Last night’s ride was so Euro. We drove up to Baraboo through a crazy rain-storm but when we arrived the rain magically stopped. It was still tough to decide what to wear. I finally decided on a kit, wind vest and arm warmers…perfect. It didn’t rain at all the ride and after about 10 miles the roads were hardly even wet. We got going about 20 minutes late and rolled out of town. I’ve heard a lot about the legendary hills in Baraboo. After about 5 miles the road started to rise. I wasn’t sure if this was one of the “climbs” or not but I saw Jerry drill it so I jumped on the train. It ended up being a climb called Happy Hill. I had a good climb. The next climb I can remember was called Denzler and I guess that was 700 feet in less than 2 miles (8% or so grade) which was fun! I drilled that one pretty good. After that climb and decent I had a flat. 12 people watching me change a flat…talk about pressure…but I had one of the best tube changes I’ve ever had that couldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes. Then I guess since I was along they decided to do some hill called “Camp.” It looked more like a wall. I was in my 39X23 at about 5.5mph, trailing only Jerry. I am guessing it was about 150-200 feet at a 20-25% grade…insane! A sprint into Rock Springs and another small climb and a regrouping and then it was time for a flat 6 miles stretch…it was hammer time. Some fast tempo and we ended up splitting the group in two…we had 5 up front and just nailed it. Finally I heard Jerry scheming with Sam for some sprint coming up but by the time they made the move I could only hold on to it and not go for the sprint. A couple more cooldown miles and we were back to Mark’s house. It was one of my strongest rides ever…I can’t remember feeling that good on a ride in my life!

This was my first ever Baraboo ride and I figured we’d grab a beer, talk and head home. I couldn’t be any more wrong. I changed and go inside the garage (which was amazing) and then into the house. Chris told me to snag some endurox and that stuff was great. I also saw that someone made dinner so I thought it was nice that Mark’s wife would make a nice dinner for Eric and Mark when they got done riding. I was wrong…it was for all of us! Homemade supper! And we are talking awesome food! Pot roast sandwiches, fried new potatoes, morel mushrooms sautéed in a sour cream sauce, salad, chocolate cake! Insane! And wine! Not much better than hanging out with fellow cyclists after a great ride and eating great food and talking racing! Anyways we pulled out of Baraboo at 9:45 and were home around 10:30.

I feel so Euro, riding right after the rain up and down awesome hills (taking the vest off and on) and getting fed outstanding food…if only I would’ve had a wheel change instead of fixing my own flat (although one rider seriously got a wheel change when he flatted right before the ride.) Stats: 45+ miles of riding, almost 4000 feet of elevation gain, several climbs, speeds in the upper 40’s (lower 50’s for some) on many of the downhill segments… Couldn’t get my bike computer to upload this morning so I am kind of pissed about that. I was able to figure out where we went from the Sauk County Map though!

They also told me of this mythological downhill where they can routinely hit 60+ with the high being 64mph…insane!!! Thanks to Jerry for bringing me along…it was most excellent!!!