and about the water quality/algae. The lake is always fine on race day.
Ignore it???? But are the snakes real or not?
I'm ignoring it. If you can find a reputable source for that information besides one of the most bullshit-ridden forums on the internet, then take it seriously. I'm telling you that this happens every year. This was on Mancona's three bullet list for IMOO - to ignore ST forums regarding Lake Monona. It reads like a hoax as well.
@Kathy- my cell is 312-543-3069, let's plan to text or call to confirm next Saturday dinner plans. I would REALLY love the terrace and love to meet you (used to live in Minny myself) but let's just check in with each other. Anyone else feel free to reach out as well if you're in town, let's get a good ol' Haus party going! C'mon, we have a rest day on Sunday!!
And Kathy, I grew up in Madison and never heard of any kind of snakes in any of the lakes. Now the seaweed is indeed nasty, part of life in these humid parts. But they have the big seaweed eater that they run constantly to clean it up. The water ski team makes sure the part by the shore is clear for their own safety all summer long and by Sept most of the nasty is gone. Have no fear (plus that's why we wear wetsuits, so nothing touches actual skin....
).
Seriously though, I don't know if there are actually algae eating snakes in the lake, but what I am postive about is that the only reason they mentioned is to freak people out, most likely for the amusement of the posters. Theres probably some snakes in the lake, there are probably some snakes in every lake, but theres no massive pandemic of them.
@David
I'm signed up for the wetsuit division however I'll be playing it by ear that morning depending on what the water temperature is, I'm sure they'll let you switch (or force you to) to the non-wetsuit div. if the water is too hot. I have a sleeveless and don't have issues with overheating in it typically. I've done nearly all of my OWS this summer without a wetsuit, including the last RR swim, so I know I can do the distance if I need to without it.
In general, nearly every person I've talked to has been pretty dismissive of the typical nervous/first-timer chatter about the swim quality so I've started to calm down about it too. Thinking back to last year there were the same threads on ST, every year the lake is supposed to be a boiling mass of algae, snakes and drunken zombie fisherman rising from the bottom to drag you under... but then the lake turns out fine for race day.
Whew!! ok newbie here concering the b**sh*t on slowtwitch...will trust u guys and let it go. Thanks for clearing things up Matt, Trevor and Heather.
Heather will do- got your phone # and will be texting you Sat to firm up on plans. This will be fun! Hope other haus peeps join up
Yikes, super crowded may not be fun. Michele where would u suggest...a place outside, but not so noisy??? You know Madison, I trust your judgement.
Hmmm. The ones I mentioned in the earlier post in this thread (above) may still be crowded but they are smaller than the terrace so overall less people. We could also do Fresco, which would be less crowded simply because it's more upscale and expensive...although that's not necessarily a plus for everyone. A little further from downtown is probably the best bet for avoiding huge crowds....maybe Otto's or Casa del Sol or Sundance 608 (see below)?
HOWEVER, every time that I've tried to enjoy madison outdoors in the evening over the past 2 weeks (at union terrace, Cooper's, Casa del Sol, etc), it has been very unpleasant due to the mosquitos.
Let's hope for a breezy evening!
Here are some additional ideas, which I posted to in another thread for suggestions for dinner locations for spectators/sherpas during race week:
Agreed! Of course, everything's better on the east side...
2 reasons:
Really it all comes down to building up the mental side of things for me.
Very good strategy! It will be a great workout too.
I will be there for the MOWS 2.4 swim then a 72 mile ride and hour run. Safe travels..
I have done the race 3 previous times and the water quality has been just fine by race day. This has been a very hot summer but with the cool air that has arrived this week and forecasts for night temps in the 60's hopefully the lake will cool down a bit so that wetsuits will be allowed.....