I started from Waukesha yesterday under bright blue skies with little wind. My first lesson of the day was that hotel maps are only good for finding things the hotel wants you to find, even if the bike trail is on there. I also learned that Wisconsin isn't great about posting street names. So it took a while, and one dog poopy stop, before we made our way to the trail head for the Glacier Drumlin Trail. I was supposed to have taken the Fox River Trail part of the way to get to it, but that didn't happen because of the hotel map. As I was riding, I got a phone call from Tayler, who had taken off in the car on her way to Madison. She had heard from the hotel, where I had left my card when checking out. Sheesh! She turned around, picked it up, and delivered it to me right before I got onto the trail.
The Glacier Drumlin Trail out of Waukesha is a lloonngg, steady, uphill grade - those trains, you know, that used to use these routes, couldn't go up and down quickly. Most of it was fine, except when I came out on an exposed ridge and realized that it was pretty windy. Nevertheless, I continued on to Dourson without much difficulty or mishap. Remy and I had a nice stop in Dourson, including snacks and water for both of us and nice conversation with a skater who had been on the trail.
Spirits risen and ready for the next leg, we mounted up and started across the street and back onto the trail, only to discover that this was where the crushed limestone started. I thought, "Okay. I don't know how far this goes, but how bad can it be?" The surface reduced my speed by about 2 mph on the flat. When I encountered the wind or a rise in grade, quite a bit more. After only a few miles (which seemed like more), I contacted friend Sloth for encouragement. Since he has many bicycling friends in Wisconsin, he found me an alternate route on roads. This was an area that he, himself, had not ridden, however.
After walking about a mile on the trail while Sloth did his checking, Remy and I began riding north on County Road D. The paved shoulder was only about 18" wide. There was crushed limestone shoulder beyond that, but it was uneven and certainly no better than the trail I had just been on. The upside was that it was much easier pedaling on the smooth road surface. The downside was that the wind was strong out of the west, creating a challenge to staying in the 18" area. There was little traffic, but what there was was mostly trucks, from pick-up to semi. One semi that passed caused Remy to nearly jump out of his basket. (He can't because he's buckled in, but the action is sort of like that of a person standing in a canoe.) I calmed him while continuing to ride, but the buffeting of the wind and his fear combined to bring me to a difficult decision. When we reached County Road B, on which we were to turn W, directly into the 18 mph wind on another road with 18" paved shoulder, I called Tayler to come and get us.
I felt a bit of a wussy, but I knew we couldn't do 20 more miles of that, and we all really wanted to stay in Madison last night. When we drove into Madison, we passed through Johnson Creek, the town I had originally thought I'd make it to on Monday (!), and I guess we could have stayed there; but I'm glad we got to Madison. We ate at a place downtown in view of the Capitol called Graze, with very interesting fare. I had bibimbop, which was spicy and delicious, but which I'm still experiencing this morning. Since it's still quite early, though, I don't think it will affect today's ride.
I haven't had a chance to check maps and conditions yet for today, but I hope to make it most of the way to the trail that runs from Reedsburg to La Crosse. If I remember correctly from talking with Nathan at the South Side Cyclery, that trail is 102 miles long, which will take me 2 days. If I can get to Reedsburg today, that's 3 days to La Crosse.
On a completely different note, today is the birthday of Alice Merlin Peterson, my beautiful and accomplished daughter #1. She is 29 years old today. I celebrate these wonderful years of having her in my life and all that I have learned from her. Happy Birthday, Alice!
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