stahr

I'm signed up for the 200K. I'd intended to do the 200K last year but ran into bike problems (broken pawl spring) after the first climb up Blue Mounds and had to walk back up the hill from town. I still completed the 100K on a new wheel, but thinking back it was a blessing as I don't think I could have finished the 200K last year. This year I've got a lot more miles in, but it's still going to be tough doing all those hills in one day...

Maybe I just need to relax as I completed the DLD 200K last year...

MrWenzel

I signed up for 200k, but just plan on doing the 100k. Might be doing it on the mountain bike. It will be a last second decision.

CyLowe97

So who's going to be up in the area on Friday night? It would be great to get together for dinner, if at all possible.

I mentioned The Grumpy Troll in Mt Horeb upthread. "FRED" looked to be interested. How about Jose? tzracer? Psimet?

It might be a little tough to coordinate given people's schedules. It's only a few blocks from the high school where packet pickup is for the HHH. 6:30 pm? 7 pm? 7:30 pm? Etc? Depending on how many folks are interested we might want to call ahead. Chime in here or shoot me a PM if you're interested and we'll get it coordinated somehow.

"Fred"

Because of the length of my drive, I plan on getting there early and checking in to my room so I can go over my bike (make sure nothing came loose). Any time will be OK for me.

Jose Perez

I'm in. 7pm sounds like a winner for me. I plan on skipping out of work at about 3PM and getting on the road by 4pm. By the time I get to the high school and check in to the hotel I should be ready to eat by that time

Psimet2001 

Anytime...you know I will home in on the beer..errr....homing beacon.

CyLowe97

Then it's settled. 7 pm for eats at the Grumpy Troll.

Anyone who's interested in joining us, please let me know by Wednesday and I'll make a call the restaurant to see if we can get a reservation. They were quite busy last year, if I recall correctly.

Seven in so far for dinner... (updated Wednesday)
CyLowe, Jose, FRED, iab, Psimet, tzracer, tzracer's friend.



Also.... If anyone wants to ride a bit on Friday afternoon, let me know or send a PM. I'm planning on getting some saddle time in and around Cross Plains.

iab

Woo hoo! I'm in for drinking/eating and maybe a ride. I'll be in Madison on some business but if you don't mind, I'll call you in the afternoon to see what's what.

whitesox

well Jim and I will be getting up there Friday night, but probably not until after 7:00pm.. more like 7:30 or 8:00pm. Plan to make packet pick-up that night and a beer somewhere.

Cylowe... does the Grumpy Troll have a bar area?... like if we were to come in late we can have a beer at the bar, or is it just tables?

CyLowe97

Yeah, there's a bar. Just don't let Normy and Cliff steal your beer.

whitesox

[QUOTE=CyLowe97;6852844]Yeah, there's a bar. Just don't let Normy and Cliff steal your beer.

sweet!! Sounds like a plan!! Don't expect us for dinner, but if we get there with time to spare, we will show up and have some beerz at the bar

sekaijin

See you at the HHH and have a great ride, everyone. I'll be getting up at 4am on Saturday to give a lift to some other riders from Madison. Look for me on the unmarked blue vintage steel.

jbmadtown

Looks like I'll miss out on the Grumpy Troll outing- but you can catch me at the Madison Mallards baseball game on Friday night- where I'll also be carbo-loading for a bit. See you all on the route or at least at the post-ride party!

Psimet2001 

To help get back into the mood....











This is me....I just came in much later than the others....

whitesox

ha ha!!, I remember those!!, great pics. I'll be at the picnic table with the beer this year!

Rowdy

I have no idea what time I will be up there Friday night but if I am in the area of the Grumpy Troll at 7 I will stop in for a beer or two.......

tzracer

I'll be doing the 100K. Will be in town for dinner. Should be fun, well at least Friday night.

jbmadtown

I just read a blog entry on NYtimes.com from Jonathan Vaughters- former pro and current director of Slipstream/Chipotle. He's writing about climbing. Here's a quote that made me chuckle as we approach the HHH. (I know it's not a race, but it's as close as many of us get. He goes on to give some good climbing tips. Read the whole entry here)

"...the most important parts of bicycle races are always uphill. The tactical genius of those who stealthily hide behind the dolt plodding away into the wind up front is lost on hills. Hills put bike racing back into the realm of Darwin and the grunting cave man. The laws of nature rule on the hills, and only the strong will survive."

Ha. See you Saturday!

czwhite

I'm in for the 200K, I'm getting a ride out with sekaijin.

I put a cue sheet together in excel from the posted 2008 map. I uploaded it to google docs here. I fixed two mistakes where they swapped L for R and R for L (so they should be correct on the cue sheet), they are marked as "mistake" in column E. The first is at Greenwald rd at mile 34.6 and the second is Center st at mile 65.2.

You can export the cue sheet to excel and make changes by clicking on file in the upper left hand corner and hitting export in the drop down menu. There is also a simple clean HTML version here if you just want to print it directly.

I hear the route is well marked and well staffed, so I really doubt you'll even need a cue sheet, but I like to have one just in case and the format is set up so I can fold it up and put it on my stem and hold it in place with a rubber band.

It looks like the weather is going to be good, see everyone Saturday.

Psimet2001 

They hand out an awesome map that is impervious to sweat and is more of a collectors item, but I will be checking out your sheet and the map late tonight so that I can put a route on mapmyride and download to my Garmin.

Rowdy

Can you post a link to your route so I can download it to my Garmin?

CyLowe97

Alright. The Grumpy Troll doesn't take reservations. My kind of joint!

Be there at 7 pm and you'll be part of the group. Otherwise, find us and steal a chair from another table and join in.

See you all there tomorrow night!

nvr

As long as Psimet doesn't wear white socks we're good to go! See everyone Saturday, have an extra round for those of us not able to come Friday night!

whitesox

hey I wear white socks

Psimet2001 

No...it's...uh...kind of a superstitious (yes I can't spell) thing. Cyclists are a funny lot when it comes to superstition. In this case it seems that whenever I wear the RAIN jersey from 2005....here's a shot of me wearing it in 2006....I've lost some weight it seems...



...whenever I wear it it miraculously doesn't rain. On the flip side....EVERY time I wear white socks....it rains. Especially NEW white socks. That's like seeding the clouds.