It's funny you should ask this. I worked HARD to get the people in Madison who are trying to get a piece of the Olympics in our area to consider including Blue Mounds for the bike road events, but was shut out completely. The reason? They said it "was too far from Chicago". What a load of bunk! They should come out here and count the number of Illinois plates pulling into Blue Mound State Park every weekend! I also tried on several occasions to contact the people in Chicago who are putting the Olympic bid together but got no reply. I didn't watch much of the Beijing Olympics (I prefer the winter events), but I thought I heard that one event was held several hundred miles from Beijing. If they can do that, then Chicago should certainly consider Blue Mounds for the road rides. Besides, we have people flying in from all over the country for the Horribly Hilly because it's so challenging. Sounds like a perfect Olympic venue to me! It's too bad both cities are so selfish and short-sighted.

About a billion$ in hotel revenue, rental car rents, cheese curd sales, brat sales, sales in Aaron Rogers jerseys, Stuffed Bucky Badger beanies- about $2 billion in drunk driving fines (just from the increase in the locals competing with world class drinkers from other nations other than Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan!), about 2.7M tons of trash, & the decathalon! If there was ever a place where people had to jump hurdles, race to stay ahead, vault over obstacles, be a straight shooter, and swim like something that is going to eat you is behind you (like a muskie!) this would be the place! wonder how fast them Frenchies would have swum if they were in Monona or Mendota with a muskie on their butts!

I think some of the biking would be held out in my area, since we host the Horribly Hilly Hundreds out here and it has one of the largest vertical climbs of all Midwest Bike Rides up through the valleys and then to Blue Mound State Park.