Advice in La Crosse

 

I lie down stomach up

Rocky theme song playing on the church tv

Gasping for air, accumulating sweat

Today was a success, for now I lift the trophy

 

We got some invaluable motivation from our friends Taylor and Chris from La Crosse, Wi. At the scenic breakfast restaurant, which overlooked the Mississippi, the BAP friends shared their story. We explained to them the daily mileage, the route, and the stories that we knew they would get a kick out of. They understood the heat that us cyclists battled every day and they sympathized. After explaining that we were about 1800 miles in, Taylor and Chris began sharing their unique and unexpected passion. They were “Iron Men,” not strange comic book collectors, but individuals who train themselves for the excruciating race that I imagine Spartans from 300 participating in. Their racing was revealed with such humility, but come on, these people are nuts! They make our 65 mile ride look like a warm-up. Just to let you know, before the 10:00AM breakfast, Taylor had biked 50 miles, swam laps in Chris’ lap pool, and Forrest gumped his way around the track. He still had the energy to lift up his fork and take bites out of the omelet. That amazed me. Chris probably ran to Madison, and crawled back just for the heck of it.

 

So later today, as we sat in Beezer’s, a restaurant about 3 miles away from Elroy, Wi, I thought back to the “Escape from Alcatraz” race that Taylor and Chris had successfully completed. This crazy take on an Iron Man involved swimming through the icy SF bay, biking up tedious hills for 100+ miles, and topping it off with a marathon, of course. I perused the menu, and with the push from Colin, I decided to join him in the BIG BAD BEEZER BURGER CHALLENGE. Just like our friends from La Crosse, we would be pushing our physical capabilities, specifically our intestinal tracts, and attempt to eat the 2lb burger with toppings, side of fries and coleslaw. We had 30 minutes to attack and devour the beast. As the waiter brought over the meal we quickly devised the gameplan. The burger would be cut into quarters, the coleslaw would be put in the burgers, and the fries would be dessert. The first half of the burger was piece of cake (haha nope it was definitely a burger). Then the first wall came. Once you got over that, the remainder of the burger was painful to finish. Cutting the pieces into little bites helped. Above all, it was Taylor and Chris who I pictured busting their asses of in SF that helped me get through the last couple of bites.

 

So I got my picture with the very awesome T-shirt that I can’t wait to show people, and yes, I look fat, sweaty and nauseous. Now I lay in the church in agony and only God know what will be released into the Catholic Church toilet tomorrow morning. So, that was our little Iron Man in Hillsboro, Wi, and the biggest achievement is definitely beating Colin. I expected better from him, but he was an honorable opponent. He lost though, just making it clear.

 

Shout out to Tunnel Tom