Great Lakes - BCLC Ramble Ride - 06.14.09

The 28th Annual RAMBLE is being held on Sunday, June 14, 2009!

What's a RAMBLE?

It's a Recreational Bicycle Ride; the RAMBLE begins at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds in Wilmot, Wisconsin. The available route choices are 12, 30, 50, 70, or 100 miles. The 12-mile route is family friendly with limited hills. All routes have SAG support and our famous rest stops are included. The 28th Annual BCLC RAMBLE pedals its way over rural roads, which traverse the scenic lakes region of northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. The terrain is flat to rolling. Just for the fun of it, we threw in some rollercoaster hills and a challenging climb or two. The BCLC RAMBLE is a recreational ride, not a race. Riders of all capabilities are encouraged to participate and enjoy the scenery, good food, and fellowship offered at the ride.
Other Details

Century riders must start by 8:00 a.m.
Free parking and restrooms will be available at the fairgrounds.
The Genoa City rest stop will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
All riders must be off the route at 5:00 p.m. when vehicle SAG support ends.
For more information, email ramble@bikebclc.com.

http://bikebclc.com/ramble/about_ramble.htm


who is in?

I plan to ride, weather permitting.

I should be in unless my legs fall off.

I'm in for this one. I need the miles. Based on my recent performance, I won't be able to hang with any of you for the whole way but we could roll out together.

What is everyone thinking for start time?

74 deg and partly cloudy - Looking good! (Especially to those who were there last year.)

One more route to mark, Brats are ordered, dozens and dozens of homemade cookies and everyone involved is ready.

Hope to see you there.

TF
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Join me on Sunday, June 14th for the 28th Annual BCLC Ramble. Ramble begins and ends at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds in Wilmot, Wisconsin. Ramble along 12, 30, 50, 70 or 100 mile routes on scenic rural roads in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Your fee covers SAG support and rest stops featuring famously delicious home-made cookies, abundant healthy food and bike mechanics. Ample parking, restrooms and showers will be available.

Adults registration= $15 on-line, $18 pre-reg, $22 day-of. Separate family route with discount for children under 12; under 6= free.

Register on-line at (Adult $15 + fee):

http://www.active.com/page/Event_Det...8-a49beb216fae

ON-LINE SPECIAL T-Shirt $10 ($13 XXL)

Mail in application at (Pre-registration $18, Day-of $22):

http://www.bikebclc.com/ramble/2009final.pdf

After the ride, stick around for the camaraderie, bratwurst dinner (included) and masseuse (nominal fee) which runs from 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Registration is open from 6:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Century riders must start by 8:00 a.m. The Genoa City rest stop will be open from 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

For more info see:

http://www.bikebclc.com/ramble/about_ramble.htm

Or email

ramble@bikebclc.com

I'm in for this one. I need the miles. Based on my recent performance, I won't be able to hang with any of you for the whole way but we could roll out together.

What is everyone thinking for start time?


With all the rides I have already missed this year, I may have a hard time hanging with you :D

I'm in. I'm just not sure how far I'm good for. Although I'm with SmokinMiles on the premise of "if I pay to ride, I want to ride the max distance if at all possible". So...update-wise, what time are people thinking to roll out?

In for 70...or 50 at the very least.

looks like the weather is going to be perfect tomorrow. partly cloudy, 74, no wind :)

So...update-wise, what time are people thinking to roll out?

Yes, please, when? I'm paid now.
I'm in Kenosha and detest getting up too early. I would imagine a 7:30 start might please me. I'm hoping for 100. I'm not looking for a hammerfest at all. After being sick for a month, I have two metric centuries, a little action this week and not much else for a good while now. 6 hr maybe?

Voldemort and I are planning to roll out at 8:00 if anyone would like to join us. Hope to see some of you!

Voldemort and I are planning to roll out at 8:00 if anyone would like to join us. Hope to see some of you!

If you don't mind, I will tag along. I will for the two of you at the start.

If you don't mind, I will tag along. I will for the two of you at the start.

Well, you can blame your lungs and I can blame my liver so what have we got to lose! :D Looking forward to seeing you!

Maybe my 7:30 will become 8 then!
I'll be in a too-big LPR jersey on a Kona Zing, getting out of an old green Saab.

I'll be there for 50 or 70 miler. Can not start at 8 am , but hope to see you all at the rest stops.

weather looks fantabulous. i am rolling out soon for my last long effort before BTC. heck, my first long effort of the year. enjoy the day everyone!!! later.

I did 70 miles! My first "longer than 40" ride of the year. What a great day. I missed you guys only by 30 min ( rolled out at 8:30). First 15 miles were packed with people - every climb was a roadblock with folks riding triple file at a very slow speed.
I did Yellow and Red loops solo as well as 15 mile ride back from the rest stop to the finish.

Overall - Perfect Day!

Was it me or did those routes all seem uphill.

What a great day for doing this ride. Did the 100 miles but really wish that the long blue loop (30) had been switched with the shorter red loop! Didn't need all that mileage right at the end. All in all, fabulous weather, finally.

Got in about 9ish at hit up 70 miles. Perfect weather and plenty of food/drink to go around at the rest stop. One flat for the day. It was a great ride and I will be back in 2010.

What a great day for doing this ride. Did the 100 miles but really wish that the long blue loop (30) had been switched with the shorter red loop! Didn't need all that mileage right at the end. All in all, fabulous weather, finally.

You can ride the loops in any order. I always ride the BLUE loop first, to get it over with and that way you just have the 2 20 miles loops to go.. The BCLC club member near the map at the rest stop all day was telling people the same... I rode the whole ride in reverse BLUE, RED, YELLOW. The only issue was I wasn't able to draft off anyone as I never came across a large amount of riders, would just occasionally pass or being passed by a single rider... I almost always ride solo - so I tend to like the invitationals to ride with larger groups. That last part of the WHITE loop was especially hard today, there's a lot of uphill prior to the massive downhill rolling into Wilmot and it felt like a lot of headwind to...

I rode the 100. Started about 7am and was by myself most of the time. What a perfect day for riding. Does anybody have the figure for total feet of climbing for the course?

I rode the 100. Started about 7am and was by myself most of the time. What a perfect day for riding. Does anybody have the figure for total feet of climbing for the course?

Garmin Edge 305 via Garmin Connect reported 4201 ft of climb. Although I missed one turn and extended the ride by a couple of miles...

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/7153883

I didn't think it was THAT much climbing. The length and the heat are really what got me. I'm a furnace, so the heat gets to me fast. I finished my 100 fairly weekly, although everyone behind me must have been limping too, since I wasn't really getting passed. I didn't really hammer it early on which was probably good. Like prior folks said, I was mostly solo but met a few nice people on the way. I like to do yellow first when I'm fresh cause it is the best loop, but I agree that I would get the big blue loop over before the end. The blue wasn't really as flat as I remembered it being.

Good ride, the design of it is smart, keeps costs down. Very happy with the lack of tornadoes this year!

My only disappointment? The stop ran out of fruit pretty early and, GASP, there were NO cookies or anything back at Wilmot. That's when I want them, the end!

Cripes I missed another one!

Voldemort and I rolled out around 8:30 after getting my back brake adjusted so we missed some of you at the start.

We ended up riding about 84 miles because we went a little off course on the blue route and did a few extra miles and then didn't do the last route at the end because we decided we weren't up for 104 miles.

Like others said we did the blue route first which was really nice. We were on our own and then after finishing the blue route we met up with JT1 and nietsmas. Really nice to see them and we all rode the yellow route together and then rode in together. They were looking strong all the way to the end (even though it was their first century of the season!)

My only complaint about this ride was the food. It was mainly all sweets and very little fruit or salty snacks. They definitely needed more variety. For the price compared to the Udder, the selection was, well, dismal. (Udder was only $5 more on ride day and had an awesome dinner at the end)

Wish we could have met up with the rest of you. It was such a great day...lovely weather, great course

i agree. their food selection was horrible. the pb&j was on stale bread and the bananas were gone after awhile.

We thank you all for supporting our ride and, in doing so, supporting cycling advocacy.

galliu - Topo USA shows a little over 4000 ft.

wallybrau – That Garmin trace is nice. I see the ‘bonus miles’ on the Yellow.

Laryanshabaz – Sorry, but the tornado was booked this year and we couldn’t find another. :-) We will do better on the fruit next year. We had a record turn out and missed it by a bit. Did you have the brat (or veggie dog), sauerkraut, cold slaw, potato salad and chips at Wilmot?

SmokinMiles – Tomato pasta beats brats, sauerkraut, cold slaw, potato salad and chips???

TF

I started the ride solo @ 8 am, no other riders were in sight. I met up with nietsmas at the first stop and we headed out for the blue loop. We rode parallel and took it easy as opposed to a pace-line Hammerfest. We met up with Smokin Miles, and Voldemort for our last loop and the ride back. It was nice to see some friendly faces. At mile 95, I questioned my all out sprint earlier @ mile 90, the last few miles seemed to take forever.
I have to agree the food was a little weak. Each time I returned to the rest area there was less, and less to choose from. And at the end other than a brat and a bun, most of the condiments were gone. Usually those that ride the longest, are the hungriest. Overall the weather, company, and ride were great.

We thank you all for supporting our ride and, in doing so, supporting cycling advocacy.

galliu - Topo USA shows a little over 4000 ft.

wallybrau – That Garmin trace is nice. I see the ‘bonus miles’ on the Yellow.

Laryanshabaz – Sorry, but the tornado was booked this year and we couldn’t find another. :-) We will do better on the fruit next year. We had a record turn out and missed it by a bit. Did you have the brat (or veggie dog), sauerkraut, cold slaw, potato salad and chips at Wilmot?

SmokinMiles – Tomato pasta beats brats, sauerkraut, cold slaw, potato salad and chips???

TF

Didn't manage to stay around for the food afterwards. Frankly the idea of brats (I'm a vegetarian and still wouldn't touch a veggie dog...ha) was just the last kind of food I would want. Plus prepared salads and chips aren't my idea of healthy foods.

But mainly it was the rest stop (since that's what I experienced) that I found so meager. You can take my feed back for your ride or not...your choice.

I'll just bring my own stuff to eat next time. I will tell you that everyone was talking about it so I thought it might be good feedback for those involved in organizing the ride. I'm sure you want to keep improving it. I will be back so it's not like it's a deal breaker for me.

Way to go smokin ... most posters would have caved on their opinion but you were very decent and respectful ... but stood by your point. :thumb:

Laryanshabaz – Sorry, but the tornado was booked this year and we couldn’t find another. :-) We will do better on the fruit next year. We had a record turn out and missed it by a bit. Did you have the brat (or veggie dog), sauerkraut, cold slaw, potato salad and chips at Wilmot?
TF

I did a brat which was nice, and they were continuing to make them even after while I was getting mine (which may have been after 4). It was good! I must also say that you were out of relish and sauerkraut, potato salad and cole slaw by that time too though. I wasn't heartbroken over that, but the woman behind me was really carrying on about sauerkraut.

It just felt like you all had a bigger turnout than you had prepared for, and that's mostly a good thing!
Hope to see you next year.

Voldemort and I...

ended up riding about 84 miles because we went a little off course on the blue route and did a few extra miles and then didn't do the last route at the end because we decided we weren't up for 104 miles.



Not quite true...although I appreciate you covering for me.:) SmokinMiles was good to go some more, but I just haven't gotten enough saddle time. My butt was hurtin' awhile before my legs.:o I really didn't want to find out what saddle sores were like.