Daily Summary

A Short, Beautiful Day

We only had 58 miles into Madison. The day started warm again and finished in the 90’s by the time we got to the hotel. We left early because people wanted to beat the heat. Just 4 hours of pedaling.

There were some pretty decent hills here and there, but I found them enjoyable. That steep one around mile 20 was 12% – 16% grade for a while. Nothing you can do but power through hills that steep.

The ride today felt a lot like back home. Lots of hills and trees. No head winds and at times some tail winds, so very enjoyable. I rode by myself the first hour or two and then we stuck together more later as we navigated a few towns and came into Madison.

We made great time early and then slowed a lot on the way into Madison as it was busier roads with a lot of lights. There was a bike lane the whole way though.

The Sights

We started by crossing the Wisconsin River early. The Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor’s Center was just after the river as we turned into the hills.

You can see an early view and one of the tree covered tunnels we went through. I also almost ran over a little friend in the road. By the time I turned around to get a picture he was almost off the road. We have had multiple snakes in the road the past few weeks.

I have a picture from a random park in Mazomanie. Then, there’s the Campbell’s Soup silo. I had to get a shot of that for my wife and in-laws.

Finally, you’ll see some shots over the water as we entered Madison. There were some neat old houses all along the water for a while and I got a picture of one. If you look at the route map, you’ll see that downtown Madison is on a piece of land between two bodies of water – Lake Mendota to the left (the pictures are this one) and Lake Monona to the right.

The Little Adventure

At one point near Cross Plains, a bridge was out again on the rural road we were taking (we’ve had several bridges out). So, we had to do some quick map checking and find a way around. It ended up being easy.

It is interesting how various little challenges pop up on a trip this long. But, they can be fun if you just accept them and enjoy solving the problem. We probably only lost 10 – 15 minutes at most.