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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 07:14:27
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Distance:
102.28 miles
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Max Speed:
41.00 mph
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Avg Speed:
14.10 mph
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Route:
WT - Beloit to Mineral Point
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Weight:
0
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Category: training: general -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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Bike: Fuji Newest Road
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Club: None |
| Weather Conditions: |
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This morning when I woke up, I was in Beloit, WI. I had been there three times before in the past 6 years, while attending week long bicycle camps that would go out different routes each day, and always ended up back at the Econo Lodge in Beloit. This week’s itinerary is a point-to-point., so we will end up in a different town each day, until ultimately ending up back at the Econo Lodge in Beloit on Friday afternoon.
The planned route was to go to Brodhead (our first rest stop at mile marker 22), then stay north of Monroe on our way to Argyle where we would have lunch (at mile marker 62.5). After lunch it was a 28 mile jaunt, mostly on Highway G, to Mineral Point – our stop for the night.
It is pretty easy to stay on the route, since the ride organizers have pre-marked the turns by spray painting a W (as in Wisconsin) along with an arrow show the direction to turn or in some cases a straight arrow to indicate continue on straight ahead. In some places, especially first leaving Beloit, there were multiple markings since there was a week of camp last week. We were told that we would be initially following the W5 arrows, from the day 5 route last week. Then there were a couple places where while on the W5 route that there would be a divergence from the two routes – W5 would turn where we were to go straight, or vice-versa. At these locations the arrow was labeled with the word camp or tour.
Now these arrows are not the only means of navigation. Each rider was also issued a set of cue sheets that provide the distance traveled so far (from the starting point of the day), directions (right, left, straight) and a piece of geographical information (SS – stop sign; TL – traffic light; cross street name, etc.). Side note: back in 2005 on the transcontinental, there was a day in AZ where the cue sheet said mile 77.2 tree on left, and sure enough when I saw – and photographed – the tree on the left. It was the only tree for mils around! Now back today’s story.
Street maps have also been provided. My approach to navigating is I put the cue sheet in my back pocket, so I have it if I have questions about how far to rest stops, next turn, etc., and just watch for and follow the arrows painted on the ground. There was point today, however, where that proved to be detrimental, and that was where there were two sets of arrows, one set marked camp and another marked tour – and I followed the ones that said tour. There were a couple other riders just behind me, so I slowed down just past the intersection to watch and see what they did, and they continued straight, like me, rolling past me, so I continued on behind them.
Now in defense of one of those other riders, Nancy Myers, who sits on the back of a recumbent tandem with her husband, Mike, and had the cue sheet mounted in front of her, interjected that the cue sheet indicated to turn right back there, but we all continued along, following the arrows. Well about eight miles later when a W-arrow said to turn left, and my computer indicated I had gone about 62.5 miles so far for the day, and the cue sheet said we should be at lunch at a restraint called the Partridge Hall in the town of Argyle, and there was nothing in the area that resembled anything of the sort, I pulled the side of the road and looked at the cue sheet for some other cues. A couple minutes later the others came rolling past – the Myers and another rider (George) kept rolling; Peggy pulled over and pulled out her copy of the map. It’s a good thing for me that Peggy came along with her copy of the map; and it was a good thing for Peggy that I was there to read the map for her – she couldn’t find her reading glasses. After studying the map for a few minutes I discovered that we were 4-5 miles southwest of the closest point to our prescribed course. Well, the most direct way to get back on course, and get us to lunch, was to continue on the road we were just on, turn onto Hwy M then onto Hwy 81.
What the map didn’t show was the killer hill that was on that route – Peggy & I both walked up it, and we found out later that the Myers turned around and followed the same route and their computer measured that hill being 24% rise for the first two-thirds and 14% the last third; killer hill! We all made it to the lunch spot and ate together. Then there was the final 28 miles of the day….
I finished the day with 102 miles ridden – twelve more than the plan 90, and I did, end up, finally, in Mineral Point, WI at the end of the day.
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