I spent this past weekend in flood-ravaged Wisconsin where a week of torrential rains had left much of the southern part of the state underwater. It was time for the annual Horribly Hill Hundred(HHH) and luckily for Midwest cycling fanatics, the roads for the event had somehow escaped Nature's wrath. The HHH is a super-popular organized bike ride which takes in a lot of steep hills just west of Madison. When race registration opens on active.com in February, the event fills its field of 1700 riders in about two hours.

OK, so I went to graduate school at University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned masters degrees in Food Science and Computer Science and served as president of the local racing club, The Two-Tyred Wheelmen, for several years, but imagine my surprise when I opened my ride packet and found my event number was 4 (four). How did I rate such a low start number? Thanks go to the folks at Saris Cycling. You know them as the people who bring you such great products as CycleOps trainers, Power Tap hubs and a whole host of bicycle racks for cars.

As part of the working cycling media, the Saris Cycling Group invited a number of journalists for a weekend of new product launches, bike riding and brat eating(this is Wisconsin after all). For 2009, Saris will have a really cool new line of trainers featuring both fluid and magnetic resistance and even a high end unit which measures power. Also new for 2009 the Power Tap line will be completely wireless with the top end hub featuring ceramic bearings. Power Tap hubs will be compatible with the Garmin 705 GPS unit as both use the ANT wireless transmission protocol now making its way into the public domain.

Checking out the latest products is cool, riding bikes is pretty fun as well which brings us back to the Horribly Hilly Hundred. I usually don't wear an event number when I do organized rides, but when you have number 4 out of a field of 1700, you gotta milk the opportunity so out came the safety pins. Several people wondered if I was a celebrity, which in my mind there is no doubt; others wondered if I had done something special on my bike something which seems to occur to me almost on a daily basis.

All kidding aside, it was great to be back in the Madison area enjoying the roads which originally kindled my interest in cycling and sharing that experience with both old and new friends not to mention those post-race brats. With hills as steep as 19% and many in the 14-17% range, the HHH is aptly named, but hey, I somehow survived. I had to. I had number 4 on my back and single digits carry added responsibilities.

Bruce