Ride Day 122

La Crosse WI to Mirror Lake just north of Baraboo WI 106 miles along bike paths for 90% of the day with bright hot sunny weather and a slight headwind. The day started with me missing a turn when I was looking for the bike path. It isn’t my fault entirely since there was no street sign but I could have used my Garmin to find out the names of the streets. It is really irritating when there are no street signs. I eventually found the path after three different people all gave me wrong directions. Once on the path, I just breezed along on the crushed rock paths. There were not that many people using the paths until I got to the area where there are three long old train tunnels that you walk your bike through. The tunnels are pitch black dark inside with water dripping all over the place. The good thing was that they were very cool inside so I got a break from the hot humid weather. Pedaling on the crushed rock I lost 2 or 3 mph on my speed and at the end of the day I could feel the extra effort that it took to ride on the softer surface. The path was mostly a shady tree covered tunnel with areas of open swamp here and there. Lots of bugs in my eyes, nose mouth ears etc. I took my shirt off to get some sun and cool down and it felt like I was getting a dermal peel with a sand blaster. The bugs in the eyes were the most irritating because they were hard to get out. I almost ran over a snake. I stopped just short of it and got off my bike to look at it and take its pic. He was rattling his tail in his best imitation of a rattle snake and curling his body into a strike pose but in the end he was just bluffing because when I picked him up he just curled around my arm and was very comfortable. I moved it away from the path and moved on. I saw another snake ahead of me a few minutes later but this one took off at high speed and I never got a look at it to identify it but my guess is it had to be a racer. I stopped for lunch at Lil’s Corner but it was closed. As I was walking away the bartender came out to ask me what I wanted and when I told him I was looking to eat some lunch he said come on in. He was friendly and helpful. I enjoyed my lunch with a couple rootbeers and was off again. I stopped in Reedsburg for my next meal at a bar again. I like that the bars all sell food, I wish California would get that together and sell food at all the bars also. I enjoyed talking to the patrons in the Reedsburg Bar while I ate my meal and had a beer. The bartender was helpful. She looked up campgrounds on her cell phone for me. I was thankful for the information. All the hotels and campgrounds were full because there is a girl’s softball tournament going on in the area. The state park saves space for bikes and that was my only saving grace other than camping on the sly somewhere. The only problem was the distance to get to the park after riding all day. It was not so hard though. I enjoyed my day and took the riding at an easy pace all day. Tomorrow I get to Madison where I will stay with my cousin for a night. I love Madison so I am looking forward to getting there. Plus my bike needs work and a tire which I can get in the Mad City. More later.