Day 33 -- My...it's dark in here!

July 23, 2004

ROUTE: La Crosse to Wisconsin Dells, WI                
DISTANCE:  92 miles                  
WINDS: NW 5 to 8 mph

WEATHER: Perfect, sunny, high 70s to mid 80s, breezy and cool                  
TERRAIN: 30 Rolling; 30 Elroy Sparta Trail, 30 Rolling                  
TOTAL CLIMBING: 1900 feet

RIDE OVERVIEW: Another beautiful day for a bike ride.  I rode "Float" today and had a terrific time.  Our luck with the weather is still with us as you can see from the temps above. (So far we have not experienced any rain in the 33 days we've been on the road. It has rained early in the morning and late at night; it has rained all around us; and we've ridden in darkly overcast skies, but we've experienced only a stray drop or two.) Today, our day was divided into thirds: 30 miles from the motel to the Elroy Sparta Trailhead, 30 miles on the trail, and 32 miles to the motel after the trail.  The first 30-mile portion of our route took us through some beautiful Wisconsin farmland between La Crosse and Sparta and was pretty tame as far as difficulty. 

After a hearty breakfast at Perkins Family Restaurant, riders took to the road.  Each morning Evelyn, Mary Jo, and Pam (The Nailettes) try to see how far down the road they can get before they are overtaken by the Hammer & His Nails...their goal is to make it to the first SS, which today was at the trailhead.  I joined them this morning and the race was on.  Despite stopping for a bathroom break and to take photos at the bigwheel cyclist statue (left), we got to SS#1 before Barb and Box and before the Hammer. We were feeling pretty cocky until we learned that Paul Bippen--who was pacelining with the Hammer & His Nails--went down hard and broke his wrist.  Bummer big time and a "hollow victory" for The Three Tacks.  Paul, still in good spirits, left the group this evening after rap, vowing to return and finish what he started. We will miss him.

Mike poses before the big wheel
statue at the beginning of the trail

At Sparta (advertised as the Bicycle Capital of America), we picked up the Elroy Sparta Bike Trail.  It's a rail to trails route of 30 miles that takes riders through several small whistle stop towns with plenty of places to eat and sight see.  We were out of sight of the vans for most of those 30 miles, but we glimpsed them every so often as they were riding only a short distance from the highway.  Fortunately, we glimpsed Mark in Red just before I got a flat about a half mile from where he was parked at trailside.  Mark fixed my flat in a jiffy (am I getting spoiled or what?) and off we went again. The trail was a hard packed limestone surface and was basically flat (or no more grade than 3%) since it was a railbed, but the main attractions were the tunnels...three of them ranging from a couple hundred  yards to about 3,800 feet in length.  

To say it was dark in there is understatement. Close your eyes in a dark room and put your hand about 6 inches in front of your nose...that's what we could see in the longest tunnel.  It was also very drippy in the first tunnel, which had a little gurgling stream running along each side of the path. Someone remarked that we got wetter in the tunnel than we've been on any day of our ride.  In many areas, the bike route made its way through a canopy of trees that provided shade and cool temperatures; also, when the path wasn't surrounded with trees, we would break out into beautiful farmland nestled in a backdrop of large rolling tree covered hills...very pleasant and visually stimulating. 

To say this is a bike friendly area is also an understatement.  With all the trails they have around here, cycling is not only for the hard core, but for the families as well...young and old alike.  Everywhere you looked someone was either riding a bicycle or carrying one on the back of their car.  The only thing that disturbed me was over half of the people riding were not wearing helmets, including the children. 

Pam poses at a cornfield before a beautiful round barn

After the trail, our last 30 miles was again out in the Wisconsin countryside with several hills and a pretty stiff cross wind that made the last push to the motel pretty difficult.  Especially after noodling along the trail for over 2 hours, we suddenly had to work to get to the motel.  Maybe the longest 30 miles we've ridden so far.  The last riders got in just in time for route rap at 5:30 and dinner at 6:00.  Guess what? We do it again tomorrow, but it's a shorter day, only 82 miles.

We topped off the day with a great meal at Paul Bunyan's. With a name like that, the food had to be plentiful and it was. It was a family style restaurant and they brought the food out all together in bowls and you helped yourself. All you could eat.  Our meal consisted of chicken, fish, potato pancakes, pasta, coleslaw, homemade bread, drinks, with coffee and chocolate cake for dessert.  These places don't realize they don't make any money on riders! We give new meaning to the term "all you can eat." Restaurants learn, only too late, that it really means "more food than they have to prepare."

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

• "What a great change of pace!" 
• "What took you so long? We've been at the SS for ages."  
• "I'll have the double milkshake with whipped cream on top, and could you add two cherries and some hot fudge to that?"

DUH! OF THE DAY:  This one goes to the group...Many of the riders today were surprised how dark it was in the tunnels.  I had told them it was really dark, but they thought it was REALLY dark.  Their flashlights weren't even doing much to help the matter...it took them halfway through the first tunnel to realize if they took their sunglasses off they could see better.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Close up of the inside of a trail tunnel.

The Clydesdales and Jim enjoy "Square Pie" at Gina's Pies Are Square in Kendall on the trail.

Louis challenges Old Dobbin to a race. There arequite a few Mennonite farms in this area.

Mike captures Barb "off his wheel" as she pedals down the trail.

Bill--barely recognizable in his North jersey--pedals past a riot of flowers planted at roadside...hollyhocks, sunflowers, bee balm, day lilies, tiger lilies, marigolds . . .
the flowers lined the road for several hundred feet.

Karen is run over by a careless high-wheeler. If he'd only adjusted his monocle, he
might have seen her in time to avoid her.