Tons o' Biking Part 7

Ugh...last day of biking in the biking binge.  I suited up this morning and left at 7AM to bike the stick plus a loop of the IMWI course.  Here I am ready to go, being extremely fashionable and also artistic, care of Donna:

This is in the lobby of the hotel where we are staying, and for some reason I was careful to tell the front desk that my TIRES ARE CLEAN AND WON'T HURT THE CARPET!  Just in case they were worried...

I gravitated towards the black and white couch, and this is a beautiful shot, as the back of my Day of the Dead jersey (which arrived just in time) can be seen in the mirror behind me.

I rode down to Monona Terrace to see if I could find any peeps swimming, but didn't.  I left a message for Dark Knight that started with (in Christian Bale's voice), "I'm BATMAN."   I got on my way and was a few miles into the course when I rode up to AJ, who was just leaving for a short ride:

We laughed at what were the odds I would just ride into him?  I asked how he was feeling, since I knew he'd been a bit sick, and he is on the mend and I think he will do just fine.  We rode up to Syene and Caine road, and then he turned back and I continued on.

It was warm when I started and it just got warmer.  I'd brought 4.5 hours of Infinit and one bottle of water, with the water to be replaced as needed.  I stopped in Verona at a gas station, but it's no longer attended and couldn't get water there, so then I tried Firemen's Park, and they didn't have any water, either, but I stopped to chat with some folks and got a good pic with a dog who was making awesome dives into the lake!

Since I needed water, I rode into downtown Verona, and then DUH, decided I'd ride the loop backwards.  I've done this before and trust me, it sucks both ways.  I stopped at the pavilion on Military Ridge Trail, and there was a group of guys taking a break, and they wanted to look at and touch La Gazza Ladra, and turns out they know someone in my town that they think I should meet.

I continued on, and of course the climb up Timber Lane in reverse was the worst climb of the day, and I was hating myself since I hadn't ridden much hills at all this year, but still I was doing OK.  It kept getting hotter, but there were beautiful roads and view and I couldn't help but smile!  I think I confused many people because I was wearing ostensibly a race wristband, and yet I was pushing the pace.

Isn't this beautiful?  How could I NOT be happy riding here?

I pressed on and got to Garfoot Road, which is a bitch and a half when ridden the reverse course direction.  I came upon 2 young girls with 2 calves, and had to stop for a pic and ask what they were doing!

2 3-month old bull Holsteins being trained to walk in competition

I mean where do you come upon something like this?  The calves were SO cute, I wanted to pet them, but I had to keep riding...

Next I got to Witte Road which is fucking fun normally, but tougher to ride in reverse, still I wanted a pic at the crest before I began descending:

This is quintessential Wisconsin!  At least this part of the state!  I was getting hungry, I guess because all of the heat and I've been training like a mad woman, so when I got to Mount Horeb to stop for water, I was in line to check out at the Kwik Trip and spotted cheeseburgers, and went to grab one.  This would help, since I was somewhat hungover from the night before, and cheeseburgers typically work magic in these cases!  I asked a woman patron to snap a pic of me eating it just for proof...

At this point I needed to just finish out the ride.  When you leave Mount Horeb in reverse, you get a whole pile of descent, and I hammered away and was passing people having a great time!  I was worried I sucked, but then I realized that on the way out I had a headwind, and now I had a tailwind AND downhill!  It was awesome.

When I got back to the hotel, I was so disgusting from sweating so much that it was the BEST SHOWER EVER!  I called William and Donna to see if they wanted to do lunch with me in the Badger Lounge because I just could not see going outside again for awhile.  They joined me, and they bought me lunch, I tried to steal a beer glass, but Donna bought it for me so I have a nice souvenir and spare lunch for tomorrow when I am finished running a 1/2 marathon.

WTF I asked for a box for leftovers and I got a...BOX

William and Donna putting up with my shit

After that, I had to go and meet Dark Knight to establish our plan for race day.  I conned him into buying me a beer (I'm good at that, apparently):

And then finally I went back to Ground Zero and showered again because I was sweaty, and met up with Jen and Lori for dinner.

I am exhausted!  But I am excited for tomorrow for my racers and other people and all the fun that will ensue!  I finished out my biking binge with about 320 miles, so I'm good!  No more biking for a week!  But now the running binge begins, and it kicks off tomorrow with probably close to a marathon!  What the hell, what else would I be doing here in Wisconsin during an Ironman???