Following the fun we had in 2017 – Kevin and I started planning another multi-day ride..

Kevin, Kathi, Mel and I left Cedarville about 5am and drove to the Illinois/Wisconsin border about 1 mile south of the town of Sinsinawa.  We arrived about 6:30am loaded up and started north.  Day 1 was all about hills, valleys and river crossings.  Since we were starting on a 4-day ride – our goal was to keep a 10-11 mph average over the entire first day.  Not a fast ride – but saving the legs for the rest of the week.  We were also about 25 pounds heavier on our bikes with our clothes, tools, food, extra water, etc.   So it was like having an anchor on the back.   It turned out those speeds were challenge enough.  We took some cool roads that brought us next to the Mississippi River for great views early in the morning.  Then we crossed the Platte River (where it enters “Old Muddy”) and found ourselves with our first big climb.  Now it got real… I have a reputation – well earned – of loving hills.  I like to power up and then blast down.  I love the challenge and the feel of slipping off the pull of gravity once you hit the top.  But – that was not the game to be played for 4 days.  I had estimated we would have 30+ hours in the saddle over the next days and needed to save the legs.  So it was more of a drop into granny gear, go slow, and keep spinning.  While the hills are nothing compared to where my friends ride in the mountains out west – the grades on the big ones were significant and not easy.  It started out as a cool morning but quickly heated up so we really enjoyed the shade wherever possible.

After a nice break in Lancaster WI and started up Hwy K and ran into our first bit of unplanned navigation.  We were flying down a hill and noticed something wasn’t right – construction equipment in the middle of the road.  We walked about ¼ mile to assess the situation and talked to a dump truck operator.  We learned the next 12 miles were under construction.  The road department was grinding up the old pavement into gravel, putting down new base, and would be re-paving.  So, our nice smooth paved country road basically became a soft gravel road that was ok for cars but not going to work for bikes.  We pulled out the maps and located a detour about 1 mile into the road construction.  It was slow going because of the road and dodging the grader, grinder, dump trucks who were working. 

About the roads in Wisconsin…  we rode over 380 miles across multiple counties and we realized First – even the worst roads we encountered were better than the majority of the roads we have in our part of Illinois.  Even the bumpy ones had smooth places to ride.  Oh how I wish we lived in a state that took care of the roads like they do up north. Even low use roads off in the countryside were better than our main county roads in Illinois, further motivation for all my long rides to be north of the border…  Second – in 2015 the Wisconsin DOT published a set of maps that covers every county in their state.  It categorizes the roads into how suitable they are for bike riding considering traffic, shoulder width etc.  It is an awesome resource that I have used for the past couple years to plan these trips. They also identified all the gravel roads…, which is where I will continue.   

After grabbing the map – we found some country roads that were paved, but added some big hills.  It turned out to be a beautiful change to the route – except for the visitors we found on the roadway… Gnats, lots and lots of gnats for two plus hours. They were in our hair, on our arms, in clouds everywhere. Try riding up some big hills sucking wind and bugs!!! Sure it was added protein – but not the kind we wanted. At one point, I had so many bugs stuck in the sunscreen on my arms that I looked like I had freckles. 

Our next change in plans involved weather.  I have about 0% confidence in our weather forecasters.    A mere 4 hours earlier – there was a 0% chance of rain.   That translated into a 100% chance of heavy rain right in the middle of nowhere.  We had stopped for some more snacks about 4 hours into the ride and were fighting off the bugs when the downpour began.  Now when I say downpour – it’s the kind of rain where you are completely soaked and dumping water out of your shoes after 2 minutes.  But – once you are wet – you can’t get any wetter – so we pushed on. 

Since we were also still in the middle of the detour – we were forced to take a very busy unplanned highway. This road is on the “not recommended” list from the Wisconsin DOT bike map because of the volume of traffic and lots of trucks.  It was not going to be a fun couple of miles but we didn’t have a choice.

I have learned that often these challenges are blessings in disguise.  The unplanned hills gave us great views of the countryside.  The rain cooled us off quickly and cooled down the roads which made the ride much easier.  Isn’t this a reflection of life?  Often our plan needs to be changed so God’s plan can be implemented. His plan is always better than our plan!

The blessing we encountered as we came to Hwy 18 was this…  it was under construction.  They had just put down beautiful blacktop AND they had not yet opened the slow-moving lane to car/truck traffic.  So – we had our own lane separated by cones and barrels from the heavy traffic which was great as it was still raining and visibility wasn’t the best.  We were provided our own route back to the road we needed to get to – oh yea and the rain got ride of the evil gnats…

Here is where we met our first local folks.  At the bottom of a hill, with confusing signage and rain stopping…  we found some guys in a UTV coming up behind us.  We waved them down and they stopped.  They looked like grandpa, dad, and grandson.  The UTV had a gun rack installed with 3 guns hanging there.  Yep – we were definitely out in the country.  However as you most often find – folks in the country are pretty helpful.  Even to a couple bikers who were completely soaked, bug covered and standing in the rain.  They cleared up the confusion about the roads and we started to ride on a road called “Crown Hill” Road.  Crown Hill Road was named because it was the “crown” of the local hills.  It ended up being a 6% average grade and 1.7 miles long.  It was a beast and it was a blessing we were still wet as it kept us cool!

Once on top we enjoyed the view and started toward our lunch stop – in Boscobel Wi.  We had one more detour to make due to some gravel on a road – which added a couple miles – but had a fun downhill ride into town.

One of the fun things was rolling into town and finding a local diner to eat at.  We found a guy mowing at a local cemetery as we came into town and he gave us directions to the Unique Café”, and it was.  Friendly folks and decorated like it was the 40’s/50’s.  Or, it could have been the same decorations when they opened it in the 40’s?…  anyway, we had huge meals with lots of carbs, drank lots of water, finished off with pie/muffins, topped off our water bottles and then headed back out after about an hour. 

Next, we met a local guy who announced himself as the “bike guy” from town and asked if we were bikers.  Now when he saw us, we were on our bikes, helmets on, all geared up for cross country riding…  so, it was a funny thing to ask.  He then told us he rides about 5 miles, builds his own bikes (including the one he was riding) and asked where we were coming from.  Once we told him of our plan, he said goodbye, jumped the bike off the curb and headed away.  It was a fun moment for sure

It was 2pm, 67 miles ridden and 40 to go.  We crossed the Wisconsin River, climbed a big hill out of the valley and then headed towards our next towns of Barnum, Petersburg, Gays Mills and finally Viroqua. 

I’ll tell ya – a big climb out of Boscobel after roast beef, potatoes, and gravy… was slow going – it wasn’t the biggest hill – but it seemed like it with a belly that was full. It was nice scenery though as we climbed out of the Wisconsin River valley heading north towards the Kickapoo River valley.

The Kickapoo River area is beautiful and somewhat familiar as we had kayaked there a few years ago.  Peddling along the river valley was nice except this was the roughest 20 mile stretch of road we faced so speeds were down a bit.  As we came into Gays Mills we went downtown to get some more water and snacks but found the downtown basically like a ghost town.  It was odd until Kevin remembered they had a serious flood the year before.  We later learned that this has happened a couple times and so the town was rebuilding further away from the river.  So we were riding around town looking for a gas station, store, anything to take a break. Then we saw Susan….  Well we saw someone mowing the grass at the bank and went to ask for directions and THEN really met Susan.  She was very friendly, extremely odd but super helpful.  She informed us that (and this is a quote) “there are a lot of things that aren’t true in America today – but that sign (pointing to a sign that said Market place) ain’t one of them” she was confirming the sign did indeed lead to snacks.  She said she was sorry she didn’t have drinks for us in her work truck, so we confirmed that the “market place” had drinks and she, with a huge sweeping motion of her hands, said loudly “they have ALL the drinks there!”   We chatted a bit about where we were coming from and where we were going and then she offered to pray for us.  She prayed for protection and for us to be comforted by the Lord as we rode.  Based on a few other hints, it seemed that we’d found an old hippy who’d found Jesus!  

Susan wasn’t wrong, the Market Place was a gas station, grocery store, and general store.  It had everything including AC.  We rested, ate, and got ready for the last bit of hills before we stopped for the night. 

As we rode out we had some big climbs, saw some cool farms, and saw some Amish boys who just finished cutting hay with horses and wagons.  Our last few miles were mostly downhill to Viroqua.  Upon rolling into the motel, we met a guy, not sure who he was, but we referred to him as “one tooth” because that is all he had.  One tooth on the bottom.  He wasn’t staying at the motel, he was just sitting in the chairs outside, drinking coffee and chatting with everyone.  Nice guy and had we not been exhausted it would have been fun to hear more – but we needed food and a break. It was about 7:30 pm and we had been going for 13 hours.  We had Chinese delivered from town, cleaned up, ate, and passed out for the night.  We rode 107 miles, were on the bike seats for 10 hours, and climbed 5300’ of hills. 

Day 2 – We started the morning with a 3-mile ride to the other side of town and a local restaurant.  Lots of pancakes, ham, water, juice, and eggs.  We ate like we had a big day ahead – because we did.  Day 2 was going to be fewer hills overall but lots more time in the sun.  So after leaving Viroqua we took a short bike path to Westby and then off into the countryside.  The road we took led us to an amazing valley, like nothing I had seen in Wisconsin before.  It is called the Bohemien Valley and included a beautiful trout stream.  We spent a wonderful hour riding in the morning light through this place with frequent stops just to look around.  However, in the back of our minds, we were sure we had to climb out of this valley as the next town we were coming to was Middle Ridge.  Ridge means on top of a hill…  and we were in a deep valley.  We were not disappointed and we were challenged.  The route we planned to take which would have been a lesser grade, was closed due to construction.  So, up we went.  It was 2 miles of climbing that ranged from 3% grade to 8% grade. We finally made it to the top and saw the town of Middle Ridge a couple miles away.  It was easy to find because of a tall church steeple rising above the landscape.  As we rolled into town we went to that steeple and found ourselves at St Peter’s Catholic Church.  Awesome building with a very old cemetery.  We stayed in the shade and took a break.  We were hoping for some water, so I (being the adventurous one) went to the church door and it opened.  Inside we used the bathroom and got some water.  It was a beautiful old church with stained glass, a big pipe organ, and neat statues.  Since I grew up Catholic I was interested in looking at everything…being out of the sun was a nice break.  Kevin then went out to get his other water bottle, this is where the trouble started…   turns out the guy across the street who was mowing the ball field “saw two strangers hanging around the church and then going in” so he came over to investigate and started questioning Kevin about who we were, how we’d gotten in, what we were doing, etc.  I understand it was a bit tense outside (meanwhile I’m enjoying the stained glass inside) until Kevin told him the door was unlocked and the guy inside was a pastor.  Yep, the “pastor card” worked to help diffuse the situation.  He then told Kevin that people had been breaking into the church and that is why he was concerned.  The conversation ended with him giving us good directions to our next town.  Meanwhile – the church secretary was alerted to these suspicious and sketchy dudes in the church and came to see what was going on.  Once she realized we didn’t mean any trouble we chatted and I was even able to explain the biblical story behind the stained-glass images .  She let us get our water and we all left on good terms.  It is a beautiful building sitting on top of a hill and was worth the time spent looking around. 

The directions received from the mower guy were awesome.  A very steep hill down via a country road and then back onto our route. Afte passing through Bangor and Four Corners we took a lunch break in Melrose at the 55-mile mark. Melrose was a depressed town with not much going on.  We found a diner that wasnt exactly a 4 star establishment but we got the food we needed to get us down the road.  The place was pretty dirty and had seen its best days about 20 years before. 

We had about 40 miles to go and 4 very big hills before we would reach our motel in Osseo.  We were getting baked in the heat and sun so we rested in Taylor WI at a little gas station/café place.  The people were nice but you could tell it was a very blue-collar town.  It turns out there is a sand mine in town and lots of railroad activity.   It appeared almost everyone was either farming or working the rails or at the mine.  Kevin and I had slushies, enjoyed the AC and some salty chips too because we were sweating so much.  The lady behind the counter was nice and came over to chat a couple times while we sat in a booth.  We will call her “7 mile”…   She asked where we were going and then she told us of the huge hills between where we were and where we were going.  She then told us she lived in the area for many years and was sure it was 7 miles to Pigeon Falls, the next town we were heading towards.  She also said we would see lots of deer along the way.  She was right, we had some big hills…  but “7 miles” had the distance wrong.  It was almost 12 miles and there were no deer at all.  We laughed about her fail on the distance and the wildlife.  No matter though – she was nice and we had a good conversation. 

Most of the conversations we had with folks on the trip were, Where you coming from?…  we’d say state line….  They’d say Where are you going to? …  we’d say, Lake Superior…  which almost always ended with a phrase that equaled “you are crazy” (I guess that confirms that we are.)

We arrived in Pigeon Falls, found a park with a shade tree for some chill time.  Our next 10ish miles were along a busy road with lots of traffic. Fortunately the shoulder was wide.  We pushed on and came to Osseo where we stayed at the Super 8.  We unloaded, had a big pasta meal at the restaurant next door and then hit the hot tub.  Day 2 was done – we passed out about 10pm.  97 miles for the day and 9 hours on the saddle. 

 Day 3 – This was going to be our flattest day, but it also had a long stretch (40 ish miles) along a fairly busy road that was as straight as an arrow.  Not the most exciting part of the trip – but once you start getting further north rideable roads become limited.  We had two possible ending points.  Winter at about 100 miles away or Hayward at 126 miles away.  We were hoping to make Hayward but wanted to see how the day went.  We grabbed a quick bite from the hotel breakfast offering, loaded up, and then headed north.  After about 20 miles we found our first detour due to road construction so we had to adjust a bit – but that led us down a nice country lane with minimal traffic.  About this time, we started to notice an ominous darkening in the sky to the west.  A quick check of the radar showed a huge storm that was in Minnesota and heading our way.  The weather services were all over the place on what was going to happen.  One said the storm would hit about noon, the others said about 4pm.  Since we had a close call with storms in 2017 we adjusted course a bit so that we would have shelter if needed and pushed harder to get to Cornell WI for lunch.  Cornell is where we were going to meet up with our wives who were driving up to join us for the last day.  About this time the scenery changed from farms to woods and streams.  It was clear we were UP NORTH!

To get there we took the Old Abe Trail which runs along the Chippewa River.  It is a very nice paved trail and a recommended ride if you have the chance.  As a side note – bears have been seen on this trail!  Mel and Kathi saw one when they rode the trail. We also met a couple of nice older ladies on the trail.  One stopped and said, “were you guys out on the highway near Wissota Park, I passed you!”  She was driving up to Cornell to meet a friend and they were going to ride the trail.   She was impressed we came so far.  We talked about the weather approaching and we all headed off our own way. 

Kevin and I arrived at a nice diner/ice cream shop called Dylan’s Dairy in Cornell about noon as the storm approached.  The weather people who said noon were right!   Big winds, tornado sirens, tons of rain and a little hail all hit in the area.  Fortunately this all hit while we were inside. Mel and Kathi joined us for lunch (they arrived just as the storm was hitting).  We ended up taking a 2 hour break to avoid the worst part of the storm.  This meant we most likely were not going to make Hayward and instead focused on Winter as our finishing point for the day.

Kevin and I took as the rain was slowing.  We knew we were going to get soaked riding on wet roads – so we might as well start in the rain LOL.  Riding in the rain may not sound like fun to some…  but after a day of bright sun and lots of heat an afternoon with light rain sounded great. 

The only part that wasn’t fun was riding along Hwy 27.  It is a busy road, with plenty of shoulder, but also had lots of trucks.  Every time a big truck rolled by – we were power washed with water from the road.  Not to mention all the water and mud that was splashing our shirts from the tires.  This lasted about 20 miles until we got to Ladysmith.  Once there we pulled into a busy gas station to take a break.  We had a couple funny encounters.  One lady stepped out of her car, saw and said “looks like you guys could have used some fenders…   then we checked our shirts and she was right.  We were a sight! Stripes of mud up the back. The next encounter was with an older gentleman who was interesting for sure.  He said – “didn’t I see you guys out on that highway?  I think I passed you?  Where ya going?”  now the questions were pretty normal – however he had dentures that also were missing teeth.  (I didn’t know this was possible) and the dentures weren’t fastened too well.  So every time he talked his teeth kept jumping up and down.  It was hard to keep a straight face during the conversation.  He was a cool old dude he just had some teeth problems.  He said goodbye and good luck and hopped in his old truck and headed off.  Most of the rest of the folks going in and out just looked at us like we were crazy – which had already been demonstrated by the previous days’ adventures.

We left Ladysmith and road to Ojibwa and then to Winter where we stopped and waited for our pick up from our wives.  While there we met a nice lady behind the counter at the store.  She gave us free coffee once she heard how far we had ridden and we talked about all the bears up in the area.   Josh and Kelly Fosler arrived in Hayward a little before we did.  They were planning on doing some riding with us for Day 4 along with Mel and Kathi.  So we all met for dinner and finalized plans for the next day.   Day 3 finished at about 102 miles.

Day 4 – Kelly, Josh, Kevin and I all left the hotel, got some food on the way, and drove to Winter to start the ride again.  We were going to ride through the Checquamegon-Nicolet National Forest for most of the ride and planned on arriving in Clam Lake for our break.  It was going to be about 30 miles.  We had hoped to see some elk or even wolves and instead saw 3 bears. Well at least Kevin did.  He saw a mom and two cubs cross the road near him.  Pretty cool sighting for sure!  Otherwise we saw trees, steams, lots of flowers, and lots of birds.

We arrived in Clam Lake for a break.  Josh, Kevin and I then pushed on towards Mellen WI with plans to have lunch there as a group.  This ride was nice – especially since the last miles were all downhill. We were starting to approach Lake Superior so we were losing elevation along the way.  We met in Mellen for sandwiches, ate, and then Kevin and I started towards the finish line.  Our goal was Ashland WI about 27 miles away.    The first 10 miles of this section was a blast!  It was all a steep downhill with smooth roads and a wide shoulder on a bigger highway.  We were flying towards the finish!   It was hot – but the lake was close.  We then jumped off the highway and hit the county roads towards Ashland.  Of course – we now picked up a stiff headwind for the balance of the ride – but it didn’t matter we were so close you could feel the cool breeze coming from the lake.  About 1 mile out you could see Lake Superior – we had made it!  Josh, Kelly, Mel, and Kathi were waiting for us at Maslowski Park in Ashland.  We road into the park and walked right into the lake.  We made our goal!  The State of Wisconsin had been ridden – again. The total was ~380 miles and 32 hours on the bikes