Horribly Hilly Hundreds (200K)

June 16, 2007
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
200K + of hills

This ride is well know for its difficulty and as a first time rider, it did not disappoint.

Pre Ride
Since I had to withdrawal from Ironman Coeur d'Alene I've been targeting this ride as something I wanted to accomplish. I've ridden the roads around this part of Wisconsin as part of the Ironman before and knew they were a lot of fun.

The day before a big event is always a bit hectic as I tend to stress about making sure I've got all the necessary details handled. I did a good job of making sure not to forget everything but I didn't do it with the most tranquility. I got down to the Madison area in plenty of time to get my packet and some dinner in Madison

The Horribly Hilly Hundreds starts in the town of Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. The finish is in Blue Mounds State Park, which is not far from the town itself. Because this area doesn't have a lot of hotel rooms, I decided to camp at the state park. I was glad I did the next morning as it was a nice campground and the weather was great for camping.

I awoke feeling excited and ready to ride. My goals for the ride were pretty simple - I wanted to finish and have fun. With that goal in mind, I was not in a hurry to start as some who use this event as a proxy race. I was there to ride and have some fun. So after a brief ride up to the finish area and some free coffee, yeah!, I headed down to the ride start in Blue Mounds with a client Aaron. We had a similar goal for the day and similar pacing goals.

Here I am right before we start.

Since the 200K ride at the Horribly Hilly Hundreds had been increased by 5 miles due to some road construction, I was in no mood to start too quickly. I planned to ride easily in the first hours and to try to keep my wattage below 300 watts on the climbs. This would be over threshold but still something that I could hit repeatedly without fatiguing myself completely. My main other strategy was to think about the ride in small parts. I was not riding 130 miles, I was going on 4 rides of between 45 and 25 miles over the course of the day. It was obviously true that these rides would be real close to together, but mentally I found this approach much easier.

Ride Itself
We started out from Blue Mounds at a moderate pace in great weather. It was sunny and I was happy to be doing what I was doing. Really there is not a whole lot to report on the first hour or two. I rode with a friend Aaron and some other folks he knew. We had a nice conversation going and all was good. I followed my plan quite well for the first few hours. There were a few notable hills, and I decided early that I was not going to be saving the easier gears for later in the day. I run compact cranks and my usual cassette is an 11/23 or an 12/25. But for this ride I'd purchased a 12/27 and I was glad I did. I found 34/27 gear to be quite useful and I used it early on often on some of the steep pitches.

While the early hills were not easy, things got a lot harder around the 40 mile mark. One of the steepest hills on the course was surely notable. I literally had to stand to keep myself moving and I went a good bit above my wattage goal for a stretch here as it was all I could do to keep myself moving. All in all I did a good job of pacing myself.

Here you can see the average watts, the lowest figure I'd ever seen. Also note the ride time at the bottom.

At the first aid station, Aaron and I ended up waiting for a bit for some of his riding friends. It was a decision that I would come to appreciate much more later.

The day was filled with hills, good conversation and some fun descents. I really don't have a whole lot to say aside from the fact that the ride went according to plan that as it wore on I started to get tired, as one might expect. That picture was true at least until around the 70 mile mark. We were going up one of the steeper hills on the course and I felt like my left cleat was moving in the pedal. I contemplated what it could be and after getting up the hill stopped to check it out. I had earlier felt something might have been wrong with the shoe so I'd done the obvious thing and checked the tightness of the bolts holding cleat to my shoe. They were tight. And they still were even though my foot was moving around in the pedal a great deal. On closer inspection of the pedal, I got real worried. The pin that holds the rear locking mechanism of my pedal was falling out. I was a long ways from anywhere and was concerned I wouldn't be able to finish my ride. Here came my good fortune as one of Aaron's riding friends was a mechanical engineer. He looked at the pedal, thought for at most 10 seconds and then asks if anyone has an old intertube with them. He rips the presta valve from an old tube, inserts it in the back of my pedal and tapes the whole thing down. It was a brilliant plan and I figured this would get me to the next stop location where bike mechanics available. It worked well and I continued along and was happy to be riding and not waiting for a sag wagon.

Here is the pedal with its special tape job.

The group kept together and we were enjoying a span of different types of weather. It had been pretty warm in the morning, only to cool off after clouds appeared and brought a little rain. After the rain ended, it stayed cool for awhile before warming up again. We kept riding and generally enjoying ourselves.

Jason can still smile late in the ride.

At the last official stop, with about 30 miles to go, it was clear some of our group was getting tired. I was too. What was interesting is how some people respond to such a situation. My first inclination is to push on and get the ride done. Others wanted to stop more. We worked on as a group with this contrasting styles until about 10 miles to go. I was okay physically even though we'd been riding for 8 hours, but I was done mentally. I just couldn't stomach the idea of stopping again. So when the group took a coke break with about 10 miles to go, I pushed on. I felt pretty good and in an effort to get the ride done, I increased my efforts. I rolled along putting out some reasonable wattage, all things considered. I was feeling pretty good as I approached the final miles of the ride. It was here that I started to feel like the temperature was pretty hot.

What makes the Horribly Hilly Hundreds, in my mind, is not the countless steep hills you climb so much as the last few miles, all of which are uphill! After over 125 miles in this case, and 120 in a normal year, you climb to the finish for several miles. We are not talking about any small hill here, either. Blue Mounds State Park is one of the highest points in this part of Wisconsin. While this is far from a peak in the Rocky Mountains, I'll grant, it is still a notable increase in elevation in a fairly short period of time. So, it is now hot, I've been on a bike for over eight and a half hours and I am now climbing up a hard hill. Let's just say that all the good memories of the earlier portions of the ride were quickly escaping my mind.

As I climbed up this hill I really doubted if I was going to be able to make it. I've often heard athletes and coaches talk of the "pain cave," a place in which you go when things get really hard. I don't think I'd really even entered it on the ride up to this point, or if so, I hadn't gone very far inside. Well now I was in real far and it was real dark! I was working as hard as I could, going 4 miles per hour with the sun shining straight into my eyes so I could not see a thing. It was hard, really hard. Finally after what seemed like forever, I got to the finish and was I ever glad to be done. It took me a while, and several Pepsis, to recover.

Above you can see from my face here at the finish photo that I am having a hard time.

Post Ride
This is a great event. You can ride it at pretty much whatever intensity you'd like. It is possible to basically race the event or to ride and chat it up with friends. I was impressed by the organization and would heartily recommend the ride to anyone.

My ride itself. I was pleased with my ride as I followed my plan well and let the day unfold as it might. I was happy to have my power meter, if for no other reason as I kept me honest and low key early when it would have been pretty easy to go a little crazy. I also really liked the fact that I could pick up the watts after all those hours in the saddle. That is a good sign as far as my pacing is concerned. To view the power file, simply click here.

Have fun out there!

See you out there!

November 9

The Dig It crew is a hearty one and Michael was our latest example. He did his first cross race on a cold for Minnesota day today. Not only did he race well, he had fun too.

Nice job Michael!

October 25-26

Jason was in New Jersey for the PhysFarm Level II seminar on Training Plan Design and Periodization. Jason learned a lot to pass onto his athletes.

October 19

RuthAnn and Beth kick it at the Duke City Half Marathon in Albuquerque. Beth won her age group and RuthAnn came in 3rd, both with PR performances. Impressive runs for sure!

October 12

Dig It's Jill shows she's one tough cookie as she runs a PR at the Chicago Marathon just 5 weeks after IM Wisconsin. Nice run Jill.

October 11

Justin Hurd, who Coach Jason advises, shows shows his strength at IM Hawaii. On a challenging day, for the big island no less, Justin did great in his first attempt at the World Championships as a pro.

October 5

The Team Dig It at the Twin Cities Marathon. We setup and monitored the 5K pace clock on a rainy and chilly day. Nice job to all finishers. Dig It's Clifford showed great form in the 10 Mile race and took minutes off his time from the year before. Nice run Clifford.

September 28

Jason in racing mode at the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Italy. It was a fun day of action.

Here the bike awaiting its trusted rider.

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September 27

Jason serves as Assistant Coach with the elite athletes of Team USA at the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Rimini, Italy. It was a fun day filled with great competition for Team USA.

Here is the women's team poses for photos immediately after their finish.

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September 7

Dig It athlete Jill has a great day at Ironman Wisconsin. Jill exceeded all her goals and finished strong and could smile too. Hard work and dedication sure paid off, nice job Jill!

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August 31

At Ironman Louisville, Noelle does a great job on a hot and windy day in Kentucky. Noelle backed up a good swim and bike with solid run. Crossing the finish line with a smile on her face, Noelle showed how to get it done. Nice job, Noelle.

August 10

At the ITU Long Course Duathlon World Championships in Geel, Belgium, pro Justin Hurd, who Jason consults with on training, put in a great performance to finish 5th overall. In a perfect job of pacing, Justin ran, biked and ran with the best in the world. Way to go Justin!

Coach Jason was in action at the Town Hall Team Time Trial with 3 others from his bike racing club. The Birchwood Aged team might not have won, but we had fun.

August 2

At the Full Vineman in California, Dig It athlete Scott completes his Ironman dream with a solid debut race on a hot day. Awesome performance Scott!

July 6

At the Lake Steven's 70.3, Jill continued her great long course progress with a PR. Way to go Jill!

Dig It was a sponsor of the Duluth Duathlon. Coach Jason was there along with Todd enjoying a steamy day of running, biking and running again on the shores of Lake Superior. Here Team Dig It poses for a picture at the official Dig It Triathlon water station.

June 14

A great day at the Liberty Triathlon today as Noelle, Jill, Scott and Josh show their on track for long course success later this summer. Way to go guys!

Here Coach Jason and Jill hang out after the race.

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April 27

At the US National Duathlon Champs, Francois culminated his spring campaign with a 3rd place in the 35-39 age group. On a rainy and tough day in Richmond, Francois was solid across the board, yeah baby!

The 35-39 podium, with Francois on the right.

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April 5

Coach Jason joins the USA Triathlon National Duathlon Committee.

January 1

Coach Jason joins the PhysFarm coaching consortium. This group is dedicated to applying cutting edge exercise physiology and training software to use for all athletes. The newest software developed by PhysFarm, RaceDay, proves itself as a great tool for multisport athletes.

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December 12

Coach Jason now a USA Cycling Level 2 coach. Clinic in November was great and Jason learned some cool stuff and is ready to bring it to use with you.

November 25

Check out the newest edition of Midwest Events magazine for Coach Jason's article, "Spending for Speed."

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October 6

Coach Jason wins the inaugural Kickin' Leaves Duathlon in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The new race had a small field but a great course. Hope everyone can make it there next year.

Jason poses with bike and trophy at home after the race.

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2007 Dig It News

A full account of Dig It news from 2007 and early 2008 can be accessed on our latest news page, with archived links at the bottom.

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