Longtime Slowtwitcher Gary Geiger is a native Wisconsin and a great photographer. We wish we could get his photos more than we do, but we're grateful to get them when we can. We have them now, of Ironman Wisconsin recently concluded. Thanks for the pics, Gary!

I don't know who this is for certain, but it looks an awful lot like Germany's Stefan Schmidt, who I know rides a Scott Plasma. Stefan finished 5th in 8:34.

Here's another Plasma rider, who finished a little higher up in the standings. Aussie Luke McKenzie won the race and probably would have had the fastest ride of the day. But Starky was there!

Sam Long is a Colorado-based pro who was steady throughout, finishing 8th in 8:54.

Ironman Wisconsin is a popular race!

The swim for this race takes place in Lake Monona. The name is Chippewa. "The legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down..." (But that's a different lake.)

Speaking of Starky, here is Andrew Starykowicz, and the fact that he only beat Luke McKenzie's bike split by 7 minutes is kind of notable, even though Luke is one of the world's great cycling triathletes. That's how hard Starky rides the bike. Went went wrong, Starky!

Steve Morris won the 25-29 in 9:35, with the 2nd swim, 2nd bike and 3rd run in his AG. He obviously trains his weakness (to the point where he has no weakness).

I don't know how big Jon Luurtsema is, but he looks pretty big. His size doesn't make him slow. Jon finished in 10:25, good for 2nd in the 50-54 with the 2nd best run and bike splits.

Here is Patrick Brady, with a bike split that was 4-something, which tells you how fast he is; and a run split of 4-something, which tells you Patrick did not have near the day he is capable of having.

The prior mentioned Patrick Brady is a Wisconsin speedster. The other Wisconsin speedster is Blake Becker and if you live in Madison you're probably coached by Blake or you ride with his peeps or in some way interface with the person who is probably Madison's preeminent triathlon personality. Hinkey bike fit critics: Don't give Blake a hard time. Yes, he looks like he's sitting rearward, with a big shoulder angle, but I happen to know how Blake rides his bike and this pic is not indicative of it. So lay off Blake!

Madison is the capital of Wisconsin. There is a lot of fight to be had out on the race course. A lot of tears, a lot of blood, a lot of angst and sturm und drang. Local Wisconsonites know that there's all of that going on inside this Capital building as well.

TJ Tollakson got 2nd in 8:28. For a hard charging businessman it's impressive how TJ manages to continue to charge hard on the race course. While I would use Tri Bike Transport to ship my bike, I promise you TJ does not.

Here again is Starky, who in odd years crushes the field in triathlon and in even years gets crushed by commercial trucks (Starky almost died last year after getting hit and run over). This being an odd year, he got 4th on the day. But about that truck incident, I heard that before he went to the hospital he got up and smashed it right in the grill with his fist, sending it to the scrapyard).

When Ironman athletes vote about their races, this one, Ironman Wisconsin, places in the top-10 in every category: the course, the atmosphere, the support. Hang out on the course on race day and you can see a little bit why.

Ironman is a hard business.

Gary took a picture of Luke breaking the tape for his win in 8:17. But I liked this pic better.