Well, the locals have carried out their threat of putting down loose pea gravel on part of the IM Wisc bike course. I just rode the loop this morning and Sugar River Road has been re-surfaced with the stuff. After turning right at the Valley Road stop sign it’s the short steep uphill and then a fast descent with some corners.
The short uphill was treacherous with slipping rear wheel and the descent was downright scary for anything over 12-15mph. Given that this is a relatively remote road I don’t foresee enough traffic for the week to really pack it down. Let’s hope there won’t be more of this being done in the next week. Be careful out there.
This certainly doesn’t bode well for relations between IMNA and the local communities who’ve been complaining about all the cyclists on the roads.
Why are people complaing about cyclists on the roads? Talk about something to rejoice over. God forbid this obese country has a few people putting out the effort to propel themselves down a road.
When you say “locals” do you mean a local governmental entity? If so, which entity has jurisdiction over that road and would be most likley to be responsible for this roadwork?
If you know, what is pea gravel legitimately used for in connection with roadwork?
wow great… can’t wait to ride out there and crash…assholes…what the hell is wrong with the “locals” I give up…these idiots just seem to complain about the bikes, painting signs on the road…geezz what next…oh boy dothey realize their goddamn cars do more pollution damage than a cyclilst will ever do?
Many of those roads are tar covered with pea gravel. That’s the road surface. Most county roads around IA are the same stuff. Once it gets packed down and rained on a few times you can’t tell it from crummy asphalt, and I’m sure it’s much cheaper.
There’s no excuse for the timing, however. No reason they couldn’t have waited a week. It can’t be that hard to schedule a couple dump trucks, a tar spraying truck, a big roller, and a few dudes. No question in my mind it is a deliberate attempt to disrupt the race.
and they usually do it earlier in the year since the sun and traffic bake and pound it into something that resembles asphalt when it’s done.
I am suspect of the timing too.
What a bunch of crap!
I’m sure they had a big smile on their faces when they laid this out there.
I can’t wait to spend my hard earned dollars in their lovely county.
I remember doing the Springfield Ironhorse down in Illinois every year, before that leptospirosis problem, and the county would invariably spray new tar down on some of the roads on the run course. It was always hotter than hell in early June, and the stuff got all over your shoes and legs and stuff.
Not sure but I’m guessing the town of Verona has jurisdiction over that part of the course or it could be the county since it’s out in the country so to speak.
There’s been some ongoing complaints from the locals (meaning citizens of Verona, Mt. Horeb, and Cross Plains, etc.) regarding too many cyclists and their lack of respect as in riding two abreast, not stopping at lights/stop signs, etc.
From what I understand, elected officials (town boards or whatever) and IMNA have had ongoing discussions regarding the situation. Needless to say, the pea gravel timing is a bit suspicious. I hope someone gets a roller out there this week or it will be a very dangerous section.
I read a similar post on trinewbies.com (FWIW) someone said that they did the same thing last year because that particular stretch of road was bad. They went on to say that the whatever loose gravel was not tamped down by traffic in the week or so it was down was then brushed off leaving a safer surface.
I know of the issues between the cyclist and the locals has been on going but I wouldn’t put too much stock in the conspiracy theories at this point.