Great Lakes - Which is more difficult, Dairyland Dare or Hilly Hundred

I understand they both have different distances and one happens over two days. Are the hills more extreme at the Hilly?

First they are both one (1) day events. As for which is more difficult at 200K I think the earlier time in the year of the HHH makes it harder because of fitness. The 300K max distance makes the DD the king of difficult for Wisconsin challenge rides.

The HHH is not the hilly hundred in bloomington indiana..different ride correct?

HHH is in Wisconsin in June. The Hilly Hundred is in Indiana in October. a single day of 130 miles and 12k climbed would be more difficult then the IN two day event in my opinion. later.

Given that I've done the Hilly Hundred in Bloomington twice and the Dairyland Dare 200k route twice I can clearly say that the two 50 mile routes over two days at the Hilly Hundred are a walk in the park compared to the 1 day 200km (~130 miles) route of the Dairyland Dare.

Both rides are very nice scenery wise, but you can definitely enjoy the scenery more at the Hilly Hundred, because you're not as exhausted and don't suffer so badly than during the Dairyland Dare ride.

Also you have the chance of camping for a very cheap price at the Hilly Hundred and make the ride into a small little weekend getaway.

The best way to find out is to ride them both and decide for yourself.

Oh yeah.

:)

They aren't even close to each other.

I have done the dairyland dare.

Now for a real argument: Which is more difficult, the Horribly Hilly Hundreds or the Dairyland Dare?

i think the 200k of the DD is tougher than the 200k of the HHH. later.

It might also be worth qualifying which year you are referring to when discussing the DD as they changed the route in 2010 from 2009.

I did the 100k DD in 2009 (which included Robert's rd) and the 2010 HHH 100k. Hands down, the HHH was the harder ride between those two (in my opinion). My right patellar tendon popped on the HHH this year and has given me problem all season long as a result; no such problems on the '09 100k DD to report. Roberts was cool though-I did like that climb (kind of just powered up it).

I also did one of the 2010 training rides for the 100k DD, and ended up riding the first half of the course. Yes, there were some steep climbs, but only a few that really kept going. To be honest, the worst part of the training ride was the fact that every single climb seemed to be in the relentless sunshine (which is a factor, for sure). Matter of fact: I rode the training ride with a 53/38 with a 12-27. I rode the '09 DD and '10 HHH with a 50/34 crank, for comparison.

The comments above are purely my experience (though my friend who did both rides with me fully agrees with me-and he didn't hurt his knee on the HHH). Having said all that: My hat's off to Stuart and his wife-they did a GREAT job organizing the DD and all the training rides this summer. I would HIGHLY recommend any ride they organize! I would just like to see one of the DD courses work their way around to at least do the bottom portion of the Blue Mound climb--that would definitely create a higher level of difficulty.

I haven't done the Insane Terrain Challenge either-would like to once my knee recovers fully...

Finally, I've never ridden the 'Hilly Hundred' down in IN so I can't offer a comparison.

I did the Horribly Hilly Hundred 100k and the Dairyland Dare 150k this year.

I'm holding my judgement for now. The HHH seems harder, but the Dairyland Dare has as much vertical climbing. I was far better prepared for the Dairyland Dare than I was for the HHH.

Michael

that last climb after the food tent on the DD was a $%$#$er.

The HHH is much tougher at the 100 km distance, especially with this year's modified DLD route. There's no question.

The 200 km distance is more comparable, but the HHH probably takes the toughness test with the brutal final climb up Blue Mound. Overall, though, until the HHH throws down a 250 km or 300 km distance, the DLD's got the ultimate one day torture test covered in SW Wisconsin.

Both events have incredible support and are worth the extra $$ they cost to enter.


I would just like to see one of the DD courses work their way around to at least do the bottom portion of the Blue Mound climb--that would definitely create a higher level of difficulty.

If I'm not mistaken, Stewart is particular about the DLD not touching Blue Mound, as plenty of rides use it. The re-route did take the ride over to Pinnacle, so there was a little more overlap with the HHH this year. Jeez, Pinnacle at mile 95 and then Roberts right at mile 100 are a stone cold *****.

Also, I think this year's new route, which kind of spiraled around on itself in a wicked vortex, intentionally stayed entirely in Iowa County.

well, i am going to do the DD again next year. It was a great event.

I've always thumbed my nose at the Indiana Hilly Hundred because it is a two day event and 100 miles total BUT day one has an option of 114 miles and I think 5400 feet of climbing so if I had done it, that's the route I would have taken. I gotta say that the scenery there is amazing and Momma Bear's pizza is about the best of the best. Yes, I've had your Chicago pizza but you haven't had Momma Bear's.

I'll be in Bloomington on Sunday for some X racing followed with Brown Co MTB riding in the afternoon.

I've done the 200 HHH and the 300 DD. There may be small differences between the rides, but I think at the same distances, they're pretty comparable.

If we are going to talk hills then you should also compare the Michigan Mountain Mayhem.

I Know most of this forum is from either Chicago or Wisconsin so many of you have not done the MMM.

I have done the HHH and MMM 200K routes and the MMM was definitely harder. Even though there were more or I should say some flats The hills were longer and steeper and it really put the legs to the test. Plus the MMM has a 29% grade.

Most of us in this area treat the Hilly as a season ending celebratory ride and as such it's usually ridden mostly for fun. There are a lot of hills and a couple of major climbs, but if you have more than 7000 miles in your legs by October it's not a difficult ride. Having said that, at 68 I'm finding that I need more gears than I used to.

Frank

Just to add nothing to the conversation, there was a group of us this year that did the entire Hilly Hundred in one day (Saturday) and then another century at the Brown County Breakdown on our MTBs the next day. This option worked out as dates had changed.

After reading all of the comments for the comparisons for the two rides there is something that was not mentioned. Are you going to be able to get into the HHH. They had just announced a major change for the registration of the HHH. I pulled this of the HHH website.
"
Nov 22, 2010

2011 Changes and Updates

Some new and exciting changes to be had with the 2011 Horribly Hilly...
* Most important is the Change in Registration.
In response to not only the immediate sell out of on-line registration, but also the survey results, I am enacting the following changes for the 2011 registration process:
1. 2010 REGISTRANTS WILL GET FIRST DIBS ON REGISTERING FOR THE 2011 EVENT. There are quite a few rules and clarifications to this new process, so please be patient as the gray areas get cleared up. THIS REGISTRATION PROCESS WILL NOT BE ON-LINE. I'm doing this the Old-fashioned Send-It-In The Mail way.
2. REMAINING SPOTS FOR THE 2011 HHH WILL BE ASSIGNED VIA an ON-LINE LOTTERY."
I am ok with this since I did it last year, but it is going to be tough on new people getting in.