An Epic, RAW Ride!
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February 2, 2016 by Bickel's |
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It’s an epic, hard-as-hell bicycle ride across one of the greatest states in our country and the acronym for the Ride Across Wisconsin spells out exactly what it is – RAW.
Beginning in Dubuque, IA, this Trek Factory Racing Team-sponsored endurance ride follows a scenic, low-traffic route for 175-miles across the bottom of the State of Wisconsin, including a ceremonial lap around the Washington Park Belodrome, ending at Simmons Island Beach along the shore of Lake Michigan in Kenosha, WI. Having purchased a new Project 1 Trek Domane in late spring last year, local cyclist & friend, Mike Schmidt, decided with a few of his buddies that he was up for the RAW challenge. That August, he sent us this email the day after his legendary ride, “Finished RAW yesterday. Ended up finishing at 8 pm. 175.8 miles, 9,000' of climb, 16.5 mph avg. Fun but hard ride. :-) Rode 80 miles in the rain.”
http://wisconsinbikefed.org/2015/09/21/long-live-raw-2016-ride-across-wisconsin-update/ Yes, it was indeed epic! While he couldn’t control the weather (cold & rainy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon), Mike, a RAGBRAI veteran, was thankful that on this late August day, it was not 95° outside! And while it was a tough ride with plenty of hills from Dubuque to Beloit, Mike found the ride to have been very well-organized by the Wisconsin Bike Federation. Food stations were good and plentiful, courses well-marked (Mike also relied on his Garmin map) & there was bike support. In Mike’s words, “If you want to make the trip easier, you need to be in a group. I had 2 guys with me, but one had a mechanical breakdown and we lost 2 ½ hours about 1/3rd of the way through, so our opportunity to draft with a large group after that was eliminated leaving us only able to draft off of each other for the remaining 100 miles.” Mike & his friends put 10-hours on their bike that day and it was one for the history books. Mike had the unique opportunity to meet professional racers Jens Voigt & Robbie Ventura as well as John Burke, President & CEO of Trek Bicycle Corporation. He even kept pace with some of the Trek Factory racers for awhile, too!
http://wisconsinbikefed.org/2015/09/01/ride-across-wisconsin-was-a-huge-success/ If you’re interested & would like to learn more about RAW, visit http://rideacrosswisconsin.com. We also included some blog links under the photos. You'll see that Mike even photobombed one of the pics featuring John Burke’s wife, Tania. You can’t miss him! He’s got his visibility gear on & is riding a pretty sweet, all-custom bike. Happy Rides! |
