Pedal On and On...: 7/17/11

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Day 34 - Back Country Ridding

Wisconsin Dells, WI to Fond du Lac, WI

Distance: 84 miles
Time:
Elevation Gain:

Internet connections have not been very good for the past couple of days, so this post will be short. I posted Day 33 today, look for it in the archives.

Toady was another enjoyable day. It was sunny with temps in the 70's when we started and got up the mid 80's by early afternoon. We road mostly on back county roads all day and most of the roads were in great condition. We road through wooded country side and farmland, small towns, by lakes, and through rural neighborhoods.

Tomorrow we have a short day, 57 miles to Manitowoc, WI.

Link to My GPS Route

Rear Camera View - Ed

Rear Camera View

Rear Camera View - Adrienne and Nancy

Rear Camera View

Rear Camera View - Dano

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Front Camera View - Sharon and Phyllis

Front Camera View

Front Camera View - Our Hotel for the night

Pedal On!!

Day 33 - A Very Nice Day

La Crosse, WI to Wisconsin Dells, WI

Distance: 91 miles
Time: 7 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,464 ft

Today was a great day. We started the ride with overcast skies, a few rain showers, and temps in the low 70's, by late morning the sun came out and warmed up to the high 80's. We road over rolling hills and on back country roads. At mile 27 we reached Sparta and entered one the first "Rails to Trails" bike path. The bike path was hard packed limestone, somewhat rough and bumpy, but it was well worth it to get off the main roads and out of traffic. We road the path for 34 miles through heavy wooded areas, fields, and through three tunnels. We had to walk the bikes through the tunnels and the first was 3/4 mile long and was cold, dripping with water and pitch black, we all had to bring flashlights. The other two were shorted but still required flashlights to see. The tunnels were carved through the mountains by hand back in the early 1800's for the railway. The Sparta Bike path was a great way to spend a few hours, but I think the hard packed limestone is more suited for mountain bike with wide tires then our road bikes and it was good to get back on the roads again. The county roads were nice to ride on and the green rolling hills and woodland were enjoyable to ride through. Tomorrow we ride 84 miles on more back country roads with little traffic.

Link to My GPS Route

Rear Camera View

Rear Camera View - "Rails to Trails" Bike Path

Front Camera View - The 1st Tunnel

Rear Camera View - Inside the First Tunnel

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View - 2nd Tunnel

Front Camera View - Walking thru 3rd Tunnel

Front Camera View - Still on Bike Path

Rear Camera View - Still on Bike Path

Front Camera View - Still on Bike Path

Front Camera View - v

Rear Camera View - Road Hazzard

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Pedal On!!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 32 - What a Difference a Day Makes

Rochester, MN to La Crosse, WI

Distance: 88 miles
Time: 6.25 hrs
Elevation Gain: 3,074 ft

It was a great day today!! The hot spell broke and we had great ridding weather. We had overcast skies most of the day with a slight breeze and the temperature never get above the mid 80's all day. The roads were in good condition as we traveled over rolling hills with a lot of twists and turns. We had several steep climbs, the longest being about a mile with 8 to 10% grades. We road by many corn a soybean fields, but the hills broke the fields into smaller sections with interesting landscape. There was many more trees and small woodland areas. There were farmhouses of all shapes and sizes along with silos for their corn and grain. At mile 50 we were routed off the roads and onto an 12 mile bike path that is part of the "Rails to Trails" program. The bike path went along a river, through dense woodland, and along the edges of corn fields, it was nice to get away from the roads for a while. At mile 83.5 we crossed the state line going into Wisconsin and at mile 84 we road over the Mississippi River and through downtown La Crosse were we stop for the night. Tomorrow we ride 91 miles to Wisconsin Dells with 34 miles on the Sparta "Rails to Trails" bike path.

Link to My GPS Route