tackling madison

with a forecast for perfect weather i drove up to madison to ride the course. i had just finished nights and knew my sleep schedule would be rather screwed up. so i woke up at 5:45am without an alarm and was out the door by 6:15 after eating a bowel of cereal.

after a very relaxing drive of just under 3 hours, and 2 bagels later i was in verona. ah the memories of last year when i tried to do this. let me take you back. it was the sunday of the ironman. i didn't really have much to eat for breakfast, hadn't slept well the night before, had barely had any liquids during the day. all in all the perfect set up for one of the worst headaches i have ever had. that coupled with trying to ride on all of those hills and pay attention. equals BAD...very bad. i think i had to stop about every 5 miles last year because i felt like absolute dog poo. well not this year...different story all together.

i get the bike all set up, chain lubed, water and gatorade loaded, and i am off. there is a little wind from the northwest which is building and the sun is out. not a cloud in the sky. i have the cue sheet in my back pocket and use it for the turns on the first loop. i definitely remembered almost all of the first 2/3 of the route from last year.

what i didn't remember was how annoying witte road about 1/4 of the way into the loop and midtown road were. i just forgot how punishing those hills were. i remembered all of the other hills, the climb into mt horeb, old sauk pass, timber lane, but the midtown climb just caught me off guard.

after the first loop i stopped at my car, refueled my bottles and headed out for the second loop. i think i was going about the same speed, maybe just a tad slower but it felt much better. it was probably an 80-85% effort throughout the day. two loops 86 miles, 5 hours.

during my 5 hours of riding i passed 3 bikers going in my direction and around 5 going in the opposite direction, sure different than my usual training day on the frightening path.

i felt really good at the end of the day, my neck was a little sore and i was tired of sitting.

so i changed, packed the car and headed back home. 3 hours later i was making myself i nice ribeye steak to get in some protein to help build me some big climbing muscles.

things to take away from today
-i have no idea how fast i was going down garfoot, when i finally mustered the courage to look at my spedometer i was going 32.
-if i remember correctly i was above 35 a the end of timber lane
-climbing timber lane will be so much more fun when it is lined with people
-it is much easier to ride this course without a headache
-oh yea, i think i am glad that i won't have deep wheels, that wind was pushing me around all over the place, i think i might have ended up on my face with a disc...
-i feel much better about being ready to really take this thing on in september, but feel great knowing that i could do it today

what a day, what an absolutely perfect day