Saturday, July 13, 2013
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.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Ride Day 121
Today was Frontenac State Park to La Crosse Wisconsin 92 miles and a couple thousand feet of rolling hills in bright hot sun with light wind and light traffic. I started my day at the same cafe as yesterday's dinner. They were all very friendly and had apparently been talking about me since everyone in there was pumping me with informed questions. I enjoyed their candor and they were just curious about this stranger in their cafe. I managed to get my breakfast in and hit the road. The ride went fine at first. I met another rider, Mike, that was doing a ride for charity with his wife in a support vehicle. He was fun to talk to. Almost immediately after I got back rolling I got a flat tire from a shredded piece of steel belted radial tire. The fine wire they use for the steel belt is a perfect ballon tire popper. I very carefully changed the tire so that I could line the leak up with the wheel to find the cause of the flat. I found the wire and pulled it out with my pliers, then I carefully checked the rest of the tire and found nothing so I put a new tube in and was off. 10 minutes later, I got another flat. Same routine with the same result. This time I turned the tire inside out to look for more wire pieces but found none. I installed my last tube and was off again but my get up and go had gotten up and left. I was feeling as flat as those tires and was lacking energy to ride. I stopped at a McD to do some internet and cool down. I could not get on the net. I got pissed off and climbed on my bike again. I rode hard for a bit but then I melted again from the heat. I ran into another biker that told me about a detour ahead and guided me around it. There was only one problem, it involved riding 3 miles on the interstate. I took off and it was a disaster. The interstate was funneled down to one lane with no shoulder and lots of construction going on, no room for a bike at all. I tried walking my bike along the shoulder and a MHP officer stopped to ticket me. I pleaded ignorance with him and he let me go after a long discussion about bikes on interstates. He told me bikes were never allowed on interstates and I pointed out that actually they are in many states and that I had just ridden from Missoula Montana to Fargo North Dakota. He escorted me off the freeway in the end with a warning. A few miles later I was in Wisconsin so it makes no difference. I was seriously deflated now so I stopped in La Crosse and ate a big lunch but after eating I just could not ride anymore. After looking around for a campsite I gave in to a cheap hotel yet again. After resting I went out looking for a tire and some more tubes but struck out after a few bike shops. Guess I need to get them when I arrive in Madison next week. Tomorrow I hope to ride bike paths toward Madison which should take me a couple of days since it is just under 200 miles. Pics later cause this wifi sucks...
Ride Day 120
Yesterday was a rest day for me due to heavy thundershowers but today I got an early start after breakfast at the hotel. I rode from Buffalo to Frontenac State Park 109 miles and a lot of rolling hills to climb but nothing major until I arrived at the park. The ride was on a divided highway all the way into downtown Twin Cities where I realized that winter is over so it must be road construction season. There were detours all over the place and I almost got lost. I still knew generally where I was but I did not know the best route to get through the city. I met a friendly biker that rode up to me and asked me where I was going. We started talking and as we talked he guided me to one of the cities bike paths that crisscross the city. I thanked him for the help and wished him good luck and his son good luck too since he is going to Bozeman State in Montana next year. I told him how much I liked Montana and how bike friendly the state was. Once on the bike path I cruised over to the river and turned right to follow it south to the airport where I veered off to go down highway 52 and 55 in the direction of La Crosse Wisconsin. The ride got really warm later in the day mostly because I was riding out in the bright sun and was getting cooked. I stopped for lunch at a little café just before going to the park. I ordered a half chicken meal. The chicken was a bit dry but there was plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy to get it down. When I finished eating that, I ordered a rootbeer float and some dessert. I heard a loud groan of disbelief from the people in the café. They were shocked at how much I was eating. The truth is I had just eaten a double quarter pounder and a fish sandwich less than 2 hours earlier and I would eat two more meals before the day was over. I started talking to the people in the café then about the calorie burn I have and they started to quiz me about my ride. The usual shocked looks and comments about the crazy guy riding that far ensued. We all had a good time in the end and the waitress totally filled my float glass up with ice cream and gave me the rootbeer in a glass on the side telling me they usually only put one scoop in a float but she wanted to make sure I got enough calories in. We all laughed and I gobbled it quickly before leaving for the park. I had thought the park was going to be an easy one mile ride so I turned off my gps at the café to start charging it for tomorrow. It was actually several miles of riding to get to my campsite including a steep monster hill just before the campsites. I spun up the hill even though my legs were starting to get a bit weak after the hard days ride. Then I went straight to the showers. When I came out there was a retired couple there waiting for me. They wanted to tell me they watched me come up the hill and they were stunned that I made it look easy. They didn’t think anybody would ever be able to climb the long steep hill without a single rest or anything and to not look tired at the top. They were impressed and kind of excited. I told them I just came from the mountains where I spent a couple months riding in mountains all day every day and that seemed to make them understand better. I was feeling good with all the praise about my riding strength and I ended up going for about a 15 mile ride around all the park trails before I put my tent up. The park is right on the Mississippi River and the bluffs were good to look at with eagles soaring up and down the river and boats both sail and power running all around the river. I enjoyed the ride. I should sleep well tonight as long as I don’t start to cramp up. More later… 
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