95.55 miles. Top speed: 42.5 mph. Bottom speed: 0.0 mph.
My body is cranky pants.
I’ve tried rationalizing it by blaming Kettle. And my body still hurts from Kettle, but
these pains are in entirely different places.
So maybe, just maybe, it’s because this is the longest bike ride I’ve
done in 2 years. Maybe that’s it.
But I tried to avoid focus on the pain. In the beginning it was easy because there
was no pain. And I was surrounded by the
rolling Wisconsin countryside, cows, flowers, the Wisconsin River, birds
(Indigo Buntings galore), and a surprising lack of road kill (a few birds,
three cats, one opossum, but no deer).
Sidenote: one of the cyclists had a bird fly directly into his front
spokes, so we contributed one to that few birds total.
Later, I was still surrounded by a similar Wisconsin
countryside except the rolling grew (we had to cross the Baraboo Range!). And that’s when the pain became harder to
ignore.
The last part of the day was on the 400 Trail and then the
Elroy/Sparta trail. They are rails to
trails so there are no climbs and I like to pretend that I’m the engineer in
the locomotive from years back. I like
trains.
Another sidenote: Some members of the group have decided
that these trails are bad for jobs and since Wisconsin is a right to work state, they've suggested a new campaign: trails to rails. Jobs! I'm okay with that; I like trains.
Back to pain: along the 400 Trail, I got to spend some quality cycling time with Slovic. We were discussing liberal arts in practice and other assorted topics (nothing about yoga pants). I declared that when I reached mile 60 on the day (10 miles until our rest stop), I was going to shut it down and start cycling at a super slow speed. I hadn't shut it down completely, but I had given in to the pain and was doing minimal effort when at mile 62 a cyclist suddenly appeared behind us. We moved over to the right, but she said she didn't think she'd pass us because she was going the same speed. This was rather nice of her to say, because I'm almost certain she wasn't there a half mile earlier... she was cruising. And when she did pass me I recognized her from earlier. Slovic and I had seen her many miles back off to the side of the trail. She was memorable because she was riding fully loaded. And what I had thought were side bags on the back of her bike were actually plastic cat litter tubs. She was upcycling. This was someone we needed to talk to.
Her name is Megan. She's a recent graduate from the University of Delaware and she started riding from Philadelphia a while back and was eventually going to make her way to Seattle. When was she going to arrive? Some point. How far does she go each day? Depends.
Beautiful beautiful freedom.
And suddenly my pain got thrown into perspective. This was Day One of a ride where I don't have to carry any food, tent, sleeping bag... anything really. She's come from Philadelphia. She's the real deal; I'm just a tourist.
The day's enjoyment returned and I have a feeling the joy will be sticking around for the rest of the week.
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Other thoughts:
Megan (and it turns out she has a riding partner) has a blog about the ride. Please check it out.
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The waving returns were very limited today. Eauxenby would have been disappointed. Wave to a car on a back road - the return: empty stare.
I was passed at mile 40 (in the opposite direction) by the first motorcycle of the trip. I was immediately given the side and down low finger out wave. Beautiful. I can now forget the empty four wheelers.
In fact, every motorcycle gave the down low wave, with one exception. And he must have been a jerk because ahead of me was a motorcyclist that he also ignored. Not cool dude.
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Sandhill crane noise is moving up on my list of favorite sounds.
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Nobody around, but there was a goat tied to a tree on the side of the trail. What?!?
Regret: I didn't stop to take a picture.
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It's not just for bowling anymore.
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Foremost Farms had a few employees shooting at "nuisance" birds as I cycled past. Shooting birds is what they consider to be foremost?
Ugh.
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I like trains.
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Track 11: Mike Doughty - Into The Un.
Don't you waste it. Blaze your bright blaze. In the blue, blue air. Can you face you?
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