I had scheduled breakfast in Reedsburg with my old colleague, Maureen Mendez at 9:00. So, I had time in the morning to do my morning routine and get a little reading in. We had breakfast at the Greenwood Cafe, and it was excellent.
After breakfast, Maureen biked with me to the trailhead of the 400 trail. It was only two blocks, but I still think it counts as the third family/friend to bike with me on this adventure.
At the trailhead, I went into the trail office and purchased my trail pas for today and tomorrow. I started biking the trail at 10:00.
The trails today were all crushed limestone and were in good shape. The 400 trail was the worst of the three that I rode on today. It had rained yesterday afternoon and evening and the trail wasn’t completely dried out, even with my late start. My new tires didn’t do well in the muddy sections, but there weren’t too many of those. The tires did well on the crushed limestone surface. Here are some pictures from the 400 Trail.
The 400 trail is 22 miles long and ends in Elroy. I got there at Noon and found a small local restaurant called The Elroy Eatery for lunch.
The weather forecast called for a chance of rain in the early afternoon. I checked the radar before getting back on the bike, and the rain seemed to be staying north of me. So, I started biking on my second trail of the day, the Elroy Sparta State Trail.
The Elroy Sparta State Trail is 32 miles long and has the honor of being the first rail trail in the United States. It opened in 1967. The trail has three long tunnels, the longest of which is almost 3/4 of a mile long.
About six miles into the trail, I started feeling occasional rain drops, so I stopped at a shelter to check the radar. In the shelter I met Bennett and Clara – two bike packers who were close to finishing a 800 mile circumnavigation of the state of Wisconsin. We chatted about each other’s adventures and shared our best bike packing tips. They were very nice and I really enjoyed getting to know them.
The rain was pretty fast moving, but I decided that I could make it three miles to the first tunnel and recheck the radar there. I only made it two miles before it started to lightly rain. I put the hammer down and got to the tunnel before I got too wet.
The tunnel was long and I took my time walking through it.
By the time I got to the other end, it had stopped raining and the radar looked clear. Another 15 minutes and the sun came out and it stayed sunny the rest of the day.
A couple of miles before the third tunnel, I caught up to another cyclist, Arnie, who was out for a short ride. We chatted for a while and he turned around just before the tunnel.
The third tunnel is the longest one and there was a lot of moisture dripping from the ceiling the entire length of the tunnel. You almost needed rain gear!
I finished that trail in Sparta at 4:30 and found a local restaurant (The Sparta Family Restaurant) about a mile off the trail (I bypassed the Burger King) for dinner. While at dinner, I made a hotel reservation in West Salem for the night. It was another 15 miles from Sparta to West Salem. This last 15 miles was on the La Crosse River State Trail. Here are a couple of pictures from this last trail.
I got to my hotel at 7:15. Later start, later finish. For the day, I biked 76 miles and climbed 1,100 feet.
Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to having breakfast with another old colleague and some great weather for biking.
Great reading about your adventure yesterday on the way into town. Thanks for choosing West Salem to stop and see me! I’m forever grateful for your leadership, thank you for welcoming back to the Trane team!
“I bypassed the Burger King”, smart move! Your picture might still be on the wall.
Those tunnels are amazing. Thanks for the update.