Manatees Dooo Eeeet!!! (Page 65)

Awesome! What a great way to spend the weekend!

Indeed, what she said!!! Congratulations.

The gravel is mostly farm roads. So, they were a bit dry and sandy, but not bad at all. Just had to be careful on the corners. The funny part about "bomb range" is that the end of the ride goes up Bombing Range Rd, which is this slow uphill that sux. Every corner that we hit had me wondering what I would see. And every time was the same, "look, more uphill". The last time I did this ride was 18 months or so ago, with my friend, Eric. He dragged my butt up at the end. Well, sure enough, he had tire issues starting 10 miles in and his rear tire burped one last time about 5 miles from the end. So I pulled him up this thing with his very soft rear tire slowing him down. At one point he was about to give me the keys to the car, but he had to finish 62 to get in his monthly metric for the "Mug O' Dirt Challenge". 

Long story short (too late) the dirt roads in Avon Park are awesome. The route is posted here on Ride with GPS, if you use it. 

So glad you checked in - how's your family doing too?? 

Um, did i see that right in my email? IMWI is going back to September - for next year??? Wut?

I know!  I just put something in my blog about it.

"We're moving IMWI to June."

People register.
People book travel.
People who deferred from 2020 and 2021 adjust their schedules

"Just kidding! It's gonna be in September!"

I guess it's good that Lisa already signed up for Chattanooga 70.3 before knowing about the June/Not June date.

Seriously - not cool. I get changing it back for 2023 but not for a race that was already announced and open for registration. Not cool at all. 

I had to double take on the email to verify that it was for this year. 

Personally, I think that it has to do with the Des Moines full distance event as much as it has to do with the Madison one.   I image that the fact that there is a home football game in Madison and hotels are already scarce that weekend makes this an especially tough pill for participants to swallow.

WhooooooBoyyyyyy my little brain is tired from all the IM Wisconsin drama - but yes - totally unacceptable for them to move the race date after accepting registrations for 2+ months (I registered and got my confirmation email on August 16). All of the September die-hards are like "YES! We won!" and I'm happy for that group. But for those of us who already registered (AND PAID ) bought air fare, made hotel reservations, bike transport reservations, etc. - the news was not so positive and I spent all day yesterday managing my cancellations. I was an eager beaver and went ahead and upgraded myself to first class on the flight home after the race - USING SKY MILES POINTS - and those are totally non-refundable, which is unfortunate. I've been saving my points for years and years. But the rest of my ticket refund was issued in the form of an eCredit so I'm thankful for that.

I suppose I'm grateful they gave a list of options to transfer to - that was NOT the case when I deferred from 2021 to 2022, I was told it's Wisconsin or nothing. So silver lining for me, because I'm looking at doing a less hilly bike course like Des Moines.

I hope that you are able to find an acceptable solution. An Ironman is a big undertaking and I know that having an event that you are stoked about is an awesome carrot.

Sorry about the Delta Skymiles :-( That super sucks.

Racing Manatees!!!

October 23-24
Anne - Big Sugar gravel ride

Dooo eeettt!!!

Is anyone else racing or doing anything else fun this weekend?

Have a great ride Anne! I have to say though, when I see 'big sugar" i think sugar sand trails and it makes me . 

Well done! You're winning the weekend!

Looks like the Pineapple Express took out IM California! I feel badly for all those AGers!

How was it??

I was messaging a friend who was supposed to race her first IM (sucks so bad) but she said in the morning she was putting on her wetsuit in a big tent and it felt like it was going to lift right off. Then later in the day she shared photos of trees down near the finish line and someone share photos of porta potties blown over in the wind (ew)