Day #37 (6/12/24) – Bike Across America

I’m back in the saddle again!

Woke up at 5:00 to take Elizabeth and Bridget to the airport. Then back to my brother, John’s house for breakfast, my daily routine, and to finish packing. I waited to start biking until 8:30, so that John could join me for the first ten miles, which were all trails and bike lanes.

After John headed back home to go back to work, I was alone on the country roads. These roads are special to me, because this is where I grew up. I spent a lot of time driving and biking on these roads. This is where my love of biking started.

I took a bit of a long route to start the day and toured some of my old neighborhood. I biked past a couple of the old houses that I grew up in and visited the old swimming hole at Fish Lake (that no longer exists). It was interesting to see how much things there have changed and how much they have stayed the same.

I rode into Sauk Prairie on Hwy 60, like I used to do before I got my drivers license. Fortunately, they have widened that road and it now has a good shoulder to bike on. By the time I got into Sauk Prairie, it was lunchtime, so I stopped at The Eagle Inn for lunch.

I checked the weather and the forecast was getting worse. Instead of a chance of rain overnight, there was now a good chance of rain at 4:00. So, I put a pause on my nostalgic wandering and started heading to Reedsburg, which was my destination for the night.

I took the Great Sauk Trail out of town for about 7 miles. this is a new trail that I had never biked before. It runs from Sauk Prairie almost to Devils Lake. It is paved and runs through some pretty fields and prairies.

Here are some of the wildflowers that were blooming on the trail.

The bluffs in the distance needed to be climbed, as there is no way around them. Komoot took me on some abandoned roads and some mountain bike trails to get over the bluffs. While it avoided the busy roads, it was a desolate and strenuous climb. At one point I was on a mountain bike trail and there was a couple of trees down across the trail.

There were no trail angels this time, but plenty of mosquitoes. Fortunately, it looked like the trees had been down for about a week and other cyclists had beaten a path through them. So, I followed their path. I got a little muddy, but made it through without taking the gear off my bike.

It was on this trail that a bird pooped on my bike. I’ve never had that happen to me before. Got my handlebars, but luckily missed my cellphone and snack bag. 😂

Then I was back on country roads into Reedsburg. These roads had lots of hills, and I used my full range of gears. I even had to walk my bike up a couple of hills. I also set a new top speed for this trip of 36.9 mph.

I stopped at a gas station in Rock Springs for a water and a Gatorade. When I came out, I met Gage and his son, who were checking out my bike while eating some brats. We talked about my adventure and Gage became the first recipient of one of my new business cards.

I rolled into Reedsburg at 3:15, which was an hour before the rain hit. I checked into my hotel, took a shower, and did my laundry.

At 5:30, my step-sister, Candy and her husband, Curtis, picked me up and treated me to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant. We had a great time catching up with each other and our families.

For the day, I biked 60 miles and climbed 3,000 feet. It was the second highest climbing day of the trip (crossing the Ohio River into eastern Ohio was the most). The new tires worked well today, and I’m interested to see how they do on a gravel trail tomorrow.