Some big rides planned!

Hey Biker Dan fans! It might be the middle of winter, but there is no rest for the retired and obsessed.

Skiing at Stratton on January 2, 2024

I’m still riding as often as my schedule, road conditions, and skiing will allow. As a practical matter, I have ridden only five times so far in 2024, including today (low 50’s and all the ice is gone). I would have liked to have ridden the last few days, but there has been too much snow and ice on the roads and shoulders. I’m comfortable riding down to about 10 or 12°, but black ice scares the hell out of me.

Riding in Carlisle, MA, on January 14, 2024.

I have also been skiing quite a bit (9 days so far), mostly by myself, but also 4 days with daughter Ronia. My Ikon pass is giving me my money’s worth! I try to go at least once every week, but never on weekends. Although we have very little natural snow, the skiing has not been bad. Just make sure your edges are sharp!

With Ronia at Sunday River, Maine, on Christmas Day, 2023

Physically, I have once again been feeling fairly decrepit, although there are good days, and I am mostly able to stay active. About 6 weeks after returning home from my Michigan bike tour in mid-September, I had an acute flare-up of lower back pain, which has been diagnosed as spinal stenosis. This is not surprising, since I have had this sort of pain for decades, and it is what kept my father from walking the last several years of his life.

I started with physical therapy, which at first was miraculous. However, I stopped going too soon, although I tried to be diligent about doing the exercises, and I regressed. So now I’m back to PT. It absolutely helps! Along with that, I find that the more active I am, the less stiff I feel. It’s worse when I get up in the morning or sit for a while, but it eases as I start to move around. In addition to PT and exercises, I’ve been trying to go to the gym for CrossFit and other classes. And although Ernie is no longer with us, I frequently go on long walks. The best news is that it never hurts when I ride. It turns out that the riding posture is good for the ailment.

The second best news is that I have been able to ski. I wear a weightlifter’s belt while skiing, which helps tremendously. Some days when I ski, my back feels better at the end of the day than it did at the beginning. I also try to do a lot of stretching before, during and after my ski day.

But enough about that! I’m writing as Biker Dan, not Skier Dan.

I have three big rides lined up in the next several months!

1. In June, with my good friend Jerry (who has been mentioned frequently in my ride blogs) and 2,000 other riders, I will be doing an organized ride called Ride the Rockies. This entails 400 miles over 6 days in northwest Colorado.

This is a Sherpa ride. In other words, I do not have to carry my own luggage. Instead, a luggage service will transport our bags from one hotel to the next. Instead of being like my normal bike tours, where I carry everything with me, this will be like six consecutive day rides – no luggage or panniers, and I will be able to wear my contact lenses. I am very excited!

We could have chosen to camp in each of the towns, but we’re going to go the lux route, and share a hotel room. The ride begins in Steamboat Springs, CO, and concludes in Fruita (where I actually stayed overnight during my ride across the country five years ago).

2. My next big ride will be the first weekend in August, when, after a 5-year hiatus, I will be participating in the actual PMC weekend. The Pan Mass Challenge is a charity bike ride to raise money for cancer research. This will be my 19th consecutive year, although I have not ridden the actual PMC weekend since the year before my 2019 ride across the country. It should be great fun!

This will be a 2-day ride. On Saturday, we ride (several thousand strong) 112 miles from Sturbridge, MA, to the Mass Maritime Academy on the ocean in Bourne, MA, where there is a huge and wonderful party. I will be staying in a dorm room. On Sunday, we start before the sun rises, riding out to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Code. If the weather cooperates, it is a magical ride. If not, it is still magical, but miserable as well. I will begin my PMC fundraising later this spring. If you want to get a head start, go to PMC.org to donate. 

3. The final big ride I currently have planned is another solo bike tour, this one to Key West, Florida. However, I’m not going to ride the whole way there and back. My plan is to leave about the middle of October to drive to southwest Florida. There I have several options for where to leave my car (including on Sanibel Island) for the 3 weeks it will take me to ride across the Everglades, down to Key West, and back. Then I will drive home. My overriding goals are to ride the ocean bridges to Key West, drink where Hemingway drank, avoid hurricanes, and be home in time for Thanksgiving with Jennifer.

Key West Route

That’s it for now! I will update you as things come up.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 36: Michigan City, IN

Finished!

• Friday, September 8, 2023
• Michigan City, IN
• Lodging: drive to Comfort Inn, Toledo, OH
• Miles: 34.7 @ 9.7 mph
• Total  Miles: 1,287
• Vertical (from Strava): 346′
• Start: 10:15am. 63°, cloudy, spitting rain.
• End: 3:58pm. 67°, overcast.
• Elapsed time: 5:43 (includes lunch)

I finished! What a great last day for a great ride!

As with the last several days, it was incredibly flat!

Look, ma! No hills!

The weather was a little pissy when I started riding, but the precipitation soon stopped, and although was forecast to restart, it never did. It was overcast all day, and breezy, 65° to 72°, but not uncomfortable.

Much of the day was spent on bike paths. Before lunch, it was the paved Oak Savannah and Prairie Duneland Trails, for 15 miles.

Back on the bike path this morning.

Riding underneath the road home!

Lunch was just off the path at Val’s Famous Pizza & Grinders in Porter, IN. I had a large and tasty veggie grinder.

Val’s Famous Pizza & Grinders in Porter, IN.

Veggie grinder at Val’s.

After lunch, it was the unpaved Calumet Trail for another 9 miles. This was by far the roughest and most difficult dirt trail of the trip. It had lots of big puddles, left over from the overnight rain. At first I was concerned that perhaps the mud would clog up my wheels & fenders, as happened on the Day from Hell (see) on my cross-country ride four years ago. But the mud was not at all sticky, the bike stayed clean, and I rolled right through the water.

The Calumet Trail.

The Calumet Trail skirted the actual dunes in the Indiana Dunes National Park. I could have turned left on any number of roads or trails to get to the dunes, but at this point I was ready to get back to the car. I’ve seen and walked on plenty of dunes this trip.

The day, and the trip, ended uneventfully back at my car, parked in Tom’s driveway. The key was still there and it worked, and when I started the car, it started right up.

I arrived at the car at 4:00. I was unpacked, had the car loaded, changed clothes, used the bathroom, retrieved a couple of Diet Cokes that Tom had left for me in the refrigerator, and started driving at 4:45. It took a half mile or so for the car to run smoothly and quietly, but now it runs great.

Back at the car.

I drove about 200 miles to Toledo before stopping at a Comfort Inn. Tomorrow I will be in Williamsport.

We’ve had a change in plans regarding Knoebels Grove due to the weather forecast for Sunday. So the family is going to Knoebels tomorrow, Saturday. It’s about 400 miles from here. I hope to get an early start tomorrow and meet them there. We’ll see how that goes.

It is not too late to donate to support cancer research at http://www.pmc.org (search for my name). All my donors will receive the ride report, as soon as I complete it. (You can also just ask for a copy, and I’ll be happy to send it to you.)

Thanks for following along.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 35: Comfort Inn, Hobart, IN

The Chicago skyline.

• Thursday, September 7, 2023
• Hobart, IN
• Lodging: Comfort Inn
• Miles: 50.4 @ 10.9 mph
• Total  Miles: 1,252.3
• Vertical (from Strava): 524′
• Start: 9:01am. 67°, overcast.
• End: 4:46pm. 70°, overcast.
• Elapsed time: 7:45 (includes lunch and much dawdling)

Before talking about today, the penultimate day of this ride (long time readers of my stuff know I love that word), here are a few words about yesterday, my day off in Chicago.

It was a good day off! I resolved a major problem with a prescription refill, went to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play, and had a nice 5-mile long walk across Chicago, from Wrigley Field back to Shaina’s house.

The Cubs beat the Giants, 8 to 2

Today was a really great day! I got an early start from Shaina and Sebastian’s house, starting to ride at about 9:00am, having had reheated deep dish pizza for breakfast. That was a treat!

I had created a route using RideWithGPS, which I reviewed with Sebastian and Shaina. He made some alternate suggestions, which in the actuality worked out really well. It was about 2.5 miles from their house to the lakeside bike path. It was easy and not at all scary.

I was on the Lakefront bike path for 14 fascinating miles, including a side loop around the Navy Pier. The wind was howling, and the waves were crashing! It was all very exciting!

Out near the end of the Navy Pier. Notice the flags standing straight in the background.

The Chicago skyline looking north.

The Chicago skyline from further south.

Then there were a few miles navigating over surface roads, again, not scary. Most of them had painted bike lanes.

After that, it was almost all bike paths the rest of the way. There was a half a mile or so from one path to the next, but mostly it was off the roads.

Finally! A proper state line marker.

Riding atop a dike next to the Little Calumet River.

Did I mention it was tabletop flat? The only hills of note were highway overpasses.

I love that elevation profile.

Also, the wind was out of the north, and I was heading mostly south. This meant that I had great tailwinds most of the day. Some of the bike paths meandered, and I would realize that the tailwind had converted to a headwind. If I looked at my compass (the Wahoo has a real time compass indicator), it correlated every time.

Knowing this is my last big day, and it being so pleasant to ride, I dawdled, stopping frequently at interesting spots. But all that said, I was very happy to reach the hotel, a Comfort Inn in Hobart, Indiana.

Tomorrow is my last day! I have a 30 mile day to Michigan City, where my car is still parked. I expect to get there by early afternoon, and start driving to Williamsport shortly thereafter.

My fundraising has gone well. About a week ago, I reached my goal of $17,000. However, there is never enough money for cancer research.

If you have not yet donated, and would like to do so, please go to pmc.org and click on the red donate button.

Thank you in advance.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 33: Shaina & Sebastian’s house, Chicago, IL

With Cousin Shaina in Chicago!

• Tuesday, September 5, 2023
• Chicago, IL
• Lodging: Shaina & Sebastian’s house
• Miles: 45.6
• Total  Miles: 1,201.9
• Vertical (from Strava): 472′
• Start: 7:55am. 75°, sunny.
• End: 3:00pm. 89°. Theater on the Lake, to wait for Shaina. 4:37pm at Shaina’s house.
• Elapsed time: 8:43 (including lunch & hour plus early arrival to meet Shaina)

I’m in Chicago! It was a fairly long and warm day, but it was mostly downhill and pleasant riding.

The elevation profile at the bottom tells the story.

The plan was to meet cousin Shaina at around 4:00 at the Theater on the Lake, on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago. I got a good early start to my day, knowing it was going to be a long hot one. I did not want to bonk and be late. As it turned out, it was a very pleasant, easy and interesting day, and I arrived in plenty of time. I parked my bike and had an ice cream while waiting.

The Chicago skyline from the Theater on the Lake.

Self explanatory.

Breakfast was in the hotel. It was okay: eggs and potato things and a banana. But it enabled a nice early start. (The key is to not finish reading the Globe.) I was riding before 8.

Packing my bags in the morning.

From the get-go, it felt like I was approaching the outskirts of a large city, which of course is what I was doing. No more farm fields. Lots of suburbia. Lots of bike paths winding through dense, commercial and industrial landscape, with busy roads. It was mostly very good riding.

One of many paved paths approaching Chicago.

The unpaved Green Bay Trail.

An old brick street in one of the outskirts towns.

A paved bike trail with lots of old concrete RR infrastructure along the way.

There was one stretch this morning, a couple of miles long, that was really scary. No paved shoulder, with a rough gravel shoulder, busy, busy road during morning rush hour. But I got through with no problem. After that it was mostly great riding the rest of the day, until I got into Chicago itself. Much of the riding was on paths or sidewalks.

At one point, south of Evanston but not yet in Chicago, there was a sign in a local park that warned of triple penalties if engaged in gang activities. I stopped shortly thereafter, and moved my spray can of mace from the bottom of the handlebar bag to my jersey pocket.

On the other hand, I rode through a lot of towns, including Evanston, that were very upscale. They reminded me of Newton or Brookline or Pikesville, MD.

I found myself riding most of the length of Clark Street in urban Chicago, and was pleasantly shocked when I rode directly next to Wrigley Field. There was definitely game action going on. It was very interesting.

Wrigley Field!

Riding through very urban Chicago with a loaded touring bike was quite an experience. At times, I felt a little apprehensive about the local people, who definitely looked down on their luck. What must they think of me, with this bike and getup, riding down the street? But I had no problems of any sort.

Riding towards Shaina’s.

Even the traffic wasn’t much of a problem for me. All the streets had marked bike lanes which work surprisingly well. I never felt any particular close calls. The Wahoo worked amazingly well in guiding me, especially in conjunction with RideWithGPS on my phone talking to me through my headphones.

After arriving at the Lake, and having my ice cream, and meeting up with Shaina (who was riding a rental e-bike, which she does several times a week), I followed her to their house, where she lives with her husband, Sebastian, and dog Charlie.

Later that evening, two of Addie’s Bedford classmates who are in Chicago came over for dinner, Mary (who lives here) & Keara, along with Keara’s girlfriend, Lynnsey. Unfortunately, Emily and Leah were not available. We had takeout deep dish pizza, which was just delicious! (I think I still prefer thick crust Sicilian pie, but it was good.)

Keara, Lynnsey, me, Mary, Shaina, & Sebastian (left to right)

Tomorrow is an off day. I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I hope to meet up with another young cousin, Jesse, who lives here. We’ve been texting, and hopefully it will come together. Other than that, I may go to a Cubs game!

Although it felt like today was my last day, in fact I still have two more days of riding. I will ride again on Thursday, probably to Hobart, Indiana. That will get me back to my car by lunch time on Friday. At this point, I am ready for that!

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 32: Holiday Inn Express, Lake Zurich, IL

Another hot one!

• Monday, September 4, 2023
• Lake Zurich, IL
• Lodging: Holiday Inn Express
• Miles: 44.0 @ 10.1 mph
• Total  Miles: 1,156.3
• Vertical (from Strava): 1,156′
• Start: 7:05am. 67°, sunny. Ride to breakfast at nearby Starbucks. 8:15am – start riding for real.
• End: 2:45pm. 90°, sunny.
• Elapsed time: 7:40 (includes breakfast at Starbucks & long lunch break by side of road)

Today was a really good day! It was hot, and long, with a fair amount of climbing. Yet, it was never unpleasant nor excessively difficult.

This day started with a good early start. I rode to a Starbucks a half mile away. What a lousy breakfast! I ordered a breakfast sandwich on a croissant. I asked if I could have it on an English muffin instead, like some of their other breakfast sandwich offerings. “No”, I was told, they are prepared in advance and just heated up. Still, I ate two of them.

In any event, I was riding for real at 8:15am.

The first 12 miles were on public roads. It was very pleasant and rural, although not sparsely populated. Then I had 12 miles of bike path, the first half dirt, the second half paved. It was very nice!

Somewhere along the line, I passed into the state of Illinois. There was no sign. I feel so cheated when there’s no sign that says “Welcome to a New State”. I may have been on the dirt bike path when I changed state, but even so. A sign would be nice.

The unpaved McHenry County Prairie Trail.

The paved path from today.

The winds were not really in my favor, but it didn’t matter much. My goal was not to get too tired, so I just mosied along at a sustainable pace.

While on the path, I stopped at a nearby restaurant for lunch. But it was a brunch place on Labor Day, and the line was out the door, so I rode on. Shortly after leaving the bike path, I found a spot in the shade next to the entrance of some sort of industrial place. It wasn’t pretty, but it was reasonably cool (90° in the shade) & comfortable. I sat there for over an hour, eating my PB and tortilla, some almonds, some black licorice, and drinking lots of Gatorade and Diet Coke.

The key to beating the heat is staying hydrated. (Monitor the color of your pee. Dark yellow means you are not drinking enough.) I did a good job of that today. All together, I drank two full bottles of Gatorade, one and a half bottles of Diet Coke, and at least two bottles of water.

At one point on one of the bike paths, one of the neighbors had put out a cooler with a sign that said “Cold water free”. I stopped. I didn’t need any water but I took some of the ice, and topped off two of my bottles. It was wonderful having cold Gatorade for the next 10 minutes, until the ice all melted.

Trail magic. I took some ice for my bottles.

I never really pushed hard all day. I just tried to stay within myself, and stay hydrated. I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at my destination, a Holiday Inn Express – after 44 miles at over 10 mph with almost as much climbing as 2 days ago – feeling tired but not cooked. Today, the heat did not beat me.

One of many streams.

I came from the road in the back right, with the signs that say “Road Closed”. It was closed at the other end as well, but I took a chance that I would be able to get through, and it worked out no problem (and no cars).

This is so typical with RideWithGPS and Google Maps. You follow a route that says Dead End, but at the dead end there’s a path.

Tomorrow feels like the last day of the ride, when I get to Chicago, although I actually have two more days of riding after that. In any event, tomorrow I am meeting my cousin Shaina and her husband Sebastian at a designated spot on a bike path just north of Chicago. It should be a relatively flat 40 miles to get there, although very hot again. They will then lead me to their house, where I’m staying for two nights.

Also tomorrow night, I expect to get together with some Bedford friends of our daughters who live in Chicago.

After Chicago, it will be a 2-day ride back to my car in Michigan City. I expect to get there midday Friday, and start driving to Williamsport shortly thereafter. Hopefully, I will be able to take Tom, my Michigan City host, out to lunch or dinner before I leave.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 31: Lake Geneva, WI

• Sunday, September 3, 2023
• Lake Geneva, WI
• Lodging: Comfort Suites
• Miles: 32.0 @ 9.8 mph
• Total  Miles: 1,112.3
• Vertical (from Strava): 938′
• Start: 7:50am. 70°, mostly sunny.
• End: 2:40pm. 93° (indicated, in the shade), 91° (Wunderground).
• Elapsed time: 6:50 (including breakfast at McDonald’s, lunch at the Elk Restaurant, and frequent stops where I could find shade)

Today was just as pleasant as yesterday was unpleasant, despite being a bit warmer.

Two reasons: it was a much shorter day, and I started riding an hour earlier. Those two factors combined to get me to the Comfort Suites motel at 2:40pm, even after riding at a leisurely pace most of the day. I was trying to preempt the heat.

Today, for the first time on this trip, I mounted my cell phone holder on the handlebar. It blocks the paper map, but I’m not using that much anymore anyways. And it’s so convenient to not have to pull the phone out of my pocket when verifying directions. Even with the Wahoo, I often need to refer to the phone, especially when there are intricate maneuvers.

The cell phone holder in place.

I like to secure the phone to the bike with a lanyard, so if the holder fails, or some other accident, I won’t lose the phone. I used to have a good lanyard, with a good clip at the end, but I couldn’t find it before this trip began. So recently at a Walmart, I found this orange whistle lanyard. It works, but I have no clip to attach it to the phone, so it’s very inconvenient to connect and disconnect. That’s mainly an issue when I want to take a photo.

I was out of the motel this morning before 8:00am, and rode directly to McDonald’s for breakfast. That had me on the road for real before 9:00. A good early start for me.

It was 70° before I started riding. I wore my sun shirt, which as usual, is almost too effective below 75°. But it warmed up nicely, and by mid-morning it was mid 80s.

At one point, I stopped next to the base of a cell phone tower, next to some trees, to take a break, mainly because it was the only shade around. It was adjacent to a soybean field. I was able to examine the plants closely. It looks sort of like string beans. At this stage of its development, at the beginning of September, the beans and pods are well developed, but covered with fuzz. I don’t know when they are harvested.

A soybean pod.

A soybean pod opened up.

Lunch came early, around 11:15, in the town of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, at the Elk Restaurant Cafe. This place was classic. I expected a line, but there was none. However, the waitress warned me that she had a table for me to sit at, but the food would be at least 45 minutes. I said “no problem!” After all, it was nice and cool in here, there was an endless supply of Diet Coke, I had a book to read, and only 10 more miles to ride for the day. I ordered a vegi (sic) scrambler, which as predicted, came an hour later. It was a great lunch break!

The Elk Restaurant Cafe in Elkhorn, WI.

Waiting for my food in the Elk Restaurant.

A vegi (sic) scrambler with hash browns and pancake.

I got to ride 3.5 miles on the unpaved White River Trail, which was very similar to yesterday’s Glacial Drumlin State Trail. I wish there had been more.

On the White River Trail.

The winds weren’t bad today, with about the same for and against. If it had been a longer day, I probably would have thought that there were more headwinds than tailwinds. That’s what the forecast called for, anyways.

Here are some more photos:

You can see the wind rippling across the surface of the soybean field.

Typical of today’s roads.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another hot one. I’m agonizing over where to head to. I want to be in Chicago in two evenings, which means I need to find a spot that’s sufficiently close without being too big of a day tomorrow. I think I’m going to end up in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 30: Baymont Inn, Whitewater, WI

Once again on the Glacial Drumlin State Trail, east of Madison.

• Saturday, September 2, 2023
• Whitewater, WI
• Lodging: Baymont Inn
• Miles: 54.5 @ 10.0 mph (as measured by RideWithGPS; my bike computer battery died)
• Total  Miles: 1,080.3
• Vertical (from Strava): 1,171 (No wonder I was tired!)
• Start: 8:59am. 69°, partly sunny.
• End: 4:49pm. Hot (~90°), sunny.
• Elapsed time: 6:50 (includes breakfast with rider Trent, lunch again on bridge over Crawfish River, ice cream stop)

Today was a long, hot day. Very long, and very hot. Not only that, it was by far the hilliest day I’ve had since crossing over into the Upper Peninsula two weeks ago.

Aside from the heat, it was another beautiful day. I got an early start, for me, and the first 10 miles were on the road getting back to the dirt path I rode on two days ago, the Glacial Drumlin State Trail (GDST).

The next 28 miles on the GDST were just lovely! Just like 2 days ago, the path was perfect dirt, mostly in the shade, with a quartering tailwind, and incredibly beautiful. It was more crowded than the other day, but still pretty empty.

Trent, a cyclist I met on the GDST, who was riding 100 miles on his gravel bike to meet up with his wife at the Milwaukee Brewers game.

Two bike tourists also met on the GDST. They were on a 5-day ride.

Then I turned right, off the dirt trail, onto County Road D, and everything changed. Most significantly, the quartering tailwind became a quartering headwind. The flat rail trail was replaced with hilly paved roads with OK shoulders but with no shade. Most dispiriting, I thought I would have 7 miles to the motel from that point, but it turned out to be 17 miles, a big difference at that point of the day.

One of several huge grain elevators I passed.

The last 5 miles were interminable, with several short steep hills, especially as the route wound through the campus of University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. However, I never walked nor put my foot down in the middle of a climb.

I did wonder at what point you drop over from exhaustion. This is a question I have often pondered, most notably while pushing my bike up to the top of Loveland Pass in Colorado four years ago. Since I have never collapsed, I don’t know the answer. Today was pushing it. I hope to have no more long days like this for the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than today. However, I think it’s only going to be a 35 mile day. Getting close!

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 29: Sleep Inn, Madison, WI

The Fighting Wisconsin Badger, outside the Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

• Friday, 9/1/2023
• Madison, WI
• Lodging: Sleep Inn
• Miles: 0
• Total  Miles: 1,025.8

Today was a much needed rest day. I am staying in the same hotel for 2 days in a row.

Originally, I thought I was going to ride, without luggage, into Madison, and ride around. But I decided that if this was going to be a day off, it should be a day off.

So I spent the morning working on my blog, stretching, talking on the phone, taking care of stuff. Then just before lunch time, I took an Uber into town.

At Jason’s recommendation, I had lunch at Mickie’s Dairy Bar. What a great spot!

Inside Mickie’s Dairy Bar in Madison.

My breakfast at Mickie’s – a veggie scrambler with cheese, and gravy on the side.

After breakfast, I walked around campus for a bunch of hours, a total of 6 miles. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Although classes don’t begin until next week, most of the kids are back at school. It’s not Penn State, but it was a very nice campus. The ice cream was really good!

The University of Wisconsin football stadium, Camp Randall, named after the Civil War-era army camp that preceded the University at this location.

The crew boathouse. The campus is right on the shore of Lake Mendota, so no early morning long drives to rowing practice, as at some schools.

Tomorrow I head towards Chicago, for the final week of my tour. (I expect to be back at my car one week from today.) I have a reservation for tomorrow night in the town of Whitewater, WI, about 45 miles away. If I am able to stick to my schedule, I will be in Chicago on Tuesday evening. That is my goal.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 28: Sleep Inn, Madison, WI

Part of the ride today not on a bike path.

• Thursday, August 31, 2023
• Madison, WI
• Lodging: Sleep Inn
• Miles: 41.8 @ 9.9 mph
• Total  Miles: 1,025.8
• Vertical (from Strava): 946′
• Start: 9:07am. 58°, sunny blue sky.
• End: 3:48pm. Mid-70s, sunny.
• Elapsed time: 6:41 (includes long break on bridge & lunch)

Today was another wonderful day, with perfect cool sunny weather and the majority of the day spent on bike paths. The wind was not dominant, but was mostly at my back.

Ready to ride in the morning.

The highlight of the day was the smooth dirt Glacial Drumlin State Trail, which I rode for 23 miles. (I get to ride that same trail in the opposite direction, even further, when I go from Madison back to the Lake.)

The Glacial Drumlin State Trail.

The GDST is an unpaved rail trail which goes arrow-straight through forest and wetlands, with perfect dirt & gravel and numerous bridges. At least four of the bridges were labeled with the same creek name. I asked a local jogger about that, and he said it was the same creek. It meandered. The straight rail trail passed over it many times. I think that meandering may be a consequence of the drumlins, a geological artifact left over from the glaciers.

One of several bridges over the Koshkonong Creek.

As with the day before, I had a long snack break on a bridge, this time over the Crawfish River. The scenery was amazing, with long-legged birds (both white and greyish blue), fish leaping out of the water (I saw one at least a foot long totally out of the water), and a doe with fawn walking the shore. During my 30 minutes on the bridge, four people (2 couples) and three kayakers (1 group) passed by or underneath.

Downstream at the Crawfish River.

Upstream at the Crawfish River.

PB tortilla snack, before rolling, on the Crawfish River.

The real lunch of the day was a delish meatball sub at the Quilted Oak in Deerfield, WI, followed by a SMALL cup of ice cream. Hit the spot!

Lunch stop in Deerfield, WI.

Meatball sub at the Quilted Oak.

Although I feel fine as I ride these days, I am definitely feeling fatigued. Each day on its own is not bad, but I need a break. I realized today that I have ridden 11 days in a row since crossing over into the Upper Peninsula, averaging 41.5 miles per day during that stretch. (Fortunately, it has been flat.)

I arrived at a Sleep Inn here in Madison today, late afternoon. I will stay here two nights. Tomorrow, I will take a break from riding and tour Madison on foot (and Uber). On Saturday, I will ride back on the GDST towards Milwaukee, on the shore of Lake Michigan, and down to Chicago.

Stay tuned.

Lake Michigan 2023 – Day 27: Best Western, Watertown, WI

• Wednesday, August 30, 2023
• Watertown, WI
• Lodging: Best Western
• Miles: 51.1 @ 9.9 mph
• Total  Miles: 984.0
• Vertical (from Strava): 629′
• Start: 8:15am. 56°, mostly cloudy, breezy.
• End: 7:06pm. ~70°, sunny.
• Elapsed time: 10:51 (includes breakfast, lunch sitting on a sunny bridge, dinner, multiple snack stops)

Today was a really good day! You must get tired of hearing this day after day, but the weather has been fabulous, the terrain is mostly flat, and today, yet again, I had a strong tail wind all day long.

Today was very sunny, but cool (I started riding in the upper 50s & it warmed to mid 60s by lunch), so it was too cool to wear my sun shirt. (It cools too well – below 75° it is cold.) As you can see from the photo at the top, I wore my stupid looking sunhat, with the neck cover. It is very effective. I also wore sun sleeves later in the morning, when the windbreaker came off.

I left the hotel reasonably early, at 8:15, and rode across the street first to a convenience store for a bottle of Gatorade, then to the Rolling Meadows Restaurant, next door, for breakfast. The veggie omelette was extremely good.

The Rolling Meadows Restaurant.

Inside the Rolling Meadows Restaurant.

My veggie omelette.

Then it was a mile and a half to another delightful dirt path, the Wild Goose State Trail. It was 38 miles in a mostly arrow-straight line through the incredibly beautiful Horicon National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent farmers fields. And there was a tailwind the entire way!

Here are a couple more photos along the way.

Lunch was sitting on a bridge on the path, in the sunshine. It was about 68°, very pleasant.

My lunch spot.

Lunch on the bridge – PB on tortilla, almonds, Gatorade.

I sat on that bridge for an hour, and not one single person came from either direction. In fact, when I had been on the trail for 5 hours, I saw my 12th person. I counted. On all the trails & bike paths I was on today, probably 45 out of the 51 mile total, I don’t think I saw 20 people total. Amazing!

The final 10 miles of the day was on a paved path next to a busy road. The tail wind persisted. It was wonderful!

The final push.

As I was winding through the town of Watertown around 5:30, I realized I was passing several restaurants on the way to the hotel. So I stopped at Taqueria Maria’s for dinner, still a mile and a half from the hotel. The steak fajita was really good! It worked out well, since I was starving and there was nothing good to eat near the hotel.

Taqueria Maria’s in Watertown, WI.

I’m checked into a Best Western, here in Watertown. Tomorrow, it is 40 miles to a reservation at a hotel in Madison. The forecast looks great!