Plymouth to Manitowoc

July 30, 2022

The ride into Manitowoc and the ferry ride across to Ludington has always been billed as the longest short day on the Cycle America tour.  This is because it is only 40 miles in from Plymouth to Manitowoc making it the shortest day on the tour but by the time you get on the Badger to Ludington and take the 4.5 hour trip across Lake Michigan and lose an hour due to time zone change you don’t get into camp until dusk or later if the ferry is on time. This year however there is no Saturday afternoon sailing so we are camped in Manitowoc and will take the ferry on Sunday to Ludington.  Yes, this means that we will lose our rest day.  

This morning it was business as usual, up at 5:15, load baggage at 6:00 Am, breakfast at 6:30, and on the road by 7:00 am.  I rolled out with Aussie Bob and expected to have a leisurely ride however, Bob was putting the pedal down and we were flying down the road at 18-20 mph.   Before I knew it we were at the water stop which was at the 20.7 mile mark.  What’s the hurray here? 

As we were about to leave water Ken T rolled up so the three of pedaled off.  Bob’s was headed for the Whistling Straits Golf Course.  This is one of the premier courses in North America and home to the Ryder Cup.  It is a very exclusive club. Looking at the green fees it would appear that it is $630 per person, plus caddie fee of $80, plus a caddie tip $80 per bag with a two bag minimum.  The caddies were milling about the practice greens in front of the club all dressed in their white uniforms. In side we were told we could not just have a coffee in the restaurant but we could have a free coffee from the urn in the lobby and sit on the patio which over looked Lake Michigan.  Perfect! Sitting on the patio under the vine covered arbour and looking out over this famous course pretending to belong was great.

Back on the road with 19 miles to go we were hammering along a 18-20 mph with a good tail wind. At about the 33 mile mark there was new chip seal.  The tar had been placed and the chips placed but it had not been swept and so there was a lot of grinding in the loose gravel.  It was horrid.

 We needed to be at Cathy Wojta’s house by 10:00 am, as she was hosting picnic there.  It is always a magnificent feast.  Today was no exception. You name it and it was there. Homemade pickles, fresh made rolls, smoke salmon, fresh fruit and vegetables, a huge selection of Wisconsin cheese.  It was great.

Tonight we are in the Manitowoc elementary school where there are no showers so we had to walk over to the YMCA.  They had very nice showers and probably the best showers on the tour. 

As this is the weekend we are on our own to explore town for supper.  Should be fun

Terry

 

Beaverdam to Plymouth July 29, 2022

Beaverdam to Plymouth

July 29, 2022

Because we were staying in the dorm at Wayland Hall, we were able to get an extra half hour sleep this morning. Although I was awake before the alarm but lying-in bed for the extra 10 minutes was great. The extra half hour was possible as I didn’t have to pack up my tent.  All I had to do was schlep my bags downstairs.

As I rolled out of the Wayland campus, I couldn’t help wondering about how privileged the kids who got to attend the place.

I was rolling along pretty well at about 17 mph when I looked behind me and watched the peloton coming at me. There must have been a dozen riders bearing down on me at 8 or 9 mph faster than I was going.  I thought about pulling over so as to not get run over but they were on me before I could get off the road.  As I watched I couldn’t help but thinking there was an accident looking for a place to happen. Probably half of the riders in the group had no group riding experience.

The wind was quite favorable out of the NW at around 10-15 as we were heading generally east.  Although that is not entirely true. The route was so convoluted and had a million turns.  Every half to three quarters mile there would be a left or right turn. So sometimes you would have quartering head wind make a turn and have a howling tail wind.  You would just get on a nice road and then turn a corner and head down a road with was so broken that it would almost be cobble stones. 

At one point in the ride there was a Canadian goose just wandering down the road.  It never flew away as I rode past. 

We are now in the part of the country with the large white steeple churches.  There seem to be quite a few prime examples scattered about.

Tonight, we are staying in Plymouth Wisconsin which declares itself the cheese capital of the world.  They even have a 30-foot-high statue of a cow.   Maybe it is as there are dairies everywhere.  The town is very pretty as there are some very nice murals on a lot of the town buildings. 

I rolled into town just after 12:00 noon with a mileage of 67.4 miles and 2500 feet of climb. It was a very good day with perfect weather and favorable winds.

Terry  

 

Baraboo to Beaver Dam July 28, 2022

Baraboo to Beaver Dam

July 28, 2022

I had a tough time getting to sleep last night.  Some people had set their tent up quite close to mine and then they sat out talking until around 10:00 PM when I finally called out that quiet time was 9:00 PM.  They then went off to bed but by now my sleep cycle was broken and I was unable to get off to sleep.  I remember looking at the time around 1:30 Am. When the alarm went at 5:15 it seemed awful early. I would have given anything to turn over and go back to sleep however that wasn’t on the list of things to do.

Breakfast wasn’t too bad considering the supper last night but then the meat loaf wasn’t as bad as it looked either.  The heaps of crispy bacon made up for a lot.

Out on the road it was a 65 mile route with a pile of hills giving the route 2790 feet of climb.  At mile 4.3 the route took off to Devils Lake State Park.  I was with Ken T and one look and we both continued down the highway to pick the route up 7 miles later cutting 3 stupid miles off.   Barry who had left before Ken and I looked really surprised when he rolled up to the ferry and found Ken and I waiting for the ferry at Lake Wisconsin. We had a good laugh.

The ferry ride was only about 20 minutes but it was a fun diversion to the day.  I have always contended that all bike rides should have some rain, some wind, a meal at a gas station and a ferry ride.  Finally got the ferry ride.  The lake was beautiful and the houses lining the lake were extraordinary.

I had caught up to Aussie Bob and when he missed the turn into picnic it took me a couple of miles to get him stopped and turned around.  So, gave up my short cut miles. 

After picnic it was only 25.7 miles into Wayland Academy where we are staying. This was topped with a howling tail wind.  A person could easily do 18 mph going uphill with almost no effort.  I rolled into town and picked up some bike cleaning supplies as my bike was really dirty after the unpaved bike trails yesterday. 

The Wayland Academy where we are staying is a beautiful old building which has been totally renovated and modern.  Barry organized laundry got a position in line.  I finished cleaning my bike grabbed laundry and threw it in with Barry’s.   Bike cleaned, laundry done, blog written, and a dorm room to sleep in, just doesn’t get any better.

Terry

  

 

 

Sparta to Baraboo July 27, 2022

Sparta to Baraboo

July 27, 2022

Today was one of the highlights of the tour as we were riding the Elroy-Sparta trail and the 400 State Trail.  I have been looking forward to this day since we started the tour.

The days started with breakfast in Ginny’s Cupboard.  This is probably the best breakfast on the tour.  Ginny’s Cupboard is a restaurant in Sparta which is crowed with antiques of every description, from antique toys to old electronic devices and old kitchen appliances whose use is long forgotten.  Breakfast highlighted fresh off the grill French toast made with thick sliced homemade bread and heaps of bacon. What a great feast.

I was really pleased that my long-time friend Ed W. was going to get to ride the whole day and so Ed and I rolled out together.   First stop on the ride was a photo of the giant Ben Biken at the head of the trail.  The trails are not paved so there was a lot of concern that the rain last night would make the trail too wet.  However, the trail was in great shape. 

Before long we were at the first of the three tunnels.  The first tunnel is over a mile long and is somewhat rough inside. Therefore, you have to walk the tunnel. It was really wet in the tunnel as all the ground water was dripping into the tunnel.  However, it was a lot of fun, and you could hear my bark echoing way down the inside of the tunnel.  I was sorry to come to the end.  The next two tunnels are much shorter but are still close to a half mile long.  More barking and having fun.

After we got to the end of the Elroy-Sparta trail we came to the 400 State Trail.  It was in great shape as well.  It was so nice to cruise along with no cars.

Ed and I cruised into the school in Baraboo which is quite unique as it is built into a hillside and has a commanding view of the Baraboo valley. We finished the day with 74 miles and 1657 feet of climb.

What a great day.

Terry 

 

Pepin to Sparta July 26, 2022

Pepin to Sparta

July 26, 2022

Today’s ride of 91.6 miles was the longest of the week and constituted 22% of the weekly total of 408 miles.  That said it is going to be a strange week as we don’t really get a day off this week as Sunday which is the normal day off we will be getting on the Badger to cross Lake Michigan.  This brings up the next point after our next day off we will only have two weeks left.  Unbelievable!

This morning I woke up at 3:48 am and was not able to get back to sleep.  As I had closed my eyes at 9:00 PM this gave me almost 7 hours so it wasn’t so bad.  After rolling my tent and packing bags I headed off to what I knew would be a horrid breakfast.  If supper is bad so is breakfast.  No orange juice, no coffee, the egg bake looked so horrid I didn’t take any as it had huge chunks of burnt bread sticking out of it, and the sausages smelled awful.  I settled for some no-name granola which was really hard.

There was a lot of cloud cover as I hit the road in fact there was so much I was thinking I should have packed a rain coat.  The cloud cover was welcome and protected me from the sun until well after 10:00 am.   When the sun did finally come out the temperature went from around 68 F to over 80 F in no time flat. 

The route took us through a lot of rolling Wisconsin country side with not too much to report.  The first half followed the Mississippi which was kind of interesting as there were several locks with barge traffic and a busy rail line. The second half of the ride left the river and went east to Sparta where we are staying.  Right at the end of the ride was three really steep hills which were just killers. 

I was really glad to get in and went and found a half gallon of chocolate milk which I split with Barry.

Terry  

 

Northfield to Pepin July 25, 2022

 Northfield to Pepin

July 25, 2022

Today was the start of week six of Greg’s Magical Mystery C2C Tour. This is always one of my favorite weeks as there are three major rails to trails rides as well as lots of interesting scenery, and of course being Wisconsin great ice cream. 

I rolled out of St Olaf’s Dorm cafeteria with Ken T.  This morning and as this was only a 69 mile day we were in no hurry.   Greg had also told us that as he had some other stops to make he would not be arriving at the camp until 2:30 Pm at the earliest. 

The first water stop at the 19 mile mark was at the international world headquarters of Cycle America in Cannon Falls.  It is always a fun stop as the local welcoming committee is out handing out cold water and candies. Then around the corner and on to the Cannon Falls bike path which takes you all the way to Red Wing. The bike trail was magnificent. Huge trees provided a wonderful green canopy so it was nice and cool without a hint of a breeze. Not a tree root coming through the pavement. Rolling along was just great.

Red Wing is right on the banks of the Mississippi and home to Red Wing Shoes.  Picnic is in a beautiful park which overlooks the river.  As this was my fourth visit to this park I was really looking forward to it.  In 2014 I sat down in a lawn chair under a shady tree to enjoy my lunch and the next thing I know somebody is poking me and saying that they need to pack the lawn chair.  Everyone has left and picnic is all packed up.   I didn’t fall asleep this year but had a great lunch

With only 30 miles to go there was certainly no hurry and Ken , Bob and I stopped at every overlook to enjoy the view of Lake Pepin.

Once in Pepin we rolled in to the Garden Pub and Grill which is a patio place where we had 23 oz beers before heading off to our camp in the Pepin School.  Arriving at 3:00 pm we rolled up just as the last piece of luggage was unloaded from the trailer.  We were so disappointed to have missed out on helping to unload luggage.

What a perfect day. 

As a side note we are having lasagna tonight for supper Ken and I are heading back to the Garden Pub and Grill for burgers.

 

Terry

Rest Day In Northfield July 24, 2022

Rest Day In Northfield

July 24, 2022

Yesterday Kevin had invited the 2018 alumni to his house in Milwaukee.  It was an unbelievably generous offer and  one I was very pleased to accept.   When we arrive Kevin’s wife Cindee had prepared a huge spread of goodies. Just as we finished the goodies a fabulous supper brought out.  I couldn’t belief all the food.  Baked salmon, roasted potatoes, and huge steaks which Kevin had grilled to perfection.  There was lots drinks to wash it all down.  It was a great feast. 

Having a shower where you could actually adjust the water temperature and water volume and where there was a good shower head was also a real treat.  It really made you realize how crappy the school showers are.

This morning everyone pitched in to make a wonderful breakfast.

A great opportunity to get laundry done and relax.  I think we are making a shopping run later, which will give me an opportunity to get an extra tube of suntan lotion.

Thanks so much Kevin for hosting us in your home.

This coming week the weather looks cooler and we are going into one of  the shortest weeks on the tour.  Should be  great week.

Terry 

 

Hutchinson to Northfield MN July 23, 2022

Hutchinson to Northfield MN

July 23, 2022

With all of the heat and high winds which we have experienced are bound to come thunderstorms.  It looked like today was going to be the day we were going to get it.  All of the weather services were predicting major storms with very high winds and potential hail.  The route was 87 miles in a generally south east direction. The route took us south west of Milwaukee and skirted the metropolitan area.

Looking on the weather radar in the morning I could see a huge storm front off to the south west and moving in a north easterly directly across our path.  However it did appear that if I moved fast I could get far enough south that it would miss me.  So I rolled up my tent and loaded luggage as quickly as I could.  Breakfast wasn’t going to start until 6:30 Am and by the time you actually got breakfast and got on road it would be close to 7:00.  Skipping breakfast would buy me an hour so I rolled without breakfast being on the road at 6:08.

The wind was directly out of the south to south east at about 10-20 mph, directly into your face.  This really hindered progress.  The best I was able to do was between 10 to 15 mph.  However at this time of the morning on a Saturday there was almost no traffic which really helped.

As I was pressing as hard as I could I didn’t even take any photos. I skipped stopping at the bakery which was on route and for me to skip a bakery just tells you how much of a hurry I was in.  The route was extremely complicated with a lot of turns so being in a hurry only increased the odds of missing a turn so I was being extra careful to watch for arrows.   

Picnic came up at the 48.8 mile mark and I was there by 8:30 Am.  The radar didn’t look good and my chances of escaping it were getting smaller and smaller.  A quick sandwich and I was off in under 10 minutes.

At New Prague which was at the 65 mile mark I caught up with Scotty Two Shoes (my nickname).  As I got up to him I said “Hey lets go into that service station and I’ll buy you a coke”.  So we pulled in and as we were coming out a fellow was just getting out of his truck talking on a cell phone.  He then said to us; “ I just spoke to my friends who are 5 minutes east of here and there is golf ball sized hail coming down you two better take cover fast.” 

As we were just on the outskirts of New Prague, I said to Scott lets go have a nice lunch in a café.  Two blocks later we were sitting in a very nice pub. I was looking at the radar and could see that an hour later the storm would have passed.  Sure enough not five minutes later the storm hit.    The wind was just whipping the trees and everything else and the rain was lashing down.  I ordered the smoked brisket sandwich with chips and an Iced tea. 

It was great sitting watching the storm and having lunch.  Scott turned out to be a very interesting fellow having worked on the US nuclear weapons program until he exploded and retired. 

An hour later the storm had passed and Scott and I got on our bikes to ride the last 22 miles into Northfield. I think we caught 80 rain drops on the final segment.

We rolled into camp we heard all sorts of stories from the other riders who had taken shelter in old storage sheds, gas station, bus shelters, and everything else, but I think Scott and I made out the best.

I have been invited to stay at Kevin’s place as he lives close by.  

Tomorrow is a rest day. 

Terry 

 

Montevideo to Hutchinson July 22, 2022

Montevideo to Hutchinson

July 22, 2022

I almost did not put the fly on my tent last night as it was hot and the fly just makes it hotter in the tent however as there was a 20% chance of rain at 2:00Am, I did put the fly on the tent and sure enough about 2:00 AM there was some rain.  It rained for about 2 hours.  It was so nice in the tent listening to the rain.   I don’t think it was too hard as nothing was wet this morning.

The route took us way down south and followed a secondary road.  The direct route was 17 miles shorter than the official route, and I was all set to take the direct route but somehow I let others influence my decision.  DUMB DUMB DUMB!  So when it came to make the turn south I made the turn. It was a dangerous left turn across a busy road and I knew better but there was a break in traffic and I made the turn.  The secondary road was totally horrid. There were expansion cracks every 10 -15 feet.  Not just little ones but bone shakers. I had estimated that in the section of road to picnic there were 25,000 expansion cracks.  Another rider has said there were 75 cracks per minute.   Meanwhile several of the other riders took the direct route and reported having a great ride. Busy road yes but nice shoulder, and a great spot for lunch in a shady park.

On the official route picnic was in Olivia under the giant cob of corn.   It has been painted since 2018 but it is still a shabby 1960’s tribute to the primary crop of the area. Just as I was coming into Olivia I was buzzed by a crop duster. I wasn’t able to get its picture but when I came around the corner the crop duster was lined up at a drive through hanger to pick up another load.

After picnic the road was considerably better and the cracks were probably more like 75 feet apart however they were bigger. One of them was so big it knocked my chain off and I thought I had hit the shallowest part. 

The scenery today consisted of endless corn fields alternating with soya bean and sugar beet fields.  The first of the sugar beet processing facilities appeared today.  There were no climbs or descents today and the total climb was only 906 feet over the 84 miles.   

Even though I took the long route I was still in camp by 1:10 pm.  

Terry