A Thousand Miles

I achieved two milestones on the 22 of August. First, I passed a thousand miles of biking for the summer, and secondly, I rode over 60 miles in a day, 64 miles to be exact. My rides are seldom planned, so when I left on Wednesday, I had no plan of where to ride to. My blood sugar was high from the previous day's splurge on a family trip, so the one thing I did want to do was take a long ride and maybe travel the 32 miles I needed to complete one-thousand miles. As it turned out, I road twice the miles I needed to meet that milestone!

Carr Valley Cheese Factory

I started out by riding to Lime Ridge and then I peddled north on highway G passing the Carr Valley Cheese factory. I think Carr Valley makes the best cheese and the best cheese curds. My wife works there and that may skew my judgement slightly. She was on vacation this week, so I didn't stop. 

After passing the cheese factory, I rode past Easter's Bakery. This is another Amish enterprise that's open during the summer. The little building is another Amish telephone booth, I think. 

The weather on Wednesday was perfect for riding bicycle: blue sky, sunshine, but not too hot. I did wake up on Thursday with a slight sunburn, so maybe there was a little too much sun?

Amish Bakery. Sign. And phone booth

Me and my shadow...we ride solo!

Looking back on the Village of Cazenovia as I peddled up Cunningham hill. 

Be the time I rode past Easter's Bakery, I was beginning to develop a plan, a destination. Valton. I took a back road to Cazenovia and after riding through the park, I planned to head north toward the little village of Valton. I've ridden to Valton once this summer, but on Wednesday, I chose a different route. I like traveling roads that are less-traveled and many times this summer I've ridden roads that I've never traveled before though they are so close to where I live.

Amish along the highway. 

Neat store....

The back roads to Valton were beautiful, filled with hills and valleys and interesting farms. After arriving in Valton.... and since I had the day off... I decided I would continue riding north to the Village of Hillsboro. Someone had told me about a store there that sold spices in bulk, and I wanted to purchase some Turmeric. The name of the store was Whitaker's Farm Fresh Market. It turned out to be a fine health food store with bulk spices, grains, and Amish canned produce. I bought a large tub of Turmeric (.27 lbs for $2.88) but I also found Braggs Apple Cider by the gallon. The price was a full dollar cheaper than what I had been paying for it but I decided that a gallon of cider would be too heavy for the ride. I returned on Thursday and purchased the cider.

Hops... what makes beer as we know it

A difficult to find bike path

I had a burger and a couple of beers at a motel/bar called Beezer, and then I rode the bike trails from Hillsboro to Union Center, Wonewoc, LaValle, and finally Reedsburg. Along the way, I found wild Hops growing in several areas. I raise hops for homebrewing beer, so I'm familiar with when they are ready to harvest. The trail hops weren't ready for harvest yet, but in a week or two they may be? I'll be sure to return to the trails with a bag so I can collect enough for a batch of 'Bike Trail' beer!

A swamp filled with some kind of purple flowered plant.

 I passed swamps filled with beautiful purple flowers and stopped for Culver's Ice Cream In Reedsburg. The sun was setting by the time I approached Loganville and it was dark when I arrived home.

Wednesday's ride was the longest I've ridden so far. I wasn't particularly spent, although I was pleasantly tired. This spring when I started riding, I never imagined that I would go this far and I don't know how far I'll still travel before winter ends my riding adventures. I didn't ride today, but spent time instead in my little exercise room here at the house. I'm afraid I'll be banished to that when the cold arrives, so I'm experimenting now.

In all my rides, I ride solo. I've only seen one other person riding the roads and two or three people riding the trails. So much beauty... so few taking the opportunity to enjoy....

Sunday Ride

19 August 2012 - My blood sugar has been running high in the mornings lately, so I knew I had to go for a longer ride today. It was past 9:30 A.M. by the time I feed the ducks, guineas, and chickens and got dressed for the ride. The temperature was in the high sixties, so I wore light shorts and my stretchy runners shirt.

Lime Ridge is a mile and a half away and from there I turned south on highway G. I pulled over a few times along the way to 'Wards Corners' to photograph more Amish businesses. The Amish don't want to be photographed but I don't see how it could hurt to photograph their homes and businesses, so I did.

This place has piles of lumber.

We bought a double seated glider with center table from this place for Sandy's Birthday earlier this spring.

"Wards Corner's' used to be a country store, gas station, garage, and living quarters but now appears abandoned as a business or home, and not well kept.

I rode past Wards Corners and turned east at the Sandusky Church. It's about 7 miles to the Sandusky Church. I like that route as traffic is usually light if any.  After I pass the church, I head south to White Mound Lake.

I'm supposed to have some kind of pass to enter White Mound Lake Park at a cost of $20 a year or $4 a day but I haven't bought that yet. The Park is part of the Sauk County parks system and I've been a tax-paying resident of the county all my life. I feel that I've already done my part to foot the bill for White Mound park, why am I being charged a ridiculous fee for a park I've already bought and paid for? Upkeep? Sure, but collect that from non-county residents, let the people that have bought and paid for the park use it, or at least pass through the park on the road that I'm sure is still maintained with our tax dollars.

Anyway, White Mound Park is 12 miles into my morning ride and I have to use the restrooms.  I venture into the boat landing area and use the outdoor toilets that reek like most outdoor toilets do.  I'm thinking in my head what to do if the park 'Ranger'... ranger Smith or whoever, catches me. I don't have my wallet, identification, nor any money. I figure I'd lie and say my name was Chris L---. That's a guy I work with, love to pester, and always threaten to use his name if I ever do anything that I might have to answer for!

All went well and I left the park unmolested by ranger Smith.

As I peddled my way toward Hillpoint, I noticed time was slipping by quickly, and I needed to hurry to get home and ready for work. I chose the shortest route from Hillpoint to my home even though it involved some challenging hills. Along the way, I passed a dirt-bike track that is not Amish but a local business all the same. It's about 3 miles from my house and I barely hear the dirt bikes on the weekend but would hate to have something like this closer and have to listen to racing bikes every weekend during the summer.

The morning ride took about 2 hours and ended at 21 miles. My total for the year is 947 miles. I should pass 1,000 miles before next weekend, what then?

When I started, I didn't have a goal in mind other than to ride a little four-mile ride and lower my blood sugar. Now I want to see every obscure side-road and take-in all the sights, sounds, and smells that summer in Wisconsin has to offer and I'm really noticing all of those.

I'll dedicate some future postings especially to the smells and the sounds of the country. Till then, have a safe journey...

Amish Country

Western Sauk County, where I live and do most of my bike riding, has seen a tremendous increase in Amish residents in the last couple of decades. Three or four decades ago, there were no Amish in our area but they came and their communities continue to grow and expand.

They have established many businesses out in the country: greenhouses, bakeries, vegetable stands, carpentry and cabinet shops, selling eggs, doing metal work, masonry, building sheds, and more. As I rode a 12 mile route this morning, these are a few of the Amish businesses that I encountered.

Sign in front of the barn below.

The main office...

 At a spot close to the above horseshoeing and horse drawn wagon business and close to at least three other Amish farms, there was an "Amish telephone booth". At least that's what I think it is. The Amish want to keep their families and their lives separate from the outside world even while living and working in 'our' world. Therefore, telephones are not allowed in these Amish homes,  nor even in their businesses yet somewhere close, but separated, you will often find a small building with a telephone in it.

Amish Phone Booth

There was clearly telephone wires connected to this building, and as I passed, I could see papers and notes on the wall inside. Amish businesses, with items for sale or services offered, will often have a phone number listed where you can leave a message and they'll get back to you... when they get around to stopping by the little Amish phone booth!

Sign pointing to an Amish Bakery

I'm leery of some of the Amish businesses. This sign pointing to the Windy Ridge Bakery proclaiming that it's open on Saturday apparently means that it is only open on Saturday during the summer! I stopped by last winter on a Saturday, walked in (to the basement part of the Amish house), only to find that I was standing in someone's house! The bakery was apparently closed for the winter, but they had neglected to change or cover their signs. Embarrassing!

These are only a few of the many Amish enterprises that are within 5 or 6 miles of where I live and where I rode my bike this morning. Here are a couple more photos from my morning bike ride...

Looking down from a hilltop through a valley

I love the pretty blue flowers/weeds along the road.

Photos from Northern Wisconsin

Sunday and Monday passed without time for a bike ride... Tuesday and nearly time for work. I'll do the short 4 mile ride today.

I received some photos from a friend who rides in northwestern Wisconsin. He messaged me some photos. I see I need to plan a ride up the trails yet before the end of the biking season and find the end of the trail myself.

I can't wait for that ride and I'll post the date and time if anyone wants to ride along.

With August already half over, fall is just around the corner.  Follow my blog if you want to see some gorgeous fall photos from along the bike trail and from around the State of Wisconsin.

Trempealeau Mountain and the end of the Great River Trail.

Backwaters of the Mississippi.

Pretty vegetation and pretty clouds... do you see the elephant
doing cartwheels in the clouds? Ha! Ha!

Three Culvert Road

I took a ride down a memory road this evening. It's a real road (roads) that holds a bunch of memories for me.

At the end of our driveway, and up the side road that I used to just know as 'up around the bend', there were three culverts until the floods began coming and washed them away. One year, I don't know which one, the three culverts were washed out and replaced with a cement bridge. Today, the road still bears the name but I don't suppose those under forty or so would remember why it got its name.

The little pool of wate where the three culverts used to
empt

Tonight, as I set out for an evening ride, I turned up Three Culvert Road instead of biking up the county road to Lime Ridge as I normally do.

The first thing I came to was the bridge and the little pool of water where we used to spend so much time swimming. They wrecked the 'swimming hole' when they replaced the three culverts with a bridge. It's shallow now and the sewer treatment run-off from Lime Ridge makes alge grow and no one swims in the pond anymore.

I ride my bike silently over the bridge and the memories of three culverts that were the center of the summer for a bunch of kids 50 years ago.

Along Three Culvert Road, half-way between County S
and East Harris Road.

As I ride 'up around the bin' I remember a time when the road was gravel, before it was black-toped. I remember a day I drove an old truck, 1950, 51? Studebaker pickup truck up this road with a wild bull in the back rocking the truck and two neighborhood friends beside me practically rolling with laughter as we drove the bull back to the farm up the road from where it had escaped.

A sadder day happened off to the ditch on the right where my friend August pulled loose from her leash and was killed along this road. Up ahead on the left is a grove of pine trees. This is where a house once stood where my mother and her family lived for time. I remember seeing the foundation of the house, and a barn in the little valley to the left. This is only a half a mile from the farm where my dad grew up and where I live today.

This is along East Harris Road looking west toward the
Harris School. The play ground is completely covered
in trees.

As the sun set, Three Culvert Road had ended and I turned onto East Harris Road. I approached another grove of trees that hold a forest full of memories. On the left, hidden among the trees in the photo on the right, is Harris School. That was the school that I attended until 7th grade and where my mother, father, aunts & uncles, and grandfather went to school. I believe that even my daughters went to Harris School for a while as it became a kindergarten school before finally closing.

When I left from home tonight, I didn't know how much I would be able to ride. I fell off a building the day before and my left ankle was hurting pretty bad, but as I got on the bike and began to ride, it didn't hurt so much. I hadn't gone to the doctor because I never seem to get really hurt. As I passed Harris School, I thought about Billy Kruger, the farmer that lived next to the school and how we used to get him to stop his tractor and talk to us. I remembered how Billy had shoveled the road by-hand, all the half-mile out to highway G durring a bad snowstorm when we were kids!

When I got to Lime Ridge, my ankle didn't hurt much, so I didn't turn home, but headed out for the remainder of a 12-mile ride. It was nearly dark when I finished. Sandy had slipt off to bed and I went over 900 miles for the year! 910 to be exact...

"It's Gonna Happen"

"It's gonna happen..."

Ready to ride... except for helmet

That's what I said months ago when the subject of riding my bike to work came up, It's gonna happen! Before this year is over, I'm going to ride my bike to work! I had to pick the right day with the right temperature, the right wind direction, and the right moon! Monday, August 6, 2012 wasn't a 'perfect' day but it was a good one.

Small pond in LaValle, a village along the way to work.

One of the many problem with me biking to work is that it is a heck of a long ride! I work in another county, 28 miles away from where I live. Biking to work and back involved a 57 mile ride because I jaunted across town to pick up a sub sandwich before I went to my job. Another problem is that I work second shift. Riding to work mid-morning was not all that out-of-the-ordinary but when I finished my shift, I began my ride home at 10:00pm at night! Dark. The waining moon wouldn't crest the horizon for ten-minutes after my return ride began and it was in fact hidden under clouds for the first hour of my ride home on Monday night.

Crossing into Juneau County. The road had
safe shoulders but dangerous curves.

I rode the back streets and highways out of Mauston, Wisconsin as I began my treck home, but even there, I had more than a few cars and trucks pass me in the night. I use a flashing red light on the back of my helmet and a powerful LED light on the front of my bike and another LED strapped to my forehead to flip on or off as needed. 

I picked a good day as far as the wind was concerned. I enjoyed a slight tail wind while riding both to and from work. The temperature was great during the day, probably in the 70's and 80's, but it was slightly cool and damp on the way home.

Somewhere near the halfway point between home and Mauston is a county park along the highway. This was a great place to stop and stretch my legs for a bit and also use the restroom. 

Summit Park shelter... clean bathroom with running water!

As outdoor facilities go, the restrooms at Summit Park were awesome! Very clean and they had running water, hand soap, and paper towels. A very well maintained park. 

On my trip home, I stopped at a little bar near the park called the Little Summit instead of at the park. That too was a special place. I enjoyed a beverage and a free piece of cake from the friendly proprietor of the Little Summit. I was so impressed with the hospitality that I'll be returning this Friday, by car, for the Friday night Fish dinner. There is supposed to be an awesome view from the Little Summit's dinning room. I'm looking forward to that.

A stone fire place in the park

So, I can say... "it happened"!  I rode my bike to work and back, all 57 miles of it in a day!

The following days, after the Monday ride, I was naturally a little sore. But still, I was able to ride 10 miles on Tuesday, and 12 miles both Wednesday and Thursday.  My total distance for the summer is 894 miles.

Looking Back

A Summer of Biking in Wisconsin.

It's been a wonderful summer of biking in Wisconsin. I visited many area towns and villages, traveled numerous never-before-visited backroads. I broke a bike pedal, blew a tire speeding 30 mph down hill and got chased by a black bear...  I lie! Actually, it wasn't a bear that chased me but a dog. She's chased me more than once. Her name is Cocoa and she doesn't bite... according to the owner... who was standing there on the road with me... trying to control her pet... as Cocoa nipped my right leg!

The 'ride' of 2012 began three months ago in May. I didn't have a plan, just an urge (and a medical need that I will explain later) to get on my bike and exercise.  The first ride I took was from my home to the village of Lime Ridge, then around by my old grade school, and back home again. It was about a four-mile journey. When I finished, my legs were as wobbly as if they were made of rubber. I repeated that ride almost daily for the next few weeks and by the end of May I had traveled about 90 miles.  I timed myself to see if I could complete the Lime Ridge ride in under 20 minutes but I'm not sure that I ever did.

In June, the rides became longer. First it was a five-mile circuit, then eight miles to vote in Hillpoint in the June elections, then ten-miles. By July, I was visited area villages and now in the first week of August, I ride sometimes 30 to 50 miles in a day. 

My Bikes

I've riden over 800 miles since I began on May 11th, and I'm on my third or forth bicycle. They have all been used garage-sale or second hand bikes. The one I'm using now is a Specialized Crossroads that I picked up at a St. Vincent De Paul Store for $120.

The Specialized is the most expensive Bicycle I've owned. The Raleigh cost $35 and the first two I rode were purchased many years ago for $5 or $10 each. I like the Specialized Crossroads because it shifts the best of any of my bikes and the brakes are the best also.

Health

I have diabetes. A few years ago, when I first found out about my diabetes, I had to take insulin for a while, but in a year or a little longer I quit as I was able to control my blood glucose with medication and diet. In April of this year I stopped taking medication and have relied on diet, exercise, and some special teas to lower my blood glucose. The long bike rides are an important way to immediately lower blood sugar levels, but important for the long term, they are reducing my belly fat. I don't really know what I weigh because my scale tells lies but where it used to say I weighed 185 to 190 now it says I weigh 170 to 180. I'm sure my doctor's scale will add 15 to 20 lbs, but still, I must be dropping some weight.

Towns and Villages

Almost all of my rides begin and end here at home. The only exceptions were two times I drove to the 400 trail, and once, when I blew a tire, I had to call my wife to come pick me up. Here are the places I've biked to so far, all in the Sauk, Juneau, Richland County area of Wisconsin: Lime Ridge, Hillpoint, Loganville, White Mound county park, Sandusky, Bear Valley, Bunker Hill, German Town, Cazenovia, La Valle, Reedsburg, Hemlock Park, Lake Redstone, Dutch Hollow Lake, and Valton. The most I've riden in a day was 54 miles. 

I'm limited more in time for riding bike than I am in strength or endurance. I work full-time. In addition, I and my best buddy Puff, tend a large garden, keep a few sheep, 7 chickens, 8 ducks, 33 guinea chicks and I have a hobby greenhouse. The days are busy.

Time out for Pizza

On a recent ride to Reedsburg, wi., I treated myself to a pizza...not something I usually do since one of the reasons for riding is to lose weight.