TODAY'S TALES:  Well, our luck ran out today as far as the weather goes.  We had a threatening sky when we departed, but the rain held off until we got everyone through the first tunnel about 10 miles after the first SAG stop at Sparta WI.  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.  Several people stopped there to rectify 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 they did during the rain.  And speaking of the rain, everyone's bike was a basic mess as they trudged through muddy path.  Karen had a glob of mud the size of a softball lodged against her rear brake at one point and had mud dripping off her bike in buckets.  I think the Brits were pleased that we had this weather today...Howie said, "It's like riding at home...beautiful rolling farmland and rain...what else could you ask for?"

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.  Even with the wet day we saw lots of people just riding their bikes on the trail.

After the trail, our last 30 miles was again out in the Wisconsin countryside with several hills and a pretty good 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.  And as if we needed another challenge today, at about mile 75, we encountered a bridge that was out.  Not to be deterred, everyone got to punch their cycle cross badge today...a little more mud was nothing to this bunch after the trail.  Down the bank, across the creek, and up the other side, through mud and wet grass...just another hiccup in an otherwise perfect day.  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.

Even with the late arrival, everyone took the time to clean their bikes for tomorrow's ride.  The motel provided a hose and plenty of towels for the occasion and at times it looked like an organized bike wash...put them to bed clean folks...they'll love you for it tomorrow.  I don't think I've ever washed so much grit off my bike before...I looked like I'd ridden in the Paris Robeux.  But we didn't have the cobblestones.

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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