At the end of the 2025 BCETS season, we (Brenda Limpert and Tim Tautges) were selected by the organizing committee as the most improved riders this season. We decided to write about our experience in BCETS...
What’s your biking story prior to this year’s BCETS?
Tim: I started road biking in college, then after a bunch of career and family stuff got back into biking around 2010. After being in BBC for a long time, I had confidence in my biking ability, and had done a handful of century rides in various places, but I hadn’t really ever pushed myself to see how strong I could get. In 2024, I started BCETS, but had to quit ⅓ of the way through due to a pinched nerve in my neck and back. Last winter, I don’t feel like I did anything differently biking-wise; I didn’t get my bike on the indoor trainer until January, and after that did the regular Wednesday night and Saturday morning BBC Zwift rides. One thing I did do over the winter though is a lot of cross country skiing and fat biking. That improved my overall conditioning, especially in my arms and upper body, and probably helped me avoid the neck and arm issues I had in 2024.
Brenda: I’ve always had a love for bikes. My first “real” bike was a 70’s era blue and white banana seat bike with streamers coming out of the handlebars. In my early 20s, I jumped head first (literally) into mountain biking on some of the most technical single track trails in lower Michigan and while I dabbled in road riding there, I much preferred the off-road variety of riding. When I moved to Wisconsin in 2000, I discovered Madison’s welcoming cycling community, growing bike infrastructure, and quiet rural roads; I was hooked on road riding. I did my first century in 2010 that traversed the roads west of Madison; I fell in love with the distance challenge but I wasn’t a huge fan of the hills. Fast forward to 2020 and several centuries later, I decided to embrace the “it’s a hill - get over it” mentality and, having heard about BCETS from other cycling friends, signed up for the experience. We all know what happened that year. In the years following, I had a few speed bumps and detours thrown at me but BCETS was always on my radar. Finally, in 2025, a friend (and BCETS alum) convinced me it was time to give BCETS another go.
Why do you think you improved so much during the 2025 BCETS season?
Tim: After having to drop out last season, my goal was to make it through the whole BCETS season this year. I focused on two things initially. First, I made it a priority to make it every Saturday no matter what. I know that’s not possible for lots of people, but I was able to arrange my schedule to make that happen this year. Looking back, I see how carefully the ride progression is designed over the course of the season, in distance, elevation, or both. That schedule kept me right on the upper end of my capabilities, so each week I was extending those capabilities a little more. Second, I made sure to ride at least once mid-week, and sometimes twice. That made it possible to do the long route every week, without completely blowing myself out for the following week. Later in the season I was even able to do some Sunday recovery rides, which I used to think sounded insane after a BCETS ride.
I remember from my partial BCETS season in 2024, riding up Mounds Park Road, and thinking how it seemed to go on forever. I was intimidated by that road as we approached week 6 this year, thinking how horrible it would be again. Riding up that road in week 6 this year was hard, but not as hard as Barlow and some of the other roads we’d done at that point. After the last hard BCETS ride, when we climbed that damn road twice, I now view it as maybe ⅔ up the scale of difficulty: long, steep in some sections but not the whole way, suitably horrible at the end of HHH, but otherwise not a big deal. I think after realizing in week 6 that Mounds Park Road wasn’t invincible, I knew the rest of the season would go ok for me.
Brenda: I truly embraced the “it’s a hill - get over it” mentality and took it as a challenge. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that if a challenge is placed in front of me, I’ll give it my all. I approached each training ride as a challenge event. For me, that meant prepping for a Saturday ride (specific nutrition and hydration plans) 48 hours ahead of time and keeping my schedule as consistent as possible (other rides, physical activities, sleep schedule etc.) in order to get the most out of each training ride. During the training rides themselves, I paid attention to how my legs, heart, lungs, and mind reacted to the hills and learned which changes helped and which ones didn’t. Each training ride also offered insight on how temps and humidity impacted my efforts and of course, what certain maximum grades felt like; I soon learned to love the hills.
How has the biking season gone since BCETS finished?
Tim: This year I’ve had a lot of free time to spend on the bike, and I’m finally in the condition where I can do all of the long Sunday routes. So I’ve been doing those almost every week. The success I had pushing myself in BCETS has given me confidence to keep pushing my fitness envelope since then. I did the long routes on a few of the weekends when it was blazing hot (over 90 degrees), and learned how to moderate my effort when conditions are like that. I rode centuries two weekends in a row (RAW and the Freedom Century) and didn’t have any trouble with those. The culmination of all this work was riding the 200k route (with 9950 ft elevation gain) on Dairyland Dare. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to pull that off, but my BCETS experience taught me how to approach it, with good nutrition beforehand, careful pacing through the ride, and how to talk myself through those times during the ride when everything felt bleak. That convinced me to set a goal to ride the 200k HHH route next year.
Brenda: Since BCETS, I tried to keep up with higher elevation gain rides (3,000+ ft) so I wouldn’t lose conditioning but I enjoyed some flatter rides with my other cycling groups that focused more on distance than climbing. In early August, I rode the Dairyland Dare 100K route that had about 5,000 ft of elevation gain and I have to say that the comparable BCETS rides were much more challenging (or BCETS prepared me so well, that it just felt easier). Having great success with BCETS this year, I’ve set a goal for 2026 to do the HHH (distance to be determined).
What advice would you give to others considering participating in BCETS or a cycling challenge event?
Tim: I’d say don’t write off your ability to do something that seems impossible for you at first. Find a program, or come up with a plan, to work up to the challenge, doing workouts that keep you on the edge of your fitness range but not past it. Not only does that build the physical conditioning you’ll need; but just as important, it teaches you all sorts of important things: how much time you need to get in the rhythm of a ride, what works best for you nutrition-wise, how to get through cramping or other physical impediments that get in the way of finishing your ride, etc. The other thing I’d remind everyone is that the only person they need to care about comparing themselves to is themselves. If BCETS is too much of a stretch goal for you, that’s totally fine, but again, don’t sell yourself short in what you think is possible. And, don’t worry about going as far or as fast as someone else; focus on what your personal goal is and try to achieve that.
Brenda: Don’t focus on the mountain (literally or figuratively). Instead, set small, achievable goals with a focus on progress and insight. Take notes, listen to your body, ignore “monkey mind” (that voice in your head that tells you that you can’t do something), and enjoy rest days. Find a community that supports your goals. Ride with people who will challenge you. Ride with people who will make you sweat, grimace, smile, laugh. The mileage and elevation gain is more enjoyable with friends. So, set a goal and see what you can do; you can always adjust things along the way. And remember, your goal is your goal - no one else’s - so own it but most of all, enjoy it.
Did completing the BCETS program help you other aspects of your lives?
Tim: I think any time you push yourself to your limit, you learn all sorts of things about yourself, and gain experience managing challenges like that. That means different things to different people though. For me, it's meant being able to approach the next challenge without it being overly intimidating, and learning how to back off a little bit if the challenge is too much, instead of completely quitting. Those skills are definitely applicable to other areas of life.
Brenda: Completing BCETS reminded me how important it is to step outside my comfort zone—I believe that’s when real growth happens. It also reinforced the power of simply showing up. By pushing myself beyond what I believed was possible, I gained valuable skills that now serve as motivation when I face new challenges. Learning to approach obstacles with a mindset of “how can I conquer this?” rather than losing to perceived limitations has become a powerful tool I can apply across many areas of life.