Grote Hill and other back roads around Reedsburg

Hill overlooking Loganville, Wi.

 I worked through the weekend, even working double shifts, so I had off today - Monday the 25th of February.

When I awoke at noon, I was surprised at how warm it was outside: in the 40's! Maybe even near 50degrees? I decided I'd have to take a bike ride this afternoon.

Another view of the Loganville valley.

A Buff Orpington chick

 Even though I made the decision to ride, I needed to feed the chickens and ducks that are living in the greenhouse for the winter. In the greenhouse, the temperature has been anywhere from the 80's up to 105 degrees under this warm February sun! The chicks and ducks are happy and I love being in the tropical greenhouse while it's still winter across Wisconsin!

I have Buff Orpington chickens; three breeds of ducks: Kaki Campbell, Fawn Runner, and Pekin; and 19 guineas!

Duckie

I get more eggs than I can give away to friends and family, and I find the birds comical to watch, tend, and care for. Anyway, it all takes time and that's the reason that I got such a late start on my afternoon bike ride.

I started out with an ordinary ride to Lime Ridge and then out County K.

I was in a feisty mood, so I turned down Old K where I knew I'd likely cross paths with a Black Lab named "Cocoa" who thinks she owns the road and thinks I should not be in her territory.

Not today Cocoa!

 I was mildly disappointed when I passed Cocoa's house without a chalenge!

The Baraboo river south of Reedsburg

As I turned down Mill Pond Road, I realized that I was low on energy. In my hurry to get on the road and get my blood glucose number down, I had neglected to eat anything.  Now I could feel the effects of low sugar as I peddled on.

I set my sites on stopping at the Corner Pub in Reedsburg for a cheeseburger and a glass of their local brew. It was deliciousness!

Church used to be the highest thing in town... before the cell tower!

I left the pub and and peddled past the egg company, and the foundry, then I turned south onto Dewey avenue until I came to the intersection of Ski Hill Road.  I debated whether I should turn left for a longer ride, or right, and begin to head for home. I opted for the latter since the sun was already dipping below the horizon and I was 10 to 15 miles away from home at that point.

I followed Ski Hill Road to Grote Hill Road and made my way to Loganville through a back way that included Open View and Sunrise Roads. Even with the longer days of approaching spring, it was twilight by the time I arrived in Loganville, and completely dark as I finally found my way home.

I was soaked through with sweat and my pant legs were spattered with road salt and sand but I felt good as I added another 30 miles to my yearly total... 209.

Night Rides in Winter

I just got in from an 18 mile night ride. It was 32 degrees... a beautiful night for riding! The roads were fairly clear of ice and snow except in a few places where it got a little treacherous.

The Bar Mitts are awesome! Hands slide in and out easily and they really keep my fingers warm throughout the ride. They cover the handlebars, shifters, brake levers, and headlight remote power switch.

The best thing is the new headlight. It's a Niteye B30. I bought it from Overstock.com for $160.99 and tonight was the first time I got to use it. It is very bright. It has four levels of brightness: 100, 350, 600, and 1,000 lumens! I liked the 100 power level while I was cruising slowly and enjoying the moonlit evening and checking out the stars, but the 350 was best for slow country pedaling. I didn't like the 600 setting because that was just the middle spot light so when I needed bright lighting, like cruising down hills at 25-30pmh, I chose the 1,000 setting. This gives a great view of the ditches to watch for night critters that might jump out in my path and it gave a great view of the road ahead as I had to be on the constant lookout for ice or snow pack. That seems to happen especially on hills that are on north slops or shaded by trees.

One thing I didn't like about the headlight is the remote power switch and how it cycles through the brightness settings. Since I like to ride at the 350 lumen level, the only way of cycling through the levels is to click up to 600, up to 1,000, and then down to 100. When meeting cars, it's probably not necessary to dim the lights anyway, but if I wanted to, it makes it apear like I'm clicking on my brights! I wish the lights would at least cycle from bright to dim if not in either direction, that would be an improvement.

The roads and weather have been terrible, so this is my first ride in the month of February. 110 miles in January plus tonight, bring me to 128 miles for my imaginary journey from New York to San Francisco!

Physically, the ride was easy. I've kept in shape throughout the winter by working-out when possible after work. They have a gym with "cardio" room that I'm free to use, and I have my own stack weight machine, exercise mat, and several pieces of exercise equipment. I try to do an hour on the elliptical machine and a half hour on a pedal machine on nights when I'm at work, and something here at home on the days I don't work. It must have worked because I noticed durring the ride how effortlessly I climbed the hills and how well I felt at the end.

Tomorrow, there's more snow on the way, so the bike will be sitting waiting and I'll be longing for spring to finally arrive here in Wisconsin.

I haven't riden much lately, but I went out on a beautiful bike ride this afternoon. It was a relatively balmy day for January in Wisconsin: thick fog in the morning, in the forties by noon with occasional light rain, slipping back into fog at dusk... a promise of a winter storm by tomorrow! It might be my last chance to put some miles on in January, so I rode 24 miles to White Mound State Park. That brings my total to 110 miles so far in 2013. I have a goal for this year but perhaps I should give an update of 2012.

I didn't blog anymore after October but I rode through November and into early December. My total miles for 2012 was about 1,700. I had hoped to achieve 2,000 miles! A friend of mine suggested that in 2013 I should try to do the equivalent of New York to San Francisco... 2,905.5 miles! I think that would be possible, since I didn't start riding until May last year and then only 4 miles a day in the beginning. This year I'm hoping to commute (28 miles one way) to work occasionally instead of just once like I did in 20112, and I've already got a good start in January.... so San Francisco, here I come. Sort of!

I bought some additional riding gear as the weather turned colder. I got a pair of neoprene shoe covers, wool socks, a balaclava to cover my face, and a pair of Bar Mitts for the bike handlebars. It seems that as the temperature drops each 10 degree or so, it requires a different dressing for the ride. Todays ride lasted about 2 1/2 hours and due to the wet road spray and light rain, I was just beginning to get cold toward the end.

Back to today's ride, even though it was in the forties when I left around 1:00pm, I encountered back roads that were still snow and ice covered. These were usually along a north hillside or in east/west valleys.

One of the things I noticed as I rode is that I can see much deeper into the woods than in the summer when the leaves hide so many secretes. Pieces of old junk farm machines, old cars, hidden cabins, buildings, and campers are all unveiled in the naked landscape.

The creeks where high with the January snow melt and the January thunder storm we endured durring the night. This morning as I went about feeding the animals, I couldn't see flooded valley as Narrows Creek became a roaring river, but I could hear it through the fog.









As I finished my ride this afternoon, the creek had subsided but great chucks of ice remained jammed against the bridge and were left lying out in fields adjacent to the creek that had barely slipt back into her banks.




I arrived home soaked from the inside from my own body sweat, and from the outside by the rain and wet highways.  The photo is blurry, sorry.  It was supposed to be a shot of my dirty pant legs and the dirty bike before I washed it and brought it in the basement to dry. My wife tried but missed! Ha!

She did capture the Bar Mitts, they are awesome! They are like a pair of mittens that attach to the handlebars of the bike. You operate the shifters and brakes inside the Bar Mitts. I rode the entire day without gloves as my hands remained warm inside. On colder days, I wear a pair of light gloves inside the Bar Mitts. They're easy to slip hands in and out as I ride even with gloves on. I love them. The balaclava seemed to keep my glasses from steaming up more than when I wasn't wearing it. Lastly, I ditched the helmet for the winter. The one I have doesn't fit well with the additional hats I wear.

 Photo from the Farm Art dtour route. I guess it's a castle? Another day, as I rode by the field exhibit in the morning, I flashed another picture of the rising sun and the hay bale castle.

The mornings have been great for biking except a little cold. When I left today, it was 32 degrees. I rode to White Mound State Park, cut through the park and peddled home. On one particularly steep hill, I wanted to get off and walk, but I was a little shy of 17 miles into the ride and I wanted to be able to say that I hadn't gotten off the bike until the 18th mile, so I struggled up the hill. When I finally reached the 18th mile, I was up the hill! I continued on, without stopping to rest and ended up riding 26 miles non-stop! 1584 miles for the year...

I rode the Farm Art Dtour this afternoon. It's supposed to be 50 miles but I only tallied 42. The photo above was taken along Jesop road between Ironton and LaValle. I was dead tired by the time I rolled into Reedsburg and then I had to ride another 10 miles home! I had a burger and a couple of beers at the Corner pub before I rode out into the night on the last leg of that journey. I'm home now. One thousand five hundred miles and more for the season so far!

Blustery Day in Wisconsin

Trees today, October 8

Same Trees September 21

It's a windy day in Wisconsin, too windy to ride bike. It's hard to photograph the wind, but the bare trees tell the story of what's happening in Wisconsin today. The large cottonwood tree in back is bare, the maple trees are half stripped of their leaves, but the evergreens and lilacs hold on. Autumn has arrived!

Maybe tonight, if the wind dies down, I'll go for a ride... that would be fun! If I do, I'll add to this blog posting. If not, I'll work indoors and workout in the exercise room downstairs.

Tyranena Oktoberfest Bike Ride 2012

Riders getting ready....

The 2012 Tyranena Oktoberfest Bike Ride was the first group biking event that I've been involved in. Up until now, with only a couple of exceptions, I've riden solo for the entire 1400+ miles that I've traveled this summer. Today was a very different experience; I was rider number 1466 out of the event's 1750 participants! I didn't get a photo of the line of bikers out on the highway but believe me when I say it was impressive.

Plenty of port-a-potty's and outdoor tables.

My tag number

I set my alarm for 6:00 am, as I had to finish packing, load up the bike, and try to imagine how to dress and what to bring with me on this ride. The morning was cold. Overnight lows were in the 30's and by the start of the ride the temperature had only climbed into the low 40's.

I thought I would ride the full 70 miles, if possible, but three things got in my way: hills, wind, and cold. Although over the summer, I have riden 50 and 60+ miles in a day, I think the 25 miles I rode today was pushing my limit! Where I ride in Sauk, Richland, and Juneau counties, we have hills... plenty of them. I had hoped that the Lake Mills, Wisconsin area might be a little flatter. Not so! They have hills too! The second curse of the day was wind. Predictions were for westerly winds of around 10 mph, turning northwesterly by afternoon. I left Lake mills around 10:00 or later, and headed what seemed north towards Waterloo and I swear the wind was in our face the whole way! The third curse was that being so cold and having to dress warm, and then working so hard against the wind, it resulting in becoming overly hot and sweating profusely. On our first break, at the Trek facility in Waterloo, I quickly became cold although I was wearing Under Armor clothing. I was soaked inside!

Riders at the first rest stop. Food tent and a bike repair truck.

I dawdled a bit before I left the Trek rest stop. Apparently, I lingered for too long. I wasn't sure how to read the map of the different routes, and then I misplaced my map, so I followed the line of bikers, not thinking about where the different routes split off. After a few miles though, I began to sense that I was no longer with the fast riders I traveled with before, so I pulled up to someone and asked which route we were on... the 25 mile one! I had missed the turn a couple miles back for the 50 and 70 mile route, but by then I also understood that time was going to be an issue. I average 10 to 12 mph and that's about the best I can do with my bike, this morning I came in at 11.?? which wasn't bad for me, but was way too slow for the longer courses. Had I maintained that speed and setled for the 50 mile route I wouldn't have finished until 4:00pm or later! At that point, I settled back to enjoy as much as possible the short run.

Very pretty in the tent and warmer than outside,
 but not enough!

A pork sandwich, fruit, potato salad, chips and cookies!

I arrived back at the tent and cashed in my meal and drink ticket. The food was good and so was the Blond and Porter ales. I would have bought a few 6 packs at $7 but didn't feel like trying to bike them back to the car... where ever that was at! Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten a real good sense of the layout of the town. My car was in a lot a few blocks away from the brewery but I didn't have a clue! At least when I forget where I pack in Wal-mart I know the car has to be somewhere in the parking lot, but now cold, tired, and just wanting to get into a warm vehicle... I knew I parked somewhere in Lake Mills! I took off on the bike and was actually heading in the right direction when I doubted myself and turned back to eventually take a back road, turn on my cell's Navigator, and finally find my vehicle.

It was a long day but a fun time. I hope to do it again next year. I hope the weather is better like it was earlier in the week, and I'll know how to watch for the route signage now. My bike is a good one, a Specialized, but old and heavy.  I watched the people who blew by me with their shinny Treks and Cannondales. Sure, they were probably in their 20's, 30's or 40's and I'm 61 going on 62, but I hope I can upgrade by next year...

For now, I have warm-weather clothing and maybe time enough left this year to achieve my goal of 2,000 miles for the year.