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| Woo, this looks like fun! (Image source: Ride With GPS) |
I had heard about Dairy Roubaix (DR) for the first time in an article about the boom in gravel riding in Wisconsin. The ride was advertised as one of the best in the region. The start of the ride is about 100 miles from Madison, though. I generally dislike rides I have to drive to, and so I wasn't really planning on doing the DR. Having met the awesome folks of Madison Bike Winter, though, I was convinced that the ride was totally worth it—beautiful scenery, the possibility to stay in bunk beds at the start of the ride, and a great atmosphere/party. So when registration opened a couple days ago, I just signed up for the 107 mile (172 km) route. It's not quite clear yet how I'm going to get to Wyalusing and back, but I'm sure I'll make it work somehow.
Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin River, the ride is quite hilly, has a bunch of gravel riding, and there are almost no services along the route. This raises the question of which bike to use. Partly this is probably going to depend on the weather conditions. In mid-April there could be pretty much anything between snow and blazing sun. In the best of cases, I'd love to have finished my Gunnar 650B conversion. I have watched some videos of the course, and the gravel roads don't seem to be too rough. So while it would be possible to ride the Gunnar in its current configuration with 25-millimeter-wide tires, having 32 or 38 mm tires would be even better. If this doesn't work out, I'll have to put the gears back on Wolfgang the Cross-Check, which currently is in fixed winter mode. The ride certainly would be harder that way, but it's not like I haven't done similar things on Wolfgang. So either way I should have a good time!
All relevant info can be found on the official event homepage.
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