Dairyland
Dare preparation…the ride that never happened for me...
This summer was supposed to be my summer for cycling, however,
what I didn’t know was that I would suffer from really
bad shin splints with resultant back pain that would keep my
hopes of finally conquering the Dairyland Dare from happening...
But, instead of being downtrodden, I’d like to share
how much fun my friends and I had in preparation for the ride.
This ride has almost as much climbing as the Horrible Hilly
Hundred, which I did finish two years ago (and proudly wear
my jersey!) Some people say it is just as difficult. To prepare
for it, Ross and I, along with good friends Charlie and Karen
ventured up to the course two weeks before the event to ride
parts of the course. In the three days we were there, we road
150 miles! It was awesome!
Here we are atop the Talesin stone – where Frank Lloyd
Wright had his magnificent home in Spring Green. We stopped
for brunch at a great restaurant in Spring Green called the
Spring Green General Store. Check out their website: http://www.springgreengeneralstore.com/.
They feature natural, home style, interesting food – and
have great coffee too! You can also shop at the store and look
for interesting clothes, cards, toys, or other natural products.
The next day we first did about 20 miles before picking up
the ferry (Ross was navigating and definitely took us on the
scenic route!) which would take us to Devil’s Lake, WI
where there is a lot of climbing – especially going into
the state park. The scenery getting there was beautiful – albeit
we almost passed out due to lack of oxygen. Take a look at
their website – it’s a great place to visit if
you are ever in the area: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/ORG/LAND/PARKS/specific/devilslake/.
Here we are taking the ferry to the Devil’s
Lake area.
Wow – that was supposed to be a short
30 mile ride that ended
up being over 60 miles that day!
Good thing we packed food! |
Karen and Charlie on the ferry ride. |
Here are Karen and I after we finally
reached Devil’s Lake.
It became windy and chilly.
So much for the planned open water
swim that afternoon.
Thank goodness Charlie had an extra jacket
for me to wear! |
One of the great parts of expending all
those calories on the bike
is getting to eat afterwards!
Here we are in a quaint German
restaurant eating spaetzle!
It was quite a feast! |
The third and final day, we conquered some more hills and then
it was into Lake Marion for some open water swimming! Hum, I
was the resident photographer. But maybe I’ll improve my
swimming so that I’ll be in there next year with them!
So even though I was unable to compete on the day of the ride,
the journey to get ready was great fun. I am blessed to have
a great training partner in Karen – as she is able to work
out with me nearly every morning during the dark early hours
when nobody else is awake yet.
Ross completed the 200K ride (WOW, that’s a lot of riding)
and Charlie and Karen completed the 133K, which was one of their
most difficult one day rides! They both did great! Since I was
nursing two injuries, I was side-lined for the actual event,
but am still happy knowing that I did 150 miles of cycling the
weekend we were there for training! |
