Speeding To Wisconsin
This is truly the day I’ve been waiting for and this time there will be no photo-gags of me wearing short pants and sleeves in a blizzard. (Yes, last week’s snowstorm was officially designated as a blizzard thanks to 15-inches of new snow and 30 mile-per-hour winds.) If you can trust the weather forecasters, which I often have a hard time doing, it sounds like 65-degrees is a sure thing today. If they’re right, it will give me hope that my own prediction that this year’s winter will extend all the way to next year’s winter will be completely debunked.
Whatever happens, I’m putting on a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved jersey and I’m going to ride my roadie bike for two or three hours come hell or heavy snowfall. And that’s final!
For my part, I pedaled off to my own church–The Church of the Great Outdoors. Unlike most people, I go to church pretty much every single day. Many years ago I saw a bumper sticker that said “It’s better to sit in a boat thinking about God than to sit in church thinking about fishing.” I think the same is true about sitting on a bike seat.
My destination today was Prescott, Wisconsin, via a brand new bike trail that connects the Cheesehead State to MY Town in the civilized State of Minnesota. The trail takes in two National Scenic Riverways and it provides a shortcut that avoids the very busy Highway 10 that was formerly the only route between the two cities.
Honestly, Wisconsin isn’t all THAT bad. It has some nice hills and has a few great overlooks that, um, overlook the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. I should probably move on to a few pictures.
I attained some seriously high speeds on my lightweight bike. I felt like a racer. I don’t have a speedometer, but I suspect I averaged about 35 miles-per-hour. No? Well, I can assure you it was well over five miles-per-hour. Probably closer to 15 m.p.h.
I took the hillier Highway 10 route home. It gave me my best cycling workout since my tour in Nevada/California/Arizona last month. Only two more pictures and then you can finally quit reading.
That’s all for today.
gregblood
Hi. My name is Greg and I ride my bike a lot. That is to say, I ride my bike almost every day. I go on long rides and short rides. Sunny rides, cloudy rides, and rainy rides. I like commuting, errand-running, day-tripping, overnighting, and touring on my bike. I ride on city streets, highways, gravel, single track, and snow with equal enthusiasm. Sometimes I ride fast and sometimes I ride slow. I try to keep my feet on the pedals at stop lights and I do not dismount when I hop up on a curb. I have a roadie bike, a mountain bike and a touring bike. I try to accept any challenge a bike ride can throw at me without complaint. But I don't like bugs.
10 response to "Speeding To Wisconsin"
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Hi Greg,
Tied and soldered bridge spokes! Is the new trail on an old railroad grade? It looks pretty smooth and is surely better than Hwy. 10.
Cheers,
Keith
I’m not really sure, Keith. There are railroad tracks that run between this trail and the Mississippi River for the entire length, but it’s possible that those tracks are new ones and the bike trail is on an old grade that got torn up many years ago. Whatever the case, it IS a nice easy route over to that other state.
Looks like you’re getting the riding skills of “Dancing George”!! Love the fine art bridge spoke photo!!
I’m really good at riding bikes with no hands, but I could never wave my arms around like Dancing George.
I tried that raised arms thingie about 40 years ago Greg, showing off for some lady I was trying to impress. It worked! She was very impressed by my stupidity when I embarrassingly fell straight sideways.
I don’t think I’ve ever fallen while riding with no hands–even when I used to challenge myself to ride with no hands on the bars two miles to work on some mornings. Most of my worst accidents occurred when I had ONE hand on the handlebars and the other hand carrying something.
I’m almost afraid to ask, but can you ride no hands with your feet off the pedals and legs in the air at the same time? Wait a minute. The Feeshko might never forgive me. Forget I asked.
Too late! I’m going to try it on my next ride.
Good to see your weather has changed! Short pants, no hands, 35 mph … What else could you ask for?
I can’t ride no-hands, but I did once in a dream. The next day I tried it out. I managed a couple of meters, but it never worked again.
So glad Mother Nature gave you a good day, finally! It still looks darn cold in your photos though. That smooth surface makes me very envious 🙂