IMWI Course Ride & Run : May 24-25

actually, if I was getting ready for a 70.3, riding on Sat and doing a half marathon on Sunday would be a good weekend training strategy

That's the idea, with IMKS 70.3 being the weekend of June 15, a long ride and half mary the following day would work great, but if I can't find anyone familiar with the WI course I may be screwed.  I really don't want to be stuck wandering the countryside of rural Wisconsin by myself.

Madison is a 6+ hour drive for me, so coming up twice in a 3-week period does not sound do-able.

I'll wait to see how many people are able to ride on May 24th.

between the course map and the text description (on the race website) of each road and turn you take on the course there is no way you can get lost if you're by yourself.

That's good news.  I have no idea how well the signage is in this area.  I can only reference the rural area I train on long days and even with a street by street map you'd get lost if you weren't from around here.  A lot of the intersections don't have signs and some have more than one name.

I'll still consider riding alone.  It would be a much better ride if I could just "go" and not worry about checking a map constantly.  I've heard there's 80+ turns on the WI course.

I can get you the map - I have a copy.

Doing the bike before a mary is a little different than doing the 1/2 mary.  I'm thinking that I would be overdoing it.

Great!  Do you have it in a form that can be emailed?

yeah....if you're running the Madison FULL marathon I think you'd be over-doing it.

How's this - http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/bike.html

or the PDF - http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/images_course/wisbike.pdf

It's a hilly, challenging ride, but fun!

between the course map and the text description (on the race website) of each road and turn you take on the course there is no way you can get lost if you're by yourself.

If you don't have the text version with you, then you WILL get lost

I rode the course this past September, and seem to remember 1 or 2 turns where there wasn't a road name sign posted. Luckily, it was the day before the race and the course was well marked with bright orange arrows. There definitely are a lot of turns though, and it was a little bit of a pain to have to keep pulling out a map/ directions.

Unfortunately I live in Tampa, so I don't think I can afford to fly up there again to ride the course before the race.

Well Jim....since you're in such a giving mood.....how about driving the course before May 24th and painting arrows for me?

I'll pay the gas money! 

He'll just pull you around the course behind his bike - he's an Ironman!

That's very nice of you to offer.
I'll let you know as the date grows nearer if I'm coming up and if I need any help.

Right now I'm trying to see how I can make the June 8-10th weekend with the other BT'er work.