Legs cramp, pedals slow, wheels stop, and both rider and bike topple into the ditch - all in front of the waiting crowd at the finish line in Blue Mound State Park in Dane County.
Something about risking that sort of public ignominy must be attractive, however, given the demand to enter the 2006 Horribly Hilly. About 50 riders signed up during the early registration through Active.com and 950 or so filled the remaining available slots within five days of the registration opening.
Since the ride filled, more than a dozen gluttons for punishment have offered to pay a premium price for a ticket to endure the "toughest one-day challenge ride in the Midwest." One post on the Horribly Hilly Hundreds Web site offers five times the $50 registration fee for the chance to ride on June 17.
Some, usually spouses, would question the wisdom of paying extra for leg cramps, dehydration and exhaustion.
But what they're really paying for is "water-cooler bragging rights," says Tom Schuler, a former professional cyclist and president of Team Sports Inc.
"Monday morning back at work, people ask 'What did you do?' 'You did the Hilly Hundreds, I heard about that,' " Schuler said.
"Whether it's the Chequamegon 40, the Ironman or a Birkie, and then when you put limits on it, it creates more excitement," he said. "The slots are more coveted, and it creates its own word-of-mouth buzz."
As Schuler suggested, the buzz about the Horribly Hilly Hundreds has spread among cyclists, particularly those looking for a challenge.
Riders completing the long version, 200 kilometers, will climb 10,700 feet up some of the steepest grades in the state. Over the last 3½ miles, to the finish in the park, cyclists gain 930 feet in elevation to the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
They actually make that climb twice during the ride - once in the first portion of the course, then again at the end. Most riders wobble to the finish, if they make it at all.
Karl Heil, who launched the Hilly Hundreds in 2003, said about half of the entrants in the long ride that year dropped out without completing the distance. Of the 1,000 riders registered this year, nearly half signed up for the shorter version of 100 kilometers.
Heil is the superintendent of Blue Mound State Park and has been riding the hills in western Dane County for more than a decade. He drew his inspiration for the Horribly Hilly by joining in Greg Krystek's Abomination rides, the grueling tours that the Milwaukee-area cyclist maps out in southwestern Wisconsin.
Their goal has been to include at least 10,000 feet of climbing in a century, or a 100-mile ride.
"There's that desire, I think in a fairly large segment of the population, that wants to push themselves as hard as they can, that's looking for a challenge," Heil said. "Maybe it's a function of our society, work being less physical, they're really looking for a physical challenge to keep themselves in shape."
The rural landscape in Dane and Iowa counties also helps draw riders to Horribly Hilly. The roads twist and bend past farm fields, flower gardens and stands of timber.
"It's a beautiful part of the state to ride," said Jeff Luedtke, an engineer who completed the 124-mile test in 2005.
Luedtke is one of those cyclists who missed out on the 2006 registration, and is willing to pay a premium to get into the ride. He called the Horribly Hilly a "bragging point among cyclists."
If he can't find a seller for this year, Luedtke is determined to tackle the hills in 2007.
He plans to volunteer this year, helping out at the aid stations or wherever else he's needed, which will give him a preferred registration and a chance to test his endurance in 2007. |
