Great Lakes - Trek 100 Ride Report

I rode in the Trek 100 on Saturday (6/2). Having not ridden much this year, I decided to register for the 32 mile route. Turns out, that was a good choice for two reasons. Reason one: I dislocated my elbow (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=303291&highlight=dislocated+elbow) on Monday evening. There was NO was I would have been able to do much more than 32 miles. My neck and shoulders were killing me from trying to keep pressure off my arm.

Reason two: Perfect weather! The 100 mile and 100K routes left at 7:30 am and managed to have rain shortly after they started. By my 9:30 start, clear blue skies awaited me! I was able to finish about 10 minutes before the next wave of rain started.

Before setting out, Jon McGlocklin and Eddie ******tte pumped up the crowd (on the left):

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa167/cyclesage/DSCN2111.jpg

We were also greated by two members of the Milwaukee Buck's Energee! Dance team:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa167/cyclesage/DSCN2110.jpg

One of the first waves to roll out:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa167/cyclesage/DSCN2113.jpg

After a few waves, it was finally my turn to roll up to the start/finish line (That's me in the yellow shirt on the right, #2140 . . . note the ace bandage on my right arm):

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa167/cyclesage/DSCN2114.jpg

And off I went. About 7 miles into the ride I ride up on a guy and I notice his bike . . . a brand new 2008 Madone (http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=4564843&postcount=70)! I ask the guy how he's liking it. He seems a little surprised that I recognize the bike as being new but just says that he's really liking it, but that he was missing the triple on his Project One Madone 5.9. I subsequently notice a number of the new Madones.

Finally about midway through the ride I happen to ride next to a guy on another one. Turns out that Trek was using the ride as the dealer introduction to the new bike so they had a truckload of them there (literally, I left my camera in the car because of the rain, but they had a whole line of them that I wished I would have gotten a picture of). This guy is a dealer from Baltimore and is also really enjoying the ride. He's also very well-versed in the product and fills me in on the new features -- very cool. We end up riding with each other off and on throught the finish.

After a few stops at the pit stops to rest the arm/elbow I rolled into the finish line in just about 2.5 hours. Final details: Just about 2 hours of actual riding, average speed 16.3 mph. Here I am at the finish:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa167/cyclesage/DSCN2122.jpg

nice! i read about this ride on a car forum - wasn't it some sort of charity event?

Thanks for the pics and cool story about the Madones. http://www.freedomcrowsnest.org/forum/images/smiles/cloud9.gif

nice! i read about this ride on a car forum - wasn't it some sort of charity event?

Yep. It was for the MACC Fund.


Thanks for the pics and cool story about the Madones. http://www.freedomcrowsnest.org/forum/images/smiles/cloud9.gif

Tell me about it. I kinda felt like a total bike geek at first for even recognizing it, but most of the guys were really cool and fun to talk to.

I did the Trek 100 century. It was a great ride. This was my first century - it was a great way to start. The course is challenging, but beautiful. I live in the Milwaukee area, so I had a vague idea of how beautiful the southern Kettle Morraine area is, but seeing it on a bike really drives it home.

There was some minor hassles with the ride, mainly a lack of signage at certain key turns. But my riding partner and I muddled through and made it in feeling great.

Yes, it did rain, but it didn't slow us down much. At one point, some really nice people let about a dozen of us riders take shelter in their garage during the worse part of the storm. Nice people. They also tracked the storm for us and let us know when the lightning had passed.

Lance did part of the ride. I was told he dropped off at about 50 miles. I guess he didn't want to get too wet.

I also saw the new Madones. I have two-year-old 5.2, but now I have bike lust.

I would recommend this ride to anybody who wants to do a century. It is pretty hilly, especially in the first 25 miles, but if you train for it, you won't have a problem.

And, it is for a great cause. Our team, the Badger Wheelmen, raised almost $6,000 for cancer research. We only have five people, but we raised a lot more than many larger teams. In fact, we came in seventh overall out of 69 teams.

As I said, go for it next year.