Day 23 - Sunday September 6th

137.61 miles
8:41.21 hrs
32.0 max
15.8 Avg

As expected, I got to a late start this morning. I didn't start biking till 11:30 and this made me pretty uneasy about the whole day. I knew that I had about 130 miles to ride before I reached the sanctuary that I call home. Lucky for me, the ride was flat and fast for the majority of the trip. The route was also engulfed by gorgeous scenery that took my mind off the distance ahead and allowed me to lose myself in the ride.

As I was approaching the 50 mile marker (into the trip) and was coming down a decent sized hill, two bikers on a training ride pulled out about 300 yards in front of me. With a little bit of adrenaline pumping through my body in hopes that I could meet up with these bikers and ride with some company once again (like I did in VT), I found myself biking at a steady 22 mph on average for the next 2 miles or so. At first I was gaining quite a bit of ground on these two gentlemen but as they slowly increased their pace I was no longer jumping that gap as quickly as I hoped. Soon enough, the adrenaline was starting to wear off and found myself about 50 yards behind my target. I quickly jumped out of the saddle and started to sprint. As I got closer and closer I started to feel the slip stream and I knew at that point that I had them in my grasp.

After I caught these two gents, I sat patiently in the back of their turbulence and took a joy ride for the next 12 miles or so. The gentlemen held a pace of about 22 miles an hour on average throughout their ride and I was very impressed that I could keep up with them with my loaded bike. Towards the end of the conjoined ride, I found myself loosing ground on the climbs but I easily caught back up on the descents. Unfortunately, I was not able to converse with them before they turned off into a gas station but I can't even imagine what was going through their heads when they saw a guy with a loaded bike keeping up with them on a training ride! I was proud of myself!

A couple dozen photos and about 9 hours of actual biking time later, I ended up pulling into my house around 9:30 pm. My mom was worried frantic and wanted to come pick me up when I was near Prescott but I would not let her, I needed to complete this day unassisted. In doing so I set a new record for myself for longest ride in a day! I can't wait for the week of relaxation to begin!

Day 22 - Saturday September 5th

128.78 miles
8:00.21 hrs
39.5 max
16.0 avg

With my family coming down to Madison the following weekend for my brothers soccer tournament, I packed up all the essentials into my two panniers and left my trailer in Madison for my 270 mile trip home to Hudson, WI. Losing the trailer allowed me to pick up the pace and really make good time on the longer ride. The combination of decreased rolling resistance and increased aerodynamics made riding much easier. I was surprised to find that the increased height of my center of gravity did not bother me while riding.

I had strangly gotten in contact (they rarely ever answer their phones) with two of my old high school friends the previous night who currently attend Iowa State University. I asked them, with little hope of them accepting, if they wanted to go camping at La Crosse on Saturday. They were both quick to say, "Okay, sounds good", without any hesitation. I was very excited to see them and this just gave me more motivation to make it to La Crosse in good time.

I took highway 14 all the way into La Crosse and the scenery was gorgeous. I had never been up the South West side of Wisconsin and had the opportunity to ride through my mothers birth place, Viroqua, WI. After making the trek through this quadrant of WI I have a new found respect for Wisconsin's landscape. Much to my dismay I strained my left calve some time between arriving in Milwaukee (maybe at the soccer game) and leaving Madison for La Crosse. On my trip to La Crosse my calve really started acting up (about 60 miles into the ride). At this point I could not put a lot of preassure on it without some intense pain. I pushed through the pain in excitement for the night to come.

Camping that night was a ton of fun! We shared stories, played cards, grilled some burgers and brats and just joked around till 'way to late' in the morning. Even though I knew that I had a long hike ahead of me the following day, I was ok with staying up late because it had been way to long since I had seen my friends and it was only one more day of riding before I would have a week at home with my family to rest.

Friday September 4th

I spent the day with my sister in Madison, WI.

Day 21 - Thursday September 3rd

94.69 miles
6:51.58 hrs
27.6 max
13.7 avg

Lindsey's boyfriend escorted me out of Milwaukee this morning. He too is an avid biker and it was great to ride with someone again. It became apparently obvious how much the trailer slowed me down on the climbs as he shot ahead of me every time we started up an incline. It sure made the ride go by faster. It is crazy what a little companionship and conversation can do for a ride. He took me through the scenic route around the south side of the city and then saw me off once we got to the Western side of the city.

The rest of the ride towards Madison, where my sister lives, was pretty nice. Again it was a longer day, but I made very good time. As I approached Madison there was a gorgeous sunset right over the lake on the south east side of the capital. This was the third city in a row that I cycled into after dusk. This did not bother me because every time I would enter a city at night I had a specific destination and a person of whom I was going to be seeing shortly.

It was great to see my sister, I ended up staying an extra day so that I could spend a little more time with her. It was one of the first times that we had an opportunity to do something, just the two of us. Time well spent!

Day 20 - Wednesday September 2nd

96.72 miles
6:21.50 hrs
26.6 Max
15.1 Avg

As I left Chicago in the 'early' morning my mood was very poor. I don't know exactly what factors contributed to my low morale, it could have been one of many. This was the first time that I had been to Chicago and not been able to really see any of the city, in a relaxed manner. I really didn't have enough time to spend with Molly and this bugged me immensely. Perhaps it was from a phone call I had with Dawn the previous night? The crappy road conditions? Or the poor directions some people gave me to get to the road I wanted? Or... I have no idea really... All I know is that I wanted more time in Chicago but felt rushed to get home. Next time I will make sure that my visit is more relaxed.

I kept this mood for most of the day until I hit the Wisconsin boarder. At this point my mood immediately altered. The feel of Wisconsin pavement under my wheels pepped me up and I was excited to get to Milwaukee to see Lindsey. Of course, one missed turn on the southern side of Milwaukee put me into town later than expected.

Lindsey, a good friend from SLU (Saint Louis University, for those who know nothing about my college life) is a very athletic woman and had an indoor soccer game this night. She kindly invited me to play with them and I happily accepted the invitation. Who am I to give up an opportunity to play sport? Even though I biked nearly a hundred miles previous to playing I was still excited to get on the soccer pitch!

Since I was not a member of the team I was last in line to get on the field. When my turn came, I jumped on the field and immediately tried to sprint towards the opposing player with the ball about 5 yards ahead of me. No more than 3 steps later I found myself flat on my face; my legs had forgotten how to run. I was so embarrassed but I could not help myself but laugh it off. I didn't find myself on the ground again the rest of the game, except when I meant to but I never had to pay so much attention to putting one foot in front of the other in my life. It is crazy what three weeks of just biking can do to your muscle memory. I wonder if my running muscles have started undergoing atrophy; I felt SO slow!