Great Lakes - Bike the Barns

I'm in, who else?

http://www.macsac.org/bikethebarns/

New route this year, heading south instead of west, looks good and I hear the food is great.

Did it last year, was fantastic. I'll be doing it this year as well. Still trying to decide if I'm going to volunteer as a road wrench for this ride. I tend to like to ride as fast as I can so I might not be a good candidate. And this new route will, to the best of my knowledge, be both flat and closed. The food last year was fantastic.

see ya'll there!

actually... if enough of us show up perhaps we could do a mini-meetup?

Count me as probable! I've heard that the food was amazing last year.

Sounds interesting

Same day as the Psimet Invitational.

Same day as the Psimet Invitational.

:(

You haven't posted anything so it must not be official. How about doing it the 20th or the 4th? Or the 28th for that matter?

Same day as the Psimet Invitational.

I'm out of town again for the Psimet???? Ugh!!!:cry:

:(

You haven't posted anything so it must not be official. How about doing it the 20th or the 4th? Or the 28th for that matter?

I put it on the BFNIC schedule 1st thing this season (sticky). Might move it, but at this point wife's work schedule is up around the event.

^^^^ in order to move it there will need to be a meeting of the powers that be. the cirlce of BFNIC power must be consulted. it is not an easy thing. :) later.

I put it on the BFNIC schedule 1st thing this season (sticky). Might move it, but at this point wife's work schedule is up around the event.

You gotta do what you gotta do. Sorry if I can't make it this year.

Count me as probable! I've heard that the food was amazing last year.

It was amazing last year. :D

I'm in along with my wife and a friend.

I checked the link and have a question for those who did it last year - why there is a fixed time for the start ? 8.30?
Plus - is lunch rest stop opens before noon? If the ride is 62 miles you can be done in 4 hours even at 16 mph average.

wireless,

Because this is more of a relaxed tour type ride. the point isn't the ride its the farms and the food and the camaraderie. The start time is so that the organizers can do a little thank you speech and point out folks who helped (and the volunteer mechanics) and so that everyone is on a similar schedule. You're more than welcome to blast through the stages but you're going to be spending a lot of time at the rest points. Which is good because you could get to meet some farmers, and around here they tend to be fantastically interesting and intelligent people to talk to.

and the lunch stop ISN'T a pbj sandwich and a bottle of water. Last year (IIRC) it was roasted potatoes, brisket, greens, beans and fruit.

I'm in with a friend.

wireless,

Because this is more of a relaxed tour type ride. the point isn't the ride its the farms and the food and the camaraderie. The start time is so that the organizers can do a little thank you speech and point out folks who helped (and the volunteer mechanics) and so that everyone is on a similar schedule. You're more than welcome to blast through the stages but you're going to be spending a lot of time at the rest points. Which is good because you could get to meet some farmers, and around here they tend to be fantastically interesting and intelligent people to talk to.

and the lunch stop ISN'T a pbj sandwich and a bottle of water. Last year (IIRC) it was roasted potatoes, brisket, greens, beans and fruit.

Will lunch be ready for those who might be early? I don't mind the start time or a leasurly pace, but 4 hours for 35 miles? Even with the added 13 mile loop, that's only 12 mph. I am certainly not the fastest guy out there but that is painfully slow.

Will lunch be ready for those who might be early? I don't mind the start time or a leasurly pace, but 4 hours for 35 miles? Even with the added 13 mile loop, that's only 12 mph. I am certainly not the fastest guy out there but that is painfully slow.

I believe that you had to wait a bit. But, I can't believe that if you're 15 minutes early (good god) that they wouldn't serve you. I was the second person at the first stop last year and I got the goodies when I rolled up.

To get to the lunch stop I'd ridden towards the middle w/ my wife so we arrived with the middle of the pack and people were already waiting in line for food. Thankfully the wait wasn't long. Same situation at the third stop which was local juice and fruit IIRC.

It's not going to be Soup-Nazi-esque if that's what you're worried about.

And since most of this was catered by local restaurants I expect that they've got the food ready.

The big issue is that if you're there before they expect you they may not have everything out yet. But you wouldn't have to wait long.

Hello All,
I am new to the bikeforums here and I just registered for bike the barns. The longest ride I have done so far is 25 miles without stopping and I regularly ride around Lake Monona with no problem at all. Any training tips for Bike The Barns? Also, how is the terrain? Are we talking big hills or smaller hills?

I currently have a trek mountain bike with road tires on it. I am contemplating getting a road bike. Do you think I can survive without a road bike?

Any training advice for the next few weeks would be most helpful. I am assuming with all the stops that I will be able to get through this!

It should be be mostly flat to gently hilly, with a couple bigger hills. But not severely hilly like biking west of Madison can be.

the 62 miles are broken up by leisurely rest stops with good food, so as long as you have a comfortable saddle you should be able to go the distance.

To train, just get out and ride some!

I'm looking forward to this ride. It seems parking at the start is quite limited, short of riding out from downtown (my wife isn't into adding the extra miles), where do you all intend to park?

Parking at Alliant Center is limited?

I was thinking of biking to the start anyway. I need ot check, but I think it's around 10 miles from my home, mostly on the Cap City trail.

Parking at Alliant Center is limited?

Ha ha. I guess I should pay closer attention to the directions on the website.

So far the training has been going good. Today I started by going around Lake Monona away from the capital starting at Atwood ave and took that the Capital City Trail to the Southwest Bike Path back to Nolen and then home. The ride clocked in between 25 and 30 miles. I felt like I had a good amount left in the tank. Hopefully with the big lunch break, I can finish the whole course. Worse comes worse, I can get a ride home from my wife at lunch.

How would you all consider the hills on the Capital City Trail? Would it be comparable to what would be seen on the bike the barns route?

One week bump.

500 is a big crowd. Anyone want to try to meet before the start? I couldn't tell you where or how. I'll probably be riding an old steel Cinelli and sporting a black TwinSix jersey with orange back pockets. I'm also told my water bottle looks like a canteen and can be used to mix martinis. :thumb:

How would you all consider the hills on the Capital City Trail? Would it be comparable to what would be seen on the bike the barns route?

Glad to hear your training is going well! You'll see more rolling hills and maybe a significant climb or two on the BTB route. All in all the CCT is pretty flat. For bigger hills just spin easy and take your time and you'll be fine. FYI you madison locals should check out madisonbiking.com and look for our Saturday social rides that start from Machinery Row!

Iab- I think the best place to try for a meetup would be at Drumlin Farm before breakfast (just before 8am). I'm not making any promises to ride w/ a group b/c I'll be riding with my wife at whatever pace she feels like riding. Roll call looks like:

Iab
Jbmadtown+wife
Cminter+wife+friend (I think the last time I saw you was in June!)
Sekaijin+friend
Ychawla
Severian?
Wireless?

anyone else? I'll be wearing a CO state flag jersey and riding a silver Jamis w/ a black brooks. Say "hey" if you spot me!

Glad to meet up at Drumlin Farm before breakfast, finally see iab's storied Cinelli, and ride with a group. I was hoping to bring a friend to the party, but he just bailed this morning.

I'm guessing it will be worth getting there a little early. The organizers' logistics of serving 8am breakfast to hundreds of cyclists in 30 minutes for an "8:30am sharp" start time ... well, it sounds challenging - I'll believe it when I see it. But the food should be good. I hope our community farmers know that cyclists like to eat a lot.

People are parking at Alliant Energy Center, a convention center which is an easy 1.6 mile bike ride (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=1919+Alliant+Energy+Center+Way,+Madison,+WI+53713&daddr=2849+Oregon+rd++madison+wi&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=43.039511,-89.381398&sspn=0.030362,0.054245&ie=UTF8&ll=43.03596,-89.381075&spn=0.030364,0.054245&t=h&z=14) from the start.

The start is about 9 miles from my home, mostly on bike trails, so I may just bike there.

I'll be on my unmarked blue old steel bike, and wearing the orange and green jersey (http://www.bike4bgc.com/gallery/?level=album&id=7) from this summer's charity ride.

Iab- I think the best place to try for a meetup would be at Drumlin Farm before breakfast (just before 8am). I'm not making any promises to ride w/ a group b/c I'll be riding with my wife at whatever pace she feels like riding. Roll call looks like:

Iab
Jbmadtown+wife
Cminter+wife+friend (I think the last time I saw you was in June!)
Sekaijin+friend
Ychawla
Severian?
Wireless?

anyone else? I'll be wearing a CO state flag jersey and riding a silver Jamis w/ a black brooks. Say "hey" if you spot me!

Hey JB I skipped most of the Bombay season riding in to the ride start just is a bit much from out here. I did the Wright stuff with Jacques but that has been about it group ride wise. I plan to drop the girls at the start then go park the car at Olin for free I think. I'll be working Friday night until ? so little sleep who knows if I'll spot you unless I get some coffee. The Habanero now has red tires so it is easy to spot. The other bikes are my wifes blue Klein and my friends Trek is red and silver. I'll either have a plain blue jersey or the pink Fatcyclist jersey, depending on how I feel.

Hey, the event is sold out but there is a spot available if anyone is interested. My friend dropped out, and the organizer told me his registration is transferable if someone else wants it. (They would need to pay the $50 to my friend).

PM me if interested ... the organizer would prefer we move quickly since he needs to note the change in his records.

Anyone know what is on the menu? Lunch? Rest stops? Gels, bloks and such make me ill, bring on the real food. BTW, I suspect at least 50% of my ride report will be about the food, good or bad. :D

update:

I'll be riding with my wife and some friends of her family (family of 3, Dad, mom and their son) plus someone from our college might be joining us. Happy crew of 6.

The wife is on a Black Sirrus with a Bell's Oberon sticker over the headbadge. I'll be on my Seven (single-speed) which is Blue/Black/Ti. Probably sporting my company colors. I work for Erik's bike shop, the jersey is blue, red and white. Or I may be in non-descript grey.

Picture of my bike to follow. If you're wandering around ogling bikes before the ride the other salient feature will be a nametag zip-tied in the join between my top tube and down tube near the head tube. The nametag will say "Robert Burdick" it was my fathers and I now carry it whenever I ride (which is always).

I'm also thinking of making a big sign to hold up, got markers anyone?

I'm also thinking of making a big sign to hold up, got markers anyone?

You don't need a sign with a bike like that. HOT!

Is anyone not planning on riding the entire route? My wife wants to bail out at the lunch stop or the afternoon rest stop, but we only have one car. Wondering if she and her bike might be able to hitch a ride back to downtown Madison with someone... anyone? anyone?

I suppose I could just wave the bike over my head. But I'm afraid that would get me confused for a Minneapolis Police Officer and thrown out of the ride.

I'm hitting the road. See you people tomorrow, unfortunately I am just starting my kids' cold :(.

sekaijin, I have your number, thanks.

This is an excellent ride, I would recommend it to anyone. If you want something other than a challange ride, re:HHH or DD, this is the ride for you. Really only 1 "climb" but filled with a lot of rollers.

I rolled into the start at about 8:00 with my brother-in-law and met up with sekaijin. They had apple croissant for breakfast with coffee, very good. They were also cooking tortillas over an open flame but those were for lunch. It was in the upper 50s and sunny with wind from the southwest. The temperatue and wind picked up as the day went on. My biggest complaint, 500 people at the start with only 3 port-a-johns.

We hooked up with some random people in the first leg, trading pulls. Unfortunately I have a cold and I could not recover well at all during the first leg. I was breathing as heavy at the bottom of the hill as I was at the top. My nasty dry cough didn't help much either. But again, a great route with little traffic.

The first rest stop was serving organic (everything was organic, yum) cherry granola bars and apples. You could also go into the field and pick and eat several types of rasberries. Some people had a half of a helmet full.

As we lest the first rest stop, I took a wrong and about 12 of us would up adding another 4-5 miles to the route. I blame them for following me. But it was a fast group and we made it to the lunch stop in no time.

Lunch was great, pork and goat tacos on those tortillas I mentioned before with a three cabbage salad, lentils and kale.

After lunch we got under way but unfortunately my bil was bit blown, the pace was a bit fast at the start and we slowed it up. I wasn't complaining, but I think sekaijin wanted to pick up the pace. He was a ggod sport about it but eventually i convinced him to go at his pace and we would meet him at the next rest stop.

The last stop was perfect. They served bruschetta, roasted whole grain bread with pesto, tomatoes and basil. They also had oatmeal cookies with cinnamon/vanilla icecream with a rasberry on top, those really hit the spot. We also met up with jbmadtown at the last stop and he joined us for the last leg.

We probably stayed too long at the last stop, we were going west into the wind with me leading and for the first 5 minutes my legs were on fire. I got smart and let jb and sekaijin pull after that. Again, they had fresher legs but I did see them go to the end while I turned off to go to the car. Was there any food at the end?

Sorry, no stats but I figure with the wrong turn and riding back and forth to the parking lot it was probably about 70 miles. I think it is the longest single ride for the old Cinelli, it usually only gets 30-40 miles per ride.

Oh, and for dinner, I went to Porta Bella and had the stuffed mushroom, spicey cheesebread, porta sald and a garibaldi. Very good.




Some pictures.
People at the start.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340245-2/btb+005.jpg


Chickens at the start.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340249-2/btb+007.jpg


"Sculpture" at the start.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340252-2/btb+008.jpg


Nice track bike, never saw the owner though.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340255-2/btb+009.jpg


Apples at the first rest stop.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340258-2/btb+012.jpg


The cherry granola bars.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340261-2/btb+013.jpg


http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340264-2/btb+016.jpg


The berry patch.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340267-2/btb+017.jpg


My bil and sekaijin.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340270-2/btb+018.jpg

More pictures.
My bike. Some guy on a Cervelo with carbon rims suggested i turn it into a fixie :rolleyes:.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340273-2/btb+023.jpg


Lunch
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340276-2/btb+025.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340282-2/btb+028.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340285-2/btb+030.jpg


The last rest stop.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340288-2/btb+031.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340291-2/btb+032.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340294-2/btb+033.jpg


sekaijin, me, jbmadtown
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/340297-2/btb+035.jpg

Great ride report from iab - I have nothing to add really, except the food tasted even better than it looks. I will definitely plan on doing this ride again next year. There was no food at the end except some leftover hard boiled eggs, you didn't miss anything. I rode from home to the start and back, so I figure I did about 86 miles.

I agree, awesome ride! Glad I was able to meet up with Iab and Sekaijin for the last leg of what will probably be my last long ride of the season. I was going to post some pics of the food, but Iab's photos are much better than mine. Lunch was awesome but I think my favorite organic treat was the bruschetta at the last rest stop. It appears that heirloom tomatoes are at their peak now.

All around it was a leisurely ride and I most definitely recommend it to anyone in the area. What a fun mix of cyclists, hippies on bikes and locovore foodies.

I am fatter for having read this.

Looks awesome guys. I assure you I was with you in spirit.

So it was an interesting ride. The early part of the route while not busy sure had some not so friendly cars and pickups so big they must be compensating for something. The stops were good, I didn't much care for the lunch, guess I'm just not that healthy of an eater. After the lunch stop we hit a gas station for a snickers and the girls needed headache meds. The last stop was our favorite, then back to the start where our Jeep was parked. I racked up 66 miles after riding back to the car just after the start with an 15 mph average, not bad considering in my group of three I was the only one who had ridden over 35 miles at once before. Both my wife and my friend finished without complaint, sore legs later that day but they had a good time.

Hi Gang,
I finished the ride. The course was beautiful and the ride was well organized. The hills weren't too bad for a newbie like me, but enough to tire me out by the time I got to the finish line. I can't wait for next year and I am very thankful for the perfect weather this year.

The strange this is that my legs weren't too sore after but I really feel in my elbows. Maybe that is something a proper bike fitting can help with. I know that Willy Bikes has an affordable fitting and crono metro seems to have a more extensive one. Any suggestions for where to get a good fitting?

Any other suggestions for comparable tour/rides like this next year?

I finished a metric century this summer and lost 20 pounds. It is a great feeling. The only thing bringing me down is this awful fever I came down with today.

-Yogesh

I gotta say I'm really dispointed with the MACSAC and their organization of the ride.

I did not do the ride but I was out in the same area for a good part of Saturday and couldn't help but notice the huge yellow and blue arrows spray painted all over the roads. WTF? We have enough trouble keeping the people who live on ride routes happy without adding to their irritation but painting all over everything. It wouldn't have been much more work to put some signs up that could be removed after the event.

For a group that sells itself as being part of the natural and organic movement, they really dropped the ball on this one

Stoughton,

Actually that was spray chalk. So you may want to pack your ire in when the rains wash it away.



oh and jbmadtown,

I wish I had known that was you I was riding with. That was you and your wife that I was trading pulls with on the first leg? Me on a fixed gear (blue and black), I think I remember your wife was on a Specialized?

I think you shouted my name out but I don't think it registered with me.

My wife and I finished in the tail-end-charlie of the whole gang as we met up with a friend of ours who was riding with his family. They were pretty slow as their 10yr old was on a NEXT mountain bike with big nobbies and wasn't going very fast.

all in all a good time!

oh and I missed a really good opportunity to celebrate. By ride's end I was 1.6 miles from hitting the first thousand on the bike I was riding. got em in this morning though :D

Yup. Spray chalk that is probably mostly gone off the roads with yesterday's drizzling rain.



oh and jbmadtown,

I wish I had known that was you I was riding with. That was you and your wife that I was trading pulls with on the first leg? Me on a fixed gear (blue and black), I think I remember your wife was on a Specialized?

I think you shouted my name out but I don't think it registered with me.


My wife and I were both riding Jamis's, but I'm sure that we did trade pulls to get past the slower masses at the start, and I'm positive that we chit chatted on our way up a climb (you were lamenting that you chose to ride fixed) I scoped your bike and recognized it from the pic you posted earlier. Glad you had a nice ride! Do you work at Erick's East? I think you may have recommended some roubaix bar tape for me the last time I was in- good stuff, thanks.

My wife and I were both riding Jamis's, but I'm positive that we chit chatted on our way up a roller (you were lamenting that you chose to ride fixed) I scoped your bike and recognized it from the pic you posted earlier. Glad you had a nice ride! Do you work at Erick's East? I think you may have recommended some roubaix bar tape for me the last time I was in- good stuff, thanks.

Glad you like the tape. Yep, that's me. :)

I was hating the fixed by the end of it. If I'd ridden a geared bike it might have been different. That and my right pedal developed a click half way through the ride. I'm curious where they're gonna take us next year. Maybe we'll get to go north and east. :)