Day 32 -- Just another lazy day on the road

July 22, 2004

ROUTE: Rochester MN to LaCrosse WI               
DISTANCE:  89 miles                  
WINDS: NW at 5 mph

WEATHER: Sunny and less humid than yesterday and the day before, pleasant temps in the high 70s, low 80s          
TERRAIN:  Big rollers with a couple of good climbs, one an XXL goodie!                  
TOTAL CLIMBING: 3700 feet, most of it on one punch up before the river. Not really, but the riders will tell you that's the way it was.

RIDE OVERVIEW: Because of barricades and road construction at our first turn after leaving the motel this morning, I sat at the corner of 25th Street, 4.1 miles out, and watched a version of the Keystone Cops--riders were coming in from all directions. Only two followed the DETOUR signs, the rest bypassed the barricades and took all manner of routes. Even Cov, who has the navigational instincts of a homing pigeon, said that the construction tangle in the city was a bear to navigate.  I thought it was odd that the city had put together a well marked detour that put us right on route only 0.1 mile difference in our planned routing. Guess everyone else did too since they chose not to follow it.  

Before leaving this morning, Evelyn gave me a giant chocolate cookie--with chocolate eyes and smile--for the SAG stop.  Box & Barb covered the SS#1.  It was at the foot of a great winding descent in Bucksnort Park on Trout Run Creek, which was spanned by a waterfall.  Several of my "Heard on the Road Today's" came from this location.

Patricia stylin' before a typical farm and corn field.

Our terrain today rolled more than it has for the past few days, and we had one real good climb at the 65-mile point. Mike's in the doghouse again as he told everyone that it was probably about a 7% grade for a mile. Yeah, right! It was more like 10% in places . . . but WAS only a mile.  

If you like corn and soybeans, you'd love our ride today.  Everywhere we looked we'd see rotation planting and rolling hills dotted with barns and silos behind every farm house.  Mike says that it's very different than where he grew up on a farm.  The fields are much bigger and farmers seem to be able to plant corn or beans on just about any slope that a tractor can negotiate.

We're starting to see more and more small towns along our route.  After Wyoming and South Dakota, anything would seem like overpopulation, but it's nice to see civilization more often.  Especially welcome are the small bakeries we find...this one in Rushford had some great cream filled, chocolate covered donuts and éclairs!  When I got here, almost everyone ahead of me was eating "fat pills" preparing for the big climb ahead.  At above left,  Julie, Gerard, Liisa, and Jesse flagged down everyone who rode by and told them about the goodies inside.

After gorging themselves with cream filled pastries, most of the riders elected to ride the bike trail to Houston, the next town 11 miles away.  The ones who took the trail said it was the best part of our ride in a long while. A doe and fawn leapt across the trail in front of Ian & Russell, and a grouse nearly gave Mike a buzz cut. He actually ducked to avoid colliding with it. Everyone thought the trail should be put on our route sheets for the published route.  Mike and I agree.  It was a great trail to SS#2, and it kept riders off the highway for 11 miles.

I set up SS#2 at Cody's Mercantile next to the Cenex GS on Hwy 76 in Houston. This was a cute little restaurant/shop with picnic tables and tables on a welcoming shaded deck. It will make a terrific "official" SS next year.  Unfortunately Mike & Valerie of Money Creek Buffalo Ranch, who run it, were set to have their grand opening tomorrow!  But, I left them the ABB literature and talked to them about feeding the cyclists next year. They were excited about the prospect.  Believe me I warned them that cyclists eat a lot!  Their establishment is named Cody's after Cody, their buffalo, who played a buffalo in Dances with Wolves and several other movies.  Hope they don't let Cody glimpse the menu:  Buffalo Burger, $2.00, Buffalo Hot Dog, $1.00, Juice, $1.00.  Buffalo juice???

When I met Mike & Valerie, I also met Taz, their tiny (about 1' long) Jack Russell mutt mix.  Mike told me that Taz had just weaned eight puppies.  Eight!  Don't know how she carried eight.  They must have been the size of walnuts at birth.  Furthermore, Taz had had breast surgery and had lost two of her breasts, so she nursed her pups in shifts of four.  It really is great talking to the locals, who in this area all sound like Marge in Fargo. Yep, You betcha.

While at the SS, I got to watch people coming and going from the Root River Trailhead. There was a lot of activity because Houston was hosting the Moving Vietnam Memorial, a three-quarter sized replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. They had the wall and a Medical tent set up as well as a Medi-Mule (a vehicle for transporting the wounded) a helicopter, and a jeep. Our cyclists rode the trail right through this display (left) and I snapped several photos of them. Both Jim and Neal found the names of friends, and Neal made an rubbing of the name to give to his friend's relatives.

For almost everyone, it was a lazy day.  The scenery was so beautiful that it would have been a sin to have hammered through it all.  After SS#2, we had a steep 1 mile climb to get out of the river valley and up on the bluff.  Once we were up there, you could see almost forever. This section is new to our ride; Barb and Mike came up here in November the winter before last and routed the final 20 miles to get off of the main highway. Most of the riders felt it was well worth the climb to ride those great roads, even the ones who walked up the slope. The terrain was gently rolling on top of the ridge, and riders had a great 2-mile descent to the bridge across the Mississippi. We are finally in the east! And in our sixth state, Wisconsin. Tomorrow some more wonderful trail riding and the Wisconsin Dells tourist mecca.  Tune in.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

• "Bucksnort.  I wonder if that's anything like Deer Drool or Moose Snot?" 
• "Is this Niagara Falls already?" 
• "I think this is my best day of riding so far!" 
• "Have you seen my glove? I dropped a glove."  "I hope your name wasn't in it because the fine for littering in this park is $700."  "No. My name's not in it. They'll be looking for Pearl Izumi."

DUH! OF THE DAY:  Judith standing next to her bike snatched off her helmet and placed her Hand on her Head as I passed. The H-O-H, S-O-S signal! White to the rescue!  The road was narrow, so I pulled ahead, backed carefully into a narrow area a farmer was using to get across the ditch to his cornfields, and charged back. Judith was back on her bike. She smiled sweetly as she pulled up to me. "Oh sorry, I didn't know you were there. I was just scratching my head!"

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

I tried to tell my boss I was surrounded by turkeys. Here's proof...now maybe he'll believe me.

Josh stopped at Buzz's Bicycles today and traded his Kestrel
for this super studly mount that can be ridden with the
kickstand at the ready as demonstrated.
Matches his personality much better methinks.

Villainous Mad Mike, jealous of Josh's new studly cycle, gets rid of the little twerp once and for all...heh, heh, heh...twirl the mustache.  Egad! What a cad!

Robert and Mark visit a stuffy farm couple and demonstrate proper helmet fit. It's dangerous out in tem fields, Ole. One never knows when a sunflower seed or a kernel of corn
may fall on your head!

Josh, who'd been riding sweep all day, suddenly emerged from a shortcut across the cornfields to take the lead from the Hammer and His Nails and get his clothes in the motel washer FIRST!  Heh, heh, heh...

Style Gal Evelyn makes a fashion statement.

Who cares if they got the ride wrong, they were still eager to welcome us to La Crosse (For those of you who can no longer remember what year it is or your own name, we're on the ABB Across America
North Tour, not the ABB Mississippi River Ride.)