2019/06/12
Today was a Type II fun day. It rained almost the entire time I was riding. It cleared up for the last 12 miles (25 km) of the ride to just dump down rain when I was less than 10 minutes from the lodging area. On top of all that my Frog Toggs rain gear was a complete failure. It held up for an hour or two but eventually the water started seeping through. By the time I was well into the ride my clothes were soaked. Additionally, the pants ripped wide open at the inseam when they get caught on the seat when I got on the bike. I can’t say that I recommend Frog Toggs rain gear. Sorry Kermit.
Despite the rain I had a great ride. The terrain was very flat. We rode through a mix of farmland and swamps. There was a long section of road that passed through the township of Armenia that was absolutely my favorite. The swamps and forest encroach right onto the road. Other than the road itself and the rare house, there isn’t a single sign of human habitation. I could ride that stretch of road every day and never get tired of it. I wouldn’t stop much though because as soon as you do the mosquitos attack.
In the afternoon I joined up with a retired couple from Rhinelander. They set a nice steady pace that I could keep up with and we cover ground steadily. I didn’t stop to take any pictures in the afternoon but I took plenty of pictures in the morning despite the rain. Waterproof cases for my cameras paid off. My iPhone 8 plus, the iPhone 6 and 5c. Were exposed to the rain for hours and they are all still very functional. Unfortunately, touch screens are very difficult to use when your fingers and the screen get wet. It was almost impossible to unlock my iPhone 8 plus because the fingerprint sensor didn’t recognize my touch as a finger at all. It made it impossible to use the maps. Of course, because of the rain I didn’t want to take out the cue sheets. I should have put them in a zip-lock bag.
I saw very little wildlife. The rain had probably forced them all to take refuge, each according to its species. I saw less roadkill today as well. I wonder if that is an indication that there is less wildlife in the area to tangle with humans or fewer humans. In general, this are seems more populous than farther north so I think the former is more likely. I did rescue a turtle we found on the road. It was a fairly large and heavy critter. About the size of two fists. I picked it up and moved it to the grass on the other side of the road. We assumed it was trying to get to the other side but there is no assurance that that was its actual intentions. No man knows the mind of a turtle.
As I mentioned, the last 25 km the rain stopped. I had almost dried out by the time we rolled into Mauston. We could see some ugly black clouds rolling. We hoped we could reach the lodging before the rain came. Our hopes were dashed to the ground with the rain drops. Just as we passed under an overpass a heavy rain started to come down. The weather went from a few isolated drops of water to deluge in less than a minute. If we had been smart we should have waited out the storm under the overpass but we weren’t. Maybe after riding all morning and most of the afternoon more rain didn’t seem to manner. We forged on. The rain was coming down so heavily we couldn’t clearly see the route marks on the road. The gentleman I was riding with spotted a school zone sign so we turned in that direction but it was the wrong school. Next to the wrong school was the Mauston Police Station. We went in there to ask directions. We weren’t far from our final destination. By the time we had our directions the rain had stopped. The storm came and went all within the space of 10 minutes.
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]]>2019/06/11
Today I rode from Wausau to Wisconsin Rapids. A total of 64 miles or 119 km. I missed breakfast at the church where they were serving it so I and a father and son duo from Missouri headed out of town and stopped at a store on the way. That was actually better because I was able to get some hot gas station food that tasted pretty good under the circumstances.
The route today included a detour up Rib Mountain. To be honest, I think calling it a mountain is wishful thinking. It is more like a big hill than a mountain. But, for Wisconsin, it is the closest thing to a mountain that the state has. At the turn off point for Rib Mountain I looked at the elevation profile and saw that there was only 250 meters of climbing spread out over 3 or 4 km. It didn’t look that bad to me. But aI decided that the better part of valor was discretion and bypassed the mountain. Later, a woman who completed the detour said the grade was 9%. That is significant.
I made good time today. I reach each rest stop with time to spare. After the third rest stop I got caught in the rain again. This time I was more prepared. I brought my rain gear. I also jerry-rigged a cover more my phone so that I could leave it on my handlebars and still see while keeping it dry for the most part. The rain let up quickly and I was able to continue on. I pleased with my impromptu phone cover and my foresight to bring my raincoat with. All in all, it was a good day.
The forecast is for rain all night and day so I made the decision to sleep in the gym. I unfolded my tent to give it a chance to dry out. After I got cleaned up I took the shuttle bus into town where I did my laundry and got dinner at Arby’s. Afterwards, I popped into the Dollar Tree and bought a pair of flip flops and a small inflatable kick board. The most bizarre thing was calling up the shuttle driver to be picked up by a big yellow school bus on demand. It seemed impractical to operate a large school bus just to pick up one person but that is what happened. If I wasn’t so tired I could have easily ridden my bicycle the short distance to town.
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