136 Miles in Rural Wisconsin

I am planning to do Ride Across Indiana in three weeks, so I wanted to get a long training ride in today in preparation. RAIN is about 157 miles, so I wanted to do around 130-135 or so. This would build on last weekends ride of 100 miles. I'll do one more week of hard training and then start my taper.

Today's ride draws heavily from the routes I've been doing in the Navarino area. Part of the reason is I just like the area. And part of the reason was that the wind was supposed to be out of the north today. So heading north seemed like a good move. So I would go out my normal way to Embarrass, but instead of looping back, I would do an additional loop through Caroline, Tigerton and Marion. Here is a map of the route.

Appleton - Tigerton 135

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This turned out to be a difficult ride. It was not especially hot (high of 79, but it was humid), so that made it tough. The north wind never materialized. Instead a stiff breeze blew most of the day out of the east. So after turning around in Tigerton, it was a tough slog back to Appleton. And as usual, I seem good at finding some of the worst pavement in the state to ride on.

In two sections, I actually wasn't on pavement at all. First, out of Tigerton, I didn't want to be on Highway 45 due to the fast traffic. So I jumped over on the Wiowash State Trail for about 3 miles. The surface is crushed limestone, but my 700x23 tires handles it no problem. My speed was decent too, 17+ most the time I was on it.

Then, east of Embarrass, I took a new route back to cross the Wolf River. I was on Hunters lane, where the pavement was terrible. Totally gone in places. And then it was totally gone, as in I was on a dirt road for about 2-3 miles. It was OK, not as good as the Wiowash trail because the dirt road is intended more for cars than bikes, but I was able to make it through. The good part was though the whole road was enclosed in tall trees, so it was very scenic.

When you get out west of Embarrass, the ground does get hillier. These are the Rib mountains, not mountains in the sense of Colorado, but more roll to the terrain. Farms seem to be smaller here, with most of the hilltops covered with pine forests. Scenic area. Lots of interesting rock outcroppings too. County M into Tigerton and County SS coming back were both especially good.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Horses north of Shiocton


Small farm near Caroline. Hard to see in the photo, but there are hills


Tree with interesting wildflowers


Rural Wisconsin has lots of interesting old churches


Entering Tigerton


You wish all the roads were like this


This works too

Navarino Area 100

One of my favorite areas to ride in the Appleton area in the Navarino area. It can roughly be described as the area east of the wolf river, west of Highway 47, north of Highway 54 out of Shiocton and south of Highway 29 south of Shawano. Much of the area is home to a nature preserve, so it is wooded. This adds a lot more interest than row after row of corn. I also like this area because it is possible to ride there from Appleton. No need to get in a car and drive two hours.

On Sunday, I rode out of Appleton via Rock Road, and then up to Shiocton. North on Highway 187, crossing the Wolf River on Highway 156. Up to Embarrass where I took my first stop. Then Cloverleaf Lake Road past the lakes and back East of the Wolf River, crossing on County CCC. This time, I wound around County T to get to Sunrise, Valley and Wildlife roads to eventually end up on Lower Navarino. I think I like taking McDonald road better. A better quality surface, and more scenic. Back down past Deer View Road and into Black Creek for another stop, and then back to Appleton. Of the 100 miles I did, probably a good 50+ were in wooded areas.

The area is very low traffic too. Once you get off of Rock Road, you see very few cars. The area around Cloverleaf Lakes is built up, but it is OK. And some of the road is very scenic.

I took a few pictures, so I will let them tell the rest of the story.

Rolling West on Highway 156


Wolf River from the Boat Landing on Highway 156


Don't even want to know how they came up with the name.


Typical Wisconsin Dairy Farm


Crossing the Wolf River again on County CCC