Today's Report:  Yesterday was a tough day and today is no slam dunk.  We did have much better weather today as the skies remained overcast all day, but rain never materialized.  It wouldn't have mattered much as the riders were drenched either from the tunnels we went through today or from the humidity.  I think yesterday's long excursion took a bit out of everyone as they seemed to enjoy the half hour extra sleep we had.  We loaded at 6:30 then off we trudged out of LaCrosse on fairly quiet county roads until we picked up the Sparta-Elroy bike trail at the Sparta Trailhead.

The roads were much better today than yesterday in Minnesota too.  I forgot to put in the blog yesterday that a couple roads were terrible and in much need of repair.  One state highway we road for about 4 miles had potholes in it deep enough to lose a bike.  The shoulder we used to ride was pretty broken and the seam between the shoulder and the traffic lane was pocked with holes that made crossing impossible.  All the riders voted Minnesota as the worst road surface we'd encountered.  Luckily, it was only a short stretch, but there were a couple other roads that were about ready for a resurface.  This morning we were on a great surface road when we encountered chip seal for a few miles.  Most of the riders elected to get on the LaCrosse Trail earlier than Sparta to escape the flying gravel from passing cars.  The trail led them to Sparta where Barbara had set up the first SAG and was waiting with everyone's trail passes.

At Sparta (advertised as the Bicycle Capital of America), we picked up the Elroy Sparta Bike Trail.  It's a rail to trails route of 30 miles that takes riders through several small whistle stop towns with plenty of places to eat and sight see.  One of the best places was Pie Are Square in Windon...great atmosphere and great pies as you would imagine.  I caught up with Ted, Earl, Sandra, and Jim as they were rectifying a hankerin' they had for homemade pie.

The riders were out of sight of the vans for most of those 30 miles, but we glimpsed them every so often as they were riding only a short distance from the highway.  As I said before, the trail was a hard packed limestone surface and was basically flat (or no more grade than 3%) since it was a rail bed, but the main attractions were the tunnels that were built for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in the 1870s...three of them ranging from a couple hundred  yards to about 3,800 feet in length.  To say it was dark in there is understatement.  Close your eyes in a dark room and put your hand about 6 inches in front of your nose...that's what we could see in the longest tunnel.  It was also very drippy in the first tunnel, which had a little gurgling stream running along each side of the path. Someone remarked that we got wetter in the tunnel than we've been on any day of our ride. 

The trail, advertised as the first installment of Rails to Trails in America, was opened in 1965.  In many areas, it made its way through a canopy of trees that provided shade and cool temperatures; also, when the path wasn't surrounded with trees, we would break out into beautiful farmland nestled in a backdrop of large rolling tree covered hills...very pleasant and visually stimulating. 

To say this is a bike friendly area is also an understatement.  With all the trails they have around here, cycling is not only for the hard core, but for the families as well...young and old alike.  Everywhere you looked someone was either riding a bicycle or carrying one on the back of their car.  The only thing that disturbed me was over half of the people riding were not wearing helmets, including the children. 

After the trail, our last 30 miles was again out in the Wisconsin countryside with several hills and a slight head wind at times that made the last push to the motel a little harder than most would like.  Especially after noodling along the trail for over 2 hours...now we had to work a little to get to the motel.  Seemingly the longest 30 miles we've ridden so far.  The last riders got in just in time for route rap and dinner at 5:00.  Guess what...we do it again tomorrow, but it's a shorter day...only 82 miles.

It's been a long day so I'm signing off...it's late now so good night.  See you again tomorrow.

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