Dairy Roubaix 2016

 Great Scenery

Turns out I forgot to post about this ride! Back in the spring time I went up to Wisconsin to check out this ride. It was the week before Trans Iowa and TI just takes up a huge space in my brain and I completely forgot about posting the Dairy Roubaix.

It was my first warm ride of the year and I remember being pretty uncomfortably hot, and the crazy amount of hills did not help that at all. I started off in the lead group, they were pushing harder than I wanted to work, but it was nice to ride in a group and let someone else do the hard work. One of the fast dudes yelled out "who else is doing the 100 mile?" I said I was, and Jackson also was. I was shocked that the fast dude was doing the 100 because all he had were two water bottles and there were very few spots to refill on this route.

I was amazed that all these guys could pack so light. It really had me questioning my setup, until we got to the turn off point. This is where the 50 milers turn left and the 100 milers turn right. Jackson and I were the only ones who turned right. They pulled a swift one on us!

So now my new friend Jackson and I were leading the 100 miler. Turns out Jackson was also doing Trans Iowa the next weekend, we talked for a bit but he was riding strong and left me on a climb. I rode alone for quite some time until another rider on a trek went by me. He would later flat and I'd pass him back.

Photo by Mike, he almost busted me walking up this hill!

The hills on the second half of the route are no joke and it makes for a tough ride. I did end up catching Jackson again, at the very last long climb back to the state park where the start/finish area was. He was sitting on the side of the road, I asked if he was OK and he just looked at me with a strange look and was obviously quite tired. I couldn't wait long because I knew that dude on the trek was coming. I pushed as hard as I could up that last climb, but the cramps were coming on strong now. Trek guy was catching me rapidly. I made it to the state park and took a wrong turn on a roundabout and that was all it took for him to get by me. 

I pulled into the finish line area in second place to find that no one was keeping track of finishers at all, had I known that I would have hung out at the bottom of that giant hill with Jackson! That is the spirit of the brutal spring gravel races though, results don't matter, it is the experience that counts.

I'll be back to this ride for sure!

Photo Credit : https://www.flickr.com/photos/mababo/sets/72157667200400061

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