Updated Baraboo Circusworld Rides coming up September 9!

Hello everyone,

We are having a beautiful spat of weather here and GLR hopes you are making the most of the weekend.  Coming up a week from tomorrow are our last ACP events of the season, the Baraboo Circusworld 400k/600k and our Evansville Classic 200k.

Big News #1

THE START FOR THE 400K and 600K is now 5:00 AM!!!!  This is to maximize the daylight and hopefully get more people off the road before the wee hours of the morning.  The start of the 200k is still 7:00 AM!

Big News #2

The 400k and 600k have been re-vamped and re-approved by RUSA!

For those new to GLR, the 400k and 600k routes out to Baraboo have been a favorite for almost 10 years!  That is a really long time to go without a real update.   Roads have changed, pavement have changed, whole towns have changed.  Added to that, we are experiencing a bumper crop of construction this year.  This route was not even runnable in June.

After much debating, I decided to re-examine both of the routes, both for safety, navigability and to get them in line with current RUSA standards.  So we have new for this year.  2 controls are completely changed.  Though there is no such thing as an easy 400k ride, this one is a "middle of the road" in terms of difficulty.  It doesn't have nearly as much climbing as the Mineral Point Hill Festival, but a little bit more than the new Door County 400k.  Here are some highlights:

1. No more Freedom Road!  Yes, I know many will be in mourning and if you absolutely need too, you are free to detour and do the hill, returning to the bottom to continue to the route.  It is being replaced by a climb up Denzer Road which is more scenic  The route now has a much easier to maintain Info Control farther west.

2.  The Baraboo control has moved to West Baraboo.  This is because Baraboo is a place where people need a good food option and the old control lost the Cousins subs.  The replacement for Cousins was a Mexican place and that is just not a great brevet food.  The new control is a Kwik Trip with a Culvers next door.  You stil have to get your card signed at Kwik Trip but you can then eat where you like.

3. We still go through Devils Lake but we don't go through Downtown Baraboo.  There is a new route to the park with a huge bike lane - much more pleasent and doesn't require a left turn into the park.

4.  The entire route from Columbus to the finish of 400k is totally different.  We now go through Waterloo and use the same route as the Lakes and Kettles 300k.

5.  The turnaround for the second day of the 200k is in Johnson Creek north of Jefferson.  There are other changes and the route is not-quite an out and back anymore.

No real changes to the Evansvile Classic 200k but look for more changes coming very soon as we add new routes and continue to explore eastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.

I will be posting the cue sheets and RWGPS routes on Tuesday after this weekend's pre-rides!

SAFETY ALERT

If you are doing the 600k or 400k and need assistance finding roommates to share rooms with at the Super 8 please let me know.  It has come to my attention that people are sleeping in cars and driving after riding long distances.  This is not a good thing!  We are going to hopefully make this much less of an issue for next year, but for this last ride.

1.   Make reservations RIGHT now by calling the Super 8 and telling them you want a GLR room.  Our block will expire soon.  I can help if you want to share and cut expenses.

2.  GLR does rent a room that I stay in.  This room has 2 double beds and if you finish a ride and need sleep, those beds are for YOU as much as for me.  I will not be riding and your safety is paramount so if you need a place to crash, knock on the door of 126 or send me a text.  I will make sure you have a good place to lie down and sleep.  It may not be great, but it will be something.

There have been many cases of riders having severe accidents driving after brevets.  At least one person is permanently paralyzed after driving after a 300k!  Do not think for a second that how you feel when you stop is going to last.  Being sleep deprived is the equivalent of having several beers.

Hope to see you all on September 9!