1998 - Bike-Aid 3,600 Miles Across The U.S.A.
1999 - The Great Divide Mountain Bike Expedition
July 27, 1998 - Elroy - Madison
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 75.58 MilesTIME: 10 Hours
AVERAGE SPEED: 14.2 Miles/Hour
TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny all day. Unlike most days, there was some humidity.
ROAD CONDITIONS: Another trail in the morning for 14 miles. After this, mostly back roads were taken that were all in fairly good condition.
TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: The trail was easy again since it was almost all flat due to the old railroad bed. The roads were all rolling hills but also fairly easy to ride.
DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I got up at 7:30 and ate some Tootie Fruities for breakfast along with some milk. Most people left just before I was ready to go so I decided to wait for Brad and Heather. Brad was on host cleanup so we weren't able to leave until 11:20. Part of the delay was that over the night, Brad had developed two flat tires! We felt lucky that we didn't have any more since there had been a total of 7 flats the previous day and Cosmus had gotten his first one of the trip! When we got to the first town, we were very hungry so we went to a local deli where I had a sandwich which consisted of ham, turkey, cheese, and sprouts on sour dough bread. We rode on for about 15 miles and then came to a Kwiky Mart where I bought a Fruitopia and a pint of raspberry sherbet.(Picture77) The sherbet was only one dollar and surprisingly I was able to eat it all. We sat there for an hour before moving on to the ferry which was to take us across Lake Wisconsin.(Picture78) When we arrived at the other side of the crossing, we met up with Rebecca, Rachel, Pinky, Cosmus, Israel. We sat down and they soon left since they had been there for a while. While we were eating some of our food, Dan rode up and decided to continue on and try to get in a little earlier. We ended up sleeping in the shade for 2 hours before a man told us that we were on private property. We hadn't realized it since we weren't the first ones to go there. Fortunately he woke us up because I don't think that we would have ever gotten up. We left the landing at 6:20 and after taking some back roads which saved us numerous miles,(Picture79) finally arrived at the co-op at 9:20. For dinner, they had made us a dinner that was entirely vegetarian so it didn't fill us up at all. They did however have some very good cornbread. After eating, the SAG came back and we took our gear to one of the six co-op's that we were to stay at. I went to Hipatia with Brad and Heather where we were shown were everything was. The people who lived there were very welcoming and told us to make ourselves at home. We were then shown a small area that they called the loft where three people could squeeze into. It had a skylight that looked over the city but since it was hot and was only four feet high we decided not to stay. Also the sun would have wakened us up at 5:30 in the morning. We ended up sleeping in the living room where I typed for a little while to make some notes of what had gone on and then went to take a shower. I finally went to bed around 2:30 while Brad and Heather were out at IHOP for dinner. They finally got back at 3:30!
TRIP ROUTE:
Take 400 to Reedsburg. Take 33 east. Take a right at 136 to 113. Go to Hwy Q. Lt on University Ave. Lt on Baker Ave. 4 blks Rt on Lake Mendoata Dr.
