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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 03:34:56
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Distance:
46.17 miles
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Max Speed:
41.70 mph
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Avg Speed:
12.80 mph
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Route:
WT - Spring Green to New Glarus
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Weight:
0
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Category: training: general -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Newest Road
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Club: None |
| Weather Conditions: |
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There were two options for today’s route from Spring Green to New Glarus. The "main" route would head out and complete 60 miles of riding before reaching the lunch stop at a ballpark/picnic area outside of Barneveld. The "short" route would be a mere 20 miles to reach the same ballpark/picnic area – a more direct route. Looking at the picture of the map, you will notice the two horizontal lines – the top line was the east-west direction, followed by some backtracking on a road from earlier in the week, then west-east, lower line, to complete the 60-mile loop. The slightly vertical line that connects these two on their eastern points is the 20 mile short cut. Now, as attractive as the 20-mile options sounds, versus the 60-mile option, the dilemma is that the lunch stop does not open until 11:30 AM. The morning’s start time was 7:45, like the other mornings, however, those that chose the short route would a) leave later – like 9:30 or later – or b) ride to the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitors Center and take a tour of the museum, etc. (about an hour in length) then ride directly to the lunch stop. Another contributing factor to the decision making is that the day’s total route would accumulate 5,000 feet of climbing and by all accounts most of that would be before the lunch stop.
Well, I did opt for the shorter route, and to kill an hour or so of time before I left the hotel, I just hung around outside on a patio, sitting in the shade and listening to some tunes on my MP3 player. I rolled out at 9:00 AM with Peggy and Steve – we were going to follow Steve because he had the map strapped on his handlebar and the short route is not marked with the arrows we are accustomed to following. After make the first couple turns out of town and heading down Hwy C, Peggy & I were a little confused as to where we were, etc. so we stopped to look at the cue sheet, as Steve kept going, and got it straightened out in our heads where we should be going – maybe we were a little apprehensive about getting ‘lost’ again.
Well, the terrain for our route was not as hilly as the longer route, but it sure didn’t seem as easy would have thought it to be, either. There weren’t any real strenuous climbs – it was pretty much like most of the previous days rolling though a valley, but what was a little more of a hindrance this morning was wind being more in our faces – just enough wind to force us to peddle on the down slope of the little hills, otherwise the wind would bring us to a stop. We eventually rolled into the picnic area about 10:45 or so, so we sat around under one of the pavilions and chatted and looked out across the public hunting & fishing area we had just rolled by. About 15 minutes later a couple other cyclist, Lee & Craig from Wichita, KS pulled in and joined our conversation. Then, before we knew it the lunch van/trailer rolled in and we set things up for every to have some grub.
I rolled out of the lunch stop with Lee & Craig. About 5 miles down the road Craig noticed my rear tire was looking flat. We stopped so I could inspect it, didn’t find anything wrong so we aired it up again and rolled on down the road. About another couple miles down the road it was feeling low again, so we stopped and I put my spare tube in. As were starting to air it up again, a car pulled over and asked if we’d like to use his floor pump – we were using my little mini-pump, it fits on the bike for such occasions, but takes a heck of a lot of pumps to air up the tire – of course we took the guy up on his offer. He was in the area, just finishing a grueling bike race – his pump made quick work of getting my tire ready to roll again! Well, a few more miles down the road, as we were starting to hit some nice down hills, my tire was acting up again. Craig had gotten ahead of me & Lee, so Lee said he’d chase him down. I said that would be OK since there were still many of our folks and a support vehicle to come by. Well, the tube I just put into my tire had previously had a hole, and the patch I put over it was not holding; so back to my original tube. After further inspection I finally found the hole where it was leaking – right along side of a patch I put on it a couple weeks ago. My best bet (only current option) was to patch the patch – no guarantee, but it ended up working and holding air allowing me to get to the next rest stop about 5 miles down the road. Once there, I threw away my (useless) spare tube, and bought two tubes from the support van – one of which went right into my tire, the other into my saddle bag.
I then rode the final 14 miles to our hotel in New Glarus. This place is known as a ‘little Switzerland’ and the hotel we stayed in (Chalet Landhaus Inn) was just one of the many structures in the town built to resemble a Swiss village. For dinner, I ended up joining Dan & Pam from TX, and Gary from Denver. We ate out on hotel’s patio where we were serenaded by an accordion player who played a wide range of tunes (from a couple of Sinatra numbers to some numbers from the Sound of Music, etc.). Our evening’s activities also included a coaching session where we talked about some ‘myths of cycling’. Then most of the group enjoyed a little ice cream social. One person that didn’t participate in the social was my roommate Ron. He was feeling ill since early in the morning and was already in bed asleep when I returned to the room little before 9 PM. That is part of the reason I did not get this posted that evening.
Today I amassed only 45 miles – sounds wimpy compared to the other days of 75 to 102 miles – but it was not as easy as I assumed it would be. Shorter does not mean its an easier route – it just means there would be fewer occurrences requiring strenuous effort.
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