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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 05:13:13
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Distance:
72.82 miles
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Max Speed:
37.70 mph
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Avg Speed:
13.90 mph
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Route:
Tour of Door County Day 2
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Weight:
0
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Category: general: touring -
group
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Roubaix RC Road
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Club: None |
| Weather Conditions: upper 40's to start, mid to upper 50
Wind: WNW9
Sunny |
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The weather was just one of the stories today, only because it was such a contrast to yesterday’s weather. Outside was dry when we looked out the window first thing this morning. The temp was a bit chilly, at 47 degrees, especially in the shade and the breeze was a little nippy on top of that. Thankfully, most of our riding would be in the sun, but tights & arm warmers were still needed at the start of the ride, and made the ride comfortable throughout the day as the temp only got into the mid-50’s and the wind kept blowing steadily out of the NW, then the North at 9 MPH.
The big story of the day, something that has never happened in the 25+ years of PAC Tour history, occurred only 11.5 miles into our 72 mile ride. Heading out of Sheboygan Falls I was riding with Susan, one of the tour company owners, and we could see flashing lights ahead on the road with a couple cyclist there. One of the cyclists, Steve, who is also my roommate this week, waved to slow us down and stop, and proceeded to tell us that all cyclists in our group are being stopped. He went on to explain that a local citizen has video evidence of one of the group running a stop sign, and he had called in to make a citizen’s report. There really no way to make this short and still do it justice, but here it goes.
The deputy sheriff could not go to and discuss the situation with the complainant, who had come up and parked in front of the officer’s vehicle after I arrived, until he had backup on site – he could not turn his back on us, the accused, for his own safety - department policy. We all understood the policy, but still thought it was funny that it had to be applied to us. While waiting for backup, we were having a light hearted discussion about where we’re from (one from AK, one from Toronto, Steve is from WA, etc. When the backup arrives, two more deputies, they pickup the conversation while the original officer goes and talks to the complainant.
Basically, by this time, practically all of our group have caught up and are now standing on the side of this country road. I had noticed the complainant’s car being pulled to the side of the road in Sheboygan Falls, and he was making a call on his cell phone. I noticed him a pass us a few minutes later, then he as sitting at the side of the road by a stop sign as I pulled up (stopped) and went through. A lot of us concurred that the complainant was illegally and suspiciously stopped at one stop sign in question - nose of vehicle almost into the intersection, and not really off the road out of the lane. His initial description of the the suspects was that one is wearing a jacket w/yellow sleeves (that’s about 25% of the group) and one wearing a red jersey (about another 25-30% of the group). The officer then comes back to our group with the cell phone so he can show it to the 'identified' offending suspect. Now we notice the video camera, aka his cell phone is A FLIP PHONE! Not a very big screen to review the video and the bright sunny sky does make it hard to view screen.
The one somewhat identifiable culprit, who did admitted it might be her when she first pulled up to group, was the gal from Toronto. I believe she received a written warning, after they were able to confirm her ID with some Canadian officials, and she said she would get a letter in the mail of some sorts. The whole incident from the time I pulled up to it until we were free to go again was more than 30 minutes, and some were getting chilled by the cool air, even though we were in the sun, and I was start to get chilled too, so I’m glad we were not held there much longer. The deputies where all 3 very nice, congenial, and apologetic about the situation, saying they were following up on the complaint that was originally made to the Sheboygan Falls PD, since we here outside of that jurisdiction. The one officer that interacted with the complainant went on to explain that the complainant was in a motorcycle accident several (7 or 8?) years ago where he was trying to avoid a cyclist that ran a stop sign. During the accident, he laid the motorcycle down in order to avoid the cyclist and end up with some sever injuries including walking with a cane and almost losing his left foot. There are a few conclusions that can be drawn here about him, but I’m not going to get into that.
While this ordeal was going on, one thing Susan kept saying was, "This is a PAC Tour first." I’m sure they’ve had cyclist pulled over and such, but not the whole group. In a way we were lucky today that this occurred so early in the ride. If it was later in the day, we could have been spread out to almost an hour from the first to the last riders.
I spent most of the rest of the day riding with Susan, who at one point said, "I feel like a dolphin in the playing in the wake of a boat." as she enjoyed sitting in my draft as we made our way up the road. She also made sure one of the crew members paid for my ice cream at the ice cream stop between lunch and making in to the hotel. 
Oh, part of the conversation with the deputies:
Officer: Where you all heading?
Us: From Sheboygan to Manitowoc.
Officer: Do you realize you’re going the wrong way? (Manitowoc is 30 miles north of Sheboygan, and we were due west of Sheboygan)
Us: Yes, we now. We’re taking the scenic route – 20 miles west, 25 miles north, 20 miles east…
Welcome to a PAC Tour tour.
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