But with the bright sun sneaking rays of warmth out behind the clouds as I started along the Wild Goose State Trail heading south from Fond Du Lac, riding in a hidden world of my own through woods and past idyllic farm and pasture land, I couldn't help but be in a good mood. I remember smiling at the thought of how good it is just to be alive. Gary had warned me about the trail and had said he found it intolerable riding it on the west side of the Horicon Marsh, and that he much preferred taking country roads on the east side instead. But he also told me that with my tires I might not mind it. He was right about the latter. There's a reason, well, many, why I have mountain tires, and that's one of them. I found the trail to be smooth as butter for the most part, with just a few holes (from ground squirrels it seemed) to be on the look out for. It was a nice, calm ride for the whole time I was on the trail.
Then it came time to get off it and head west. And that too was fine while I was on a country road into Beaver Dam, though there were some more short, but steep, little hills to climb. On one in particular I found myself racing up it as hard as I could because I had a garbage truck stuck behind me (no way to see beyond the hill to know if it was safe to pass). I stopped at a Shopko in town to use the bathroom and buy some "food" (by which I mean a soda, candy bar, and lemon cookies from their $1 section).
Then the plan was to get on highway 151. It's the straightest, easiest, most direct route to Madison, and it would take me almost directly to my friend Zac's doorstep. ...The plan did not work out. Bicycles can't take 151. They are explicitly forbidden from it. ...But of course even though I had searched online yesterday to find out if they could (since I noted Google Maps didn't direct me onto 151), nowhere would actually tell me this. I didn't get to find out until I saw the sign...on the entrance ramp. Ever turn your bike around on the entrance ramp of a highway to get back onto another busy highway coming from the wrong way from which no one expects you? Yeah, it's as fun as it sounds. Truth be told, I was mad. And as I worked my way, taking a left here, a right here, to zig zag to my destination on country roads that steered me past foul smelling feed lots and no towns at all, no place for shelter to take from the storm that was now rapidly coming on, no breaks from the rising wind...yeah, I only got angrier. Why, I found myself asking, was the direct, diagonal route that took one through all the towns on the way, denied to me, made accessible only to those with the already extensive privellege of a car? You can tell me it's about safety, but with the wide shoulder I've felt more secure on interstates out West than I have on many a two lane highway with no shoulder. And as I've seen many places, there's always the option of a paralleling bike path. I know many people would tell me I'm asking for special treatment or needless expense, and honestly, I understand that sentiment. ...I'd just respond by saying that all I want as a bicyclist is the same opportunity to get places by a sensible route as what is provided to the folk driving the big metal kill machines that make the roads unsafe for me in the first place.
You know the single biggest reason people tell me they wouldn't do a bike tour, why they don't want to commute, why they simply don't bike places? Car traffic. They're scared of getting run over by a big metal kill machine. So what do they do? They all drive inside their scary metal boxes to protect them from the other scary metal boxes. ...And sometimes I just wonder how much less car traffic there would be if only everyone who said they would bike were it not for all the cars on the road, simply stopped contributing to all those cars on the road by biking. You have to be the change you want to see in the world. I may have to detour because the nice roads are reserved for drivers, but I will never let those drivers stop me from getting where I want to go. ...End rant.
I suited up for the rain. ...it got windy as hell, and showered a little, but never truly rained. The sun eventually returned and I ended up suiting back down, sweaty, within the city limits. Biking into Madison honestly wasn't any harder than Minneapolis. There's good bike lanes all over and I was even able to take some bike trail on the way through town too. I got to the apartment building, with a very convenient location next to downtown and a beautiful view of Lake Mendota, texted Zac, and took some time to clean up my bike and bags, which were very dirty from the day, largely from the trail early on. Then I locked up my bike, carried my bags in, let myself in (as he'd left it unlocked for me), and promptly returned to bring Bree inside. She deserves to be indoors if possible, especially with a chance of a storm. I set her tires on plastic bags to keep any dirt from getting on the floor.
When Zac got home he had to deal with the fun of figuring out his financial fix, rent money due, about to roll in from his first paycheck...but no way to cash it thanks to not having in state ID. I was half asleep...maybe more than half, after the long day I'd had, before we finally headed out to meet up with a friend of his, get the money he ended up borrowing from his parents, and then head for dinner. We had to walk to a couple different places (as one would only do limited funds) for him to actually get the money, and it was dark by the time it was . Truth be told I was just staggering along like the walking dead following his lead, sorry he was in such a stressful situation but with nothing much I could do. Once that was resolved we got pizza (macaroni and cheese pizza!) from a local joint and listened to some mostly terrible open mic while eating it. We went to a bar and he his friend played pool and had a beer while I sat in a bar stool and tried to stay conscious. By the time we got back I was out like a light almost as soon as I hit the pillow.
Today I slept in until a blissful 6:30. Then I cleaned out my panniers, cleaned my camelback, organized some stuff, and started figuring out my route. I took my bike to the bike shop, Motorless Motion. She got a mostly clean bill of health to my delight, though not entirely surprise, as I've been checking her out myself regularly to the extent I can l. Bottom bracket, hubs, everything good and tight, pads have as much life left as they've had so far, wheels mostly true, and he said he reckons the tires still have quite a few miles left, enough to hit the end he would guess, but not to hold him to it. I had him replace the chain (which even that could have waited a little while) and he was nice enough to clean my drive train and adjust my shifting while he was at it. Around 2000 miles of touring in, 2600 on the odometer, and we're at $10 of maintenance so far. ...Of course I then went and spent $40 on a pair of gloves (man, full retail price again for me, eh?). But the old ones were done. I wanted to keep them for at least the start of this tour since that would make them the one thing I was still using from my first tour to Seattle, everything else replaced by new and better stuff I'd gotten while working at the Bike Rack. But they're definitely spent. And now they're in the trash. There's only so much room in life for silly sentimentality.
I bought some groceries, some to take with me, others to fill a little space in Zac's otherwise empty refrigerator for the time I'm here. I walked around and saw some things. And now I'm just relaxing. The change in pace is good every now and then.
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