Have you ever done the Marji before? Everything I’ve heard about that race makes it sound grueling to the point of masochistic …
The Madeira/Hyde Park Blast crits are back this year in Ohio
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I’m signed up for the Rough Road 100, Lutsen 99er, and Chequamegon 40 so far. I’d like to maybe add one more longer race, perhaps the Iron Bull in Wausau, WI.
Otherwise, I’ll fill out the schedule with WORS mountain bike races this summer and WI CX in the fall.
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Hold up… WHAT IS THE MIDWEST? The term “midwest” needs to be out right banned. “Central Great Lakes Area”, “North Central”, and “Fed Reg 7” are acceptable. “Central Plains” once you get away from the Lakes. “Mid-South” when you’re in Arkansas/TN/KY.
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I guess I’ve never dove too much into it, but when I just listed them in my head, I came up with the Census Region definition.
The 531 survey is wacky. Only 81% of people thought Illinois was in the midwest? And that was the highest percentage? Huh? Less than 70% said Wisconsin was Midwest? What?
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If you fat bike, Fat Bike Birkie is also like Cheq40 where it’s analogous to a road race on rolling, unpaved terrain. I think some of the same trails are used too.
LOL…had a similar reaction to some of the states mentioned in this thread as being “midwest”.
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Dude, people put OK in the Midwest. If you’re in OK and you think you’re in the Midwest, you think the Midwest is the plains states -mountains to Mississippi. Illinois is more of a Plains state than AK or MO, but what does it matter?
Wait, what? The mid west is more or less in the east of your country?
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The term dates back to Jeffersonian times (early 1800’s) when we knew very little about the size and scope of the country.
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I work alongside an organization that says “Midwest is anything that doesn’t touch an ocean”. Ridiculous!
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Its a diagnosis through exclusion. Not the east coast, not the south, not the west? Thats the midwest.
If you are unsure, check for humidity and mosquitos. If they are not there you went to far west.
If the hills start looking more like mountains or the bodies of water get salty, you went to far east or west.
If the flags start to turn from big10 to sec, you went to far south.
If guards turn you away in a very polite yet insistent way, you went to far north.
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Culturally, the Midwest = Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa and sometimes Missouri (St. Louis is a Midwest city, but the rest of Missouri is 50/50)
Geographically it’s larger, and could include the Dakotas, potentially Nebraska, but definitely not Oklahoma. I think of all of those as the Great Plains States.
Chicago is the capitol of the Midwest. Detroit is the alcoholic uncle who still takes pride in being more put together than Cleveland… Minneapolis is the younger brother with an inferiority complex. Indianapolis and Milwaukee don’t get into family politics. We invite St. Louis over for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not for summer barbecues. Columbus just wants everyone to knows it’s much cooler than Cincinnati. Cincinnati feels like it was born in the wrong family and stares longingly across the river at Kentucky and wonders what might have been …
Michigan is the most beautiful state (minus Detroit), but Wisconsin thinks that’s bullshit. No one knows what’s in Illinois besides Chicago. Indiana plays basketball, Ohio plays football, Minnesota plays hockey. No one goes to Iowa unless you were born there. Missouri has hills but not mountains and isn’t cold enough, warm enough, wet enough or big enough to be really interesting, be we like it anyway.
This is all unofficial, by the way. I’m not with the census bureau.
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Confirmed.
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I have. Twice. In 2019 I dropped out at about mile 40. It was super hot that day and I overheated. I finished the 50 last year. All 62 miles of it. The last 15 miles are no joke. I seek out super technical trails but walked a lot of sections. I would’ve ridden most of it normally but 47 miles in was gassed so I played it safe.
It’s very grueling but extremely rewarding. I can’t wait to do it again 
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If I may ask, what would you recommend for tires for the course? Wide? Narrow? Slicks? Knobby?
I ran a Maxxis Minion DHF 29x2.6 up front and a Rekon 29x2.4 in the back, both with the EXO casing. The DHF isn’t a great rolling tire but for me the extra traction was worth it. No matter what tire you use make sure it’s fairly puncture resistant. There’s lots of sharp rocks on the course.
The Marji Gesick Talk group on FB has tons of great advice and is very welcoming.
Assuming you’re asking about Barry Roubaix…I ran 40c Maxxis Velocitas. So basically a high volume slick. There was a 2-3mile section of road that had probably 5 sandy section that unless you were in the front of the group you were probably running through. So though it’s a section that stands out in everyone’s mind your tire selection won’t matter unless you’re in the first 30-40 people. Besides that it was all pretty tame gravel roads. I live in Ann Arbor and the roads there were exactly like what’s around here. Basically just dirt roads with the occasional washboard. There is enough pavement that I wouldn’t go too knobby but it’s still 80% dirt road so you’ll want some volume to soak up the bumps.
It’s called Sager Rd. … say it with respect 
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Ha yeah I couldn’t remember exactly how it was spelled so I didn’t want to butcher it. I was lucky to be toward the front so I didn’t get caught in the shit show that I imagine it was right behind me.