Team 242: Day Five

Day Five: Tomah, Wisconsin to Middleton, Wisconsin.  97.32 miles.

I stepped outside of the church and instantly thought Texas.  Tomah is not Texas, but the temperature at 7 in the morning was already higher than the highest of our first two days.  Plus humidity.  It felt like any August evening in Houston when at 11 at night it's still 90 degrees with high humidity.  The heat index was predicted at 109, I do not know the actual value.  So I'll go with hot.

And some unconnected thoughts before connecting a few:

Even for the people on the trip that do not like the crushed limestone of many Wisconsin's rails to trails, the 10 miles we spent on the Elroy-Sparta trail was enjoyed by all.  The tunnel we walked through was long enough that during a brief amount of time we were unable to see the entrance or the exit.

The 400 Trail is supposedly called the 400 Trail because the train was supposed to be able to make the run in 400 minutes.

Dave made it through both crushed limestone trails without getting any flats, but a few miles down the road he had his eighth of the trip.  He's averaging 1 flat per 60 miles though two were within 1000 feet of each other.

With all of the added hills, heat, and humidity, Rich and Lisa (pronounced Risa) joined my slow and steady pace for most of the day.

Lisa had a rough day.  She kept dropping her sunglasses while she rode.  She bought an iPhone the day before the ride and lost it during our lunch stop.  She attempted to swerve out of the way of some rumble strips, but only moved her bike far enough to run the strips right down the middle. She sat on the blue chalk cube for a pool cue stick and was left with the blue outline on her bike shorts.  She took over the left lane of a road approximately 6 blocks early.  When asked to come back to the right lane, she refused.  And she refused again when a car (with a cute elderly couple) appeared in the lane behind her.  Gosh darn it, that was her lane.  She took it.

During this rough day, Lisa looked like she might cry at any moment, but somehow her near tears became laughs.  Impressive.

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, his name is my name, too.

She found her cell phone (thank you to the iPhone locator app).

Today was hot, hilly, and humid.  And whenever we go out, the people always shout...

Today was hot, hilly, and humid.

Track 11: Rural Alberta Advantage - The Deadroads.  And I should run away and think of those nights...