Time: 4:40:57
Distance: 67.460 (+10) miles
Average Speed: 14.4 mph
Max Speed: 41.9 mph
Calories Burned: 2626.6
Fat Burned: 312.7 g
We woke up today with promises of sunshine! The sun never really came out, but at least it didn't rain! It was still on the chilly side, so after a delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant, I put on my arm and leg warmers and we hit the road. My bike shoes were still wet, but since it wasn’t raining, I figured they’d dry out down the road.
We started out cruising through La Crosse, which is a college town. We rode through lots of fancy neighborhoods with beautiful houses. We connected to Highway 35 and were on our way to our destination for the day, Prairie du Chien. We rode about 10 miles and the sun came out and it warmed up. We pulled off to shed some layers. I may have accidentally flashed Jack. My shoes dried out. It was promising to be a great day!
We rode through lots of little towns and made great time. Notably, I saw a Smokey the Bear sign in Stoddard (Fire Danger Low!), but didn’t stop to take a picture with it, even though I really wanted to since I was wearing my Smokey the Bear jersey. My knees started to hurt a bit. Not sure if it was from riding in the cold yesterday or if the miles were just catching up with me or if I pounded too hard in the morning. I was averaging 16.0 mph at lunch.
We ate lunch at a biker bar called the Wooden Nickel in Ferryville, Wisconsin. It was such a lovely day, we ate outside on the deck with a view of Iowa across the river.
Great riding on Highway 35 with the best weather we’ve had so far
Wooden Nickel in Ferryville, WI
Group shot in Ferryville, WI
After lunch, we continued on. It was relatively flat, some rollers, with a tailwind. Overcast, but warm. We made it to Prairie du Chien before we knew it. Today reminded me why I love to ride my bike. :)
We got to Prairie du Chien and checked into our motel. My knees were hurting pretty badly at this point, but since we had gotten there so early and tomorrow is supposed to be long and hilly, we decided to take a 30 minute break and then ride on to Bagley to make tomorrow just a little easier. So I walked over to the gas station next to the motel and got some ice for my knees and an ice cream cone. We rested up and headed out for another 16 miles. We had one smallish climb and one huge climb, followed by the BEST. DOWNHILL. EVER! This descent blew Alligator Slide away. Perfectly smooth pavement. Curvy, but not too curvy. And not so steep to be scary. It was awesome. Also, I was quite amused by a cop sitting at the bottom, who could have pulled me over for speeding if he wanted to. I’m not sure I would even complain about a speeding ticket on my bicycle. :)
Today was a great day to ride a bike.
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