It is now day 1 of my biking season after yesterdays "Race the Lake" which is a ride around Lake Winnebago. My life and bicycling training calendar revolve around this special day. My love for this race is quite perplexing and i don't fully understand why every time i do this race it reminds me of being a kid at Christmas. The only thing in common between the 2 days is the feeling i get when its over. Its hard to sleep the night before, you wake up early, you HAVE SO MUCH FUN doing it, and when its over you wish you would of taken longer and savored it more. This years weather and wind direction was way different than in all the years past. Instead of a slight breeze blowing us up towards the north we had a NE wind pushing us back as we headed to Appleton Wisconsin. This wind did not effect us that much due to the peloton mostly staying together for the first 41 miles. At mile 41 i realized we were within 5 miles of High Cliff State Park that contains the toughest climb of the race so i backed off the pace a little bit and lost the peloton. For me this hill is all psychological because i know i could probably do it this year but how much energy do i want to spend to prove to myself i can do this entire race without unclipping. Well about 500 feet from the end of the 1.5 mile hill i gave up and walked the rest of the way. At this point my data showed 22.7 average MPH for the first 45 miles. After climbing High Cliff the next 5 to 7 miles are pretty easy before a very long decline where i actually caught up with a few stragglers from the peloton. I stayed with them for the 10 mile straightaway with rolling hills before the dreaded left turn. This left turn unto highway "HHH" is dreaded by most racers. After traveling on relatively smooth roads this road is not the most bike friendly. And its mostly uphill and remember this year we were going into the wind this time. Its easily my slowest 5 miles of the race. In the past years i have witnessed many racers pull over and take rest breaks in this stretch. It was also an emotional win for me because the sun was directly hitting my face. In years past the sun was higher in the sky so this meant i was way ahead of years past. After that brutal stretch we get to turn right which meant we only had about an hour left but we still had 2 big hills to conquer and a bunch of litle ones. But the easily biggest surprise was that the DOT had just re-paved the road that summer. Having just built my first ever Cruzbike this spring and switching over to tublesss this is where i felt the upgrades the most. My "Dreamsickle" was fast!!!!!! I always felt soo slow during this stretch but this time I flew down the straitaways and down the hills in a fashion i do not remember. Having lost the peloton 10 miles previously i was now catching the other straglers who could not keep up as well. As i rolled into St. Peters there is one more hill to climb and its the best one because you KNOW its the last and theres is a couple mile descent leadning into Fon Du Lac where you hit speeds of over 40mpg and I always pass about 5 people and they all gasp at how fast i am going. Since i also upgraded to hydraulic disc brakes and 28mm wide tires i can go with little more confidence as well. After flattening out entering town there is a 5 mile segment where you ride thru town before the finish line. This is where you get that sense of dread, at least i do. I do not want this time to end. Even though i spent the last 2 hours by myself and failed to keep up with the peloton its a time where you knew you did better than last year. The last 5 miles I am already thinking of what i need to do to be better for next year. I also try to cement in my brain that i am comminted to being better next year for motivation. One way i will be motiviated is I think i will move up one wave. See this year they must of not had that many entrants so they combined waves 6 and 7. Rich and i joined wave 7 but we came out of the gate strong and the wave 6 riders broke free early on and we decided to go with the faster group. So i am thinkng that Rich, and all the other cruzbikers who come next year due to my great advertisement (haha) should join wave 6 in 26. It even rhymes. As i cross the finish line I come to a screaching halt and stop my ride electronically to get the most accurate stats and find that I am in pretty good shape, no muscles are immediately sore which means i probably did not push myself hard enough. Even my knee joints had no pain which i have been struggling with so far this summer. Lately i have been trying to slow my cadence down and trying push more thereby lowering my total revolutions on my rides and i think its working. This is an amazing develpment from my very first race when i could barely push down my clutch pedal when driving home. After changing shirts and drinking some very cold water i walked to the tent and met up with Rich Mueller to watch the rewards ceremony. Rich kept up with the peloton the entire way and finshed about 40 minutes ahead of me. Considering we were togehter until 41 miles into the race they really booked it back or i really slacked off in order to put over 40 minutes time in front of me in the last half of the race. For the record last year in 2024 i finished with a "gun time" of 4 hours and 57 minutes. This year i finished with a "gun time" of 4 hours and 32 minutes. Improving your time by 25 minutes is good and all, but last year i also had 2 flat tires and one of the major reasons I switch to tubless. What i am most proud of is my BPM. I have been actively trying to keep my heart rate higher during my rides. This year I kept my HR aaverage at 150 BPM which is good for me. I dont really want to stop writing about this event this morning because then its officially over and have to wait 364 days till the next one. It is so much easier to love these events while riding a Cruzbike. Since we are recumbents we are regulated to the back of pelotons and it breaks my heart watching these diamond frame riders continously shifting in their seat due to their bottoms being in pain, dangling their arms to get feeling back in their wrists/shoulders/elbows because they are numb. The also have to do neck rolls and back arches to try to keep from being in pain. They also dont get to enjoy the wonderfull scenery of the actuall ride around this most wonderfull lake. I did not know how much my life was going to change when i purchased my first Cruzbike years ago but it was one of the most life-altering decision i ever made. This morning i as i write this recap I am almost done with my coffee and preparing to go to my basement workout room to start preparing for the race in 26. The adventures i have done and the future ones i do would have never been attained if it wasnt for Cruzbike.
I would be remiss if i didnt thank everyone from the Cruzbike community for always being there and providing support. I still feel relatively new to you all and appreciate all the advice you have given me. I look forward to meeting everyone at either "Bike Safari", "Sebring" or any other events i plan on going to in the next coming years. If your ever in the area of Southeastern Wisconsin please let me know so we can go for a ride. Thank you very much.
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