Riding Season has Finally Arrived

We appear to finally be shaking off winter in Northeast Wisconsin. I actually have been able to ride four days so far this week. Today, I even was able to get in a 50 mile ride. The basics of the ride are below.

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Nothing special here. Meade Street up north and then you bounce around up to Black Creek. From here, you use State Road to get across Highway 54. Instead of going up to Deer View as I normally do, I cut the route off and road on Genske Road and County P. This was nice. No traffic at all with woods and farmland mixed in. You get to Highway 187 and head down to Shiocton, which is an opportunity for a store stop. Then it is the normal route back using County Road A, Laird Road, Rock, Mayflower and finally Capitol

The route is flat save a few small hills coming back. It is very quiet once you get out of Appleton on Meade. All in all, a convenient ride of close to 50 miles.

Last Days of Autumn

Autumn is fading fast in Northeast Wisconsin, the way it always does this time of year. Within two, perhaps three weeks if we are lucky, the ground will be covered with snow and the cycling season will be over. Then it will be a few months of cross country skiing to try to keep the fitness level up, but also to give the body and especially the mind a break from cycling and a new activity to try.

This last weekend was a dose of real cold weather, a preview of what is to come. Saturday the high was in the mid 40's, not too bad, but a lot of cold rain all day with wind. Then Sunday, the high was just 38, windy and more cold rain, occasionally freezing, occasionally a few snowflakes mixed in. I actually did a 19 mile ride on Sunday. It was miserable. When the damp and cold get together, it is cold as cold can be. I thought I had picked a spot where the precipitation had let up for a while. I was wrong. I was glad when the ride was over.

Today was a much nicer day. I had some vacation that needed to be used by the end of the year, so I took today off. The high temp was 48 degrees, dry, and no wind at all. After Sunday, it felt like summer. I had on a base layer, jersey, arm and leg warmers, toe warmers, ear warmers and a wool jersey over the top. This was perfect for the weather today.

I went west of Appleton on Rock Road out to New London. Then I swung south on Bean City road and then headed back to Appleton on School road. The route is very rural and low traffic. The only services are in New London, but on a day like today you don't really need any. Overall, it is a nice ride, a little over 50 miles.

Bike route 757217 - powered by Bikemap

Ledgeview Ride and Fall Colors

Fall is in full swing in northeast Wisconsin. To take advantage of some of the fantastic colors coming into view, I reprised a route I created in the spring to go riding east of De Pere up onto the ridge line. The name of the road at the top of the ridge is called Ledgeview, so that is kind of what I call this route. What I like about the route is that while close to De Pere, it is actually quite rural and scenic. The area around Ledgeview and Sportsmans roads seem to be more established with more trees. In some ways it reminds me of Door county, but it isn't a 90 minute drive away.

I did a bit of a variation on my normal route today. First, I took the Fox River Trail all the way to the point where the pavement ends and the trail turns back into crushed limestone. This is now at Lasee Road. It is also new this summer. The pavement used to end at Rockland Road, but 4 more miles of trail were paved this summer. The trail is nice in town, but out of town it is even better. Trees line each side and there is less traffic. In one place you are enveloped in trees as you cross a wooden bridge over some low marshlands. This is a terrific amenity for the citizens of De Pere and Green Bay.

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Otherwise, the route is pretty much the same. I did the climbs up County W and County X but skipped Scray Hill Road this time. I like loping up through the neighborhood on my way back to De Pere as well. Much less traffic than Chicago street, and this time of year, many trees in this well to do subdivision are turning colors. I ended up getting back to the office on Main. Not something I like, but Grant is under construction at the railroad tracks, so Main is the only choice to get across without going out of your way.

Otherwise, enjoy the photographs

Appleton to Madison

I've toyed with this idea for a while. What if I rode from Appleton to Madison? A one way ride? Just to say I did it? My wife could drive down separately and bring a change of clothes and meet me at the hotel. Me, I'd get in a full day of riding, a long day (130 miles) of riding, and a true randonneur experience. If all went well, I could event submit the route to RUSA to be a permanent. It is an idea that has been swimming around in my head since last fall.

On Saturday, I finally made that idea a reality. I had booked a hotel and packed the car with all bag for a change of clothes in Madison. I'd finalized my route and printed up my cue sheet. So at 7:15 AM Saturday morning when I rolled out of my driveway, there would be no coming back. This was a one way trip.

I used the fairly conventional route to get out of Appleton--Prospect Avenue to American Drive to Shady Lane. Then Clayton Road to Larson Road to County G and on and on into Winneconne. I've been on these roads lots of times before, so this was all very familiar. What I could tell, even early in the morning, was that today was going to be hot and muggy. So I was trying to make sure I consumed enough fluids, even early on in the ride. I did a minimalist stop in Winneconne at the Kwik Trip, refilling on Gatorade. And then back on the bike.

From Winneconne, you are on Highway 116 for a brief bit, then Quigley road and O'Reilly Road. O'Reilly Road is really nice for about a mile. Tall trees on each side form a virtual canopy. I was thinking to myself it would be nice to ride on roads like this all day. Quickly though, you are out of that and down to Edgewater Road. The surface on Edwater Road is pretty tore up. It is what one of my friends would call slow pavement and you need to watch out for the rougher spots. But you are up on a ridge, so you get a nice view of the valleys to the south and east. Lots of green fields and trees below.

After Edgewater Road, it is County Road E, through Eureka and into Ripon. About the only thing notable on County E is that in most places, the pavement is in good shape. Then it is into Ripon. I stopped at the BP, refilled fluids and had an energy bar and was off again. I tried to keep my stops short today.

I have been to Ripon before on the bike, but after Ripon, this was all new. And seeing as Ripon was at the 51 mile mark, it truly was the point of no return. I saw another rider in Ripon coming back from his ride, so we chatted for a couple minutes until he turned off and I continued on. I was pretty much heading due south now on County Road A and then County Road N. County Road N was some more of that slow, rough pavement. I hate that stuff. But it is also what we ride on a lot in our brevets, so it is suitable training. On County N, there are 3 or 4 good rolling hills, probably about 150-200 feet in elevation each. The last one comes just east or Markeson. It isn't overly difficult, but you get to look at it for a while before you go up it, so it plays on your mind a little.

The next stop was Randolph, so after skirting Fox Lake, it was a quick couple miles into Randolph. I stopped at the Shell station in town. It would have been better to stop at the one south of town as it is larger and probably has more of a selection. But the Shell in town met all my needs. By now, it was about 12:30, and it was really getting hot. So more fluids were in order before setting off for Columbus.

Soutrh of Randolph, I got onto County Road G and then County road DG. I really liked County DG. Curvy so it had some visual interest, and a few small hills to climb too. The hills were not bad, but now I was feeling them. It was hot, and I had 85 miles in my legs. I got through the small town of Fall River (no services) and turned off to head into Columbus. I remember just south of town, there was this nice Creek, very pretty and all wooded. I especially enjoyed the shade. The temp was in the mid 80's by now, humid, and sunny skies, no clouds at all. The shade felt nice, and I kept hoping a cloud or two would roll in, but no luck on that all day.

At the north end of Columbus, they have a statue of who else but Christopher Columbus, so I stopped to snap a picture. Getting into town, I stopped at the Kwik Trip. This Kwik Trip is the same one that was one of our controls on the GLR 400 km brevet last year. And across the street, the same Burger King where we all chowed down dinner. No Burger King for me this time, but heading into the Kwik Trip, I did plan to stop a little longer and eat something more substantial. I did not have much of an appetite at this point because of the heat, but I knew I had to eat something. I did down a soda, have a Chicken-Monterey Jack Tornado (rolled Chicken and cheese thing) and a yogurt smoothie. It would have been good to eat more, but in such hot conditions, it is hard to eat more.

Leaving Columbus, I was now on my last leg into Madison, about 33 miles. This is when the ride got really tough. Up to Columbus, my average speed had been 18.2 mph. When I got to Madison, it was 17.7 mph. Maybe a little bit of that was due to stop and go in Madison, but some of that was I was just plain tired. The heat and distance were starting to take a toll on me. My legs didn't have the same zip. For whatever reason, the terrain just seemed more desolate too. Maybe because I was struggling for about 10 miles and it was hot. Just everwhere it seemed like I was in the middle of a cornfield. And, the wind had come up from the southeast, so I had a it of a headwind to go into.

At mile 117, I crested a small hill that had some trees at the top and stopped to take a 5 minute rest. This helped a lot. Sure, my legs were still tired, but I was able to catch my breath and regroup a little. What really helped too was that in about 6 more miles, I was on the outskirts of Madison. It was great. I was here. I was on this 4 line boulevard that had nice wide bike lanes on either side. Hooray, hooray. Sure, there would be Madison traffic, but a bike lane, I am happy. I worked my way over to Monona Road and started to head south to the hotel. No bike lane here, but cars seemed to be fine with me there. Madison is used to bikers after all. And sure enough, at mile 130.5, the hotel. I had made it.

I checked in, called my wife to let here know I was there (she was shopping at the mall) and got a drink to try to cool off. A shower felt good. So did some good Thai food. As did a swim in the pool later that night.

A ride of 130 miles is always a big effort. On a ride that long, you are going to have some rough spots. I did, between Columbus and Madison. What I think people also fail to realize is that you aren't just battling the distance on these. There is always something else that makes things hard. Often that something is the weather. Today it was heat and humidity. It wasn't Texas or Virginia hot, but it was up there. And after being in it all day, the heat will take the energy out of you. I did a good job of drinking and staying hydrated. Still though, I probably could have done even better. Having some water to douse on my head during the ride would have been nice too. Hate to devote a whole bottle to just water to douse on myself, but it may be something to figure out how to do.

The final stats were 130.5 miles, 17.7 mph avg speed, 8 hours, 30 minutes of total time, 6 hours 20 minutes of ride time. Overall, I think that is excellent. Some of those roads are pretty rough, so they really slow you down. Under 9 hours of total time is very good. I'll try to improve next time, but today, I am happy to say I have actually done it. I've rode from Appleton to Madison.

De Pere Hill Route

Just east of De Pere, there is a ridge that sits above the valley. Quite a few rural roads go up the ridge, so I put together a route where I can climb up one road, descend another and then climb up the ridge again. Since we don't have any real big climbs in the area, this is what one has to do in order to get some vertical in. The other option is just to do hill repeats, but it is a little more interesting to go up and down different roads.

Depere Hill Route

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I started the route in West De Pere from my employer. After crossing the river, I hopped on the bike trail to get down to Rockland Road. From there, I took Rockland out to County PP. County PP does not have a shoulder and there is a little bit of fast traffic on it, so in the future I might use Ryan Road to get down to Old Martin first.

The first climb is up County Road W. At first is just a grinding climb. You are going up gradually. Then at the end, it ramps up for probably an eighth of a mile. All told, it is about 250 feet of elevation gain.

Turning left onto Ledge Crest Drive, you pedal on the top of the ridge for a while. This section of the ride is beautiful. The roads are very quiet and forested on either side. You are only a few miles from Green Bay, but it feels like you are in Door County.

You drop down through more forested terrain onto Sportman's Drive. When you get to County X, you turn right and start climbing again. This is another climb totaling about 250 feet. It really has three main sections where it ramps up, then flattens out, and then ramps up again. After getting to the top of the ridge, you take a left on Morrison and ride past an active quarry to get to Scray's hill.

You actually start on top of Scray's hill, and need to get over to Chicago street first. After descending, you turn left at the Golf Course to start coming back up Scray's Hill Road. There is about 200 feet of total climbing here, though it comes in about 0.8 miles. The first part of the climb is a grind that will send you into your small chain ring. But it is the last part, as the road turns to the left that is the killer. The grade really kicks up here, probably 12% or so. You better already be in the easiest gear you have. The steep section isn't that long, maybe 100-150 meters, but it seems to take forever when you are only going 5 mph.

Once back on top of Scray's, a left hand turn will take you back to Chicago street and descending back towards De Pere again. After passing the golf course on my way down again, I took the next left onto Oak Cliff Circle. There are a number of very well to do homes in this area, and most of the lots are wooded. There is also a little roll to the road, so another hill or too. Nothing like the three above, but you will know these are there. This road is also nice because it gets you back into De Pere with much less traffic than Chicago Street.

According to bikely.com, I got about 1200 feet of climbing in today. Not bad for this area. This is really a cool route too because a lot of it is on very quiet country roads that are very scenic. Maybe in the future I can even find a couple more hills to add to it.

Luxemburg - Brussels - Luxemburg -- A Wisconsin Spring Classic

A large part of Wisconsin was originally settled by Northern Europeans. Consequently, many towns bear the names of cities or countries in Europe. Berlin, Denmark, Holland, Luxemburg, Brussels and Kiel come to mind. In honor of the Cycling Spring Classics every year held in the northern European countries like Belgium and Holland, some folks around here decided to put on our own spring classics ride, riding from two appropriately named towns (Luxemburg and Brussels) one day over Easter weekend. Usually the weather is pretty iffy in Wisconsin this time of year, making it a perfect tribute to the races in Europe.

Luxemburg-Brussels-Luxemburg

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The route was 60 miles. It first wound west and north out of the small town of Luxemburg. In the first 10 miles were two sections on pave' (in honor of riding on the cobbles of Europe). Our sections of pave' were not real cobbles, but instead the crushed limestone of the Ahnapee State Trail. That stuff is hard to ride on, especially on the 700x23 tires on my road bike. What also made it hard was that almost everyone else on the ride was either a racer or ex-racer. So we weren't touring down this sandy gravelish path. We were doing 19 or 20 mph.

The other thing that is always a big factor in Europe during these races is weather, and Wisconsin did not disappoint on this day. Temp was in the low 50's, which wasn't bad. But it did rain, never too heavy, but enough to make things a mess and pick up a lot of road splatter. What was nasty though was the wind at 20 mph gusting to 30 mph coming out of the west. And it never let up all day.

The first half of the ride flew by and we were soon into Brussels. I was nowhere close to contesting the hill climb into Brussels. I was just trying to hang onto the lead group. Like I said, a lot of these other guys raced. A few riders did fall off the back, and caught us in Brussels. They decided to take the shorter route back. But as we found out later, they got lost on the way back and actually ended up doing more miles than us.

After refueling in Brussels, about 10 of us took off again in the lead group. Now we are heading south and west, so the wind is just brutal. About 5 miles out, another rider and I were dropped off the back about 100 meters. For a while, all I could do was maintain a pace to keep the gap the same. But finally, on one of the legs due west into the wind, I summoned the strength to pull both of us back into the lead group. It was pretty cool to have those guys acknowledge us for getting back in the lead group, because they weren't slowing down for us, and I had to fight for every meter to pull us back.

Half way back to Luxemburg, three riders took off and gapped us off the front. Another rider would later try to bridge up. For those of us remaining, we were just trying to maintain a steady pace. The guys off the front were young guys who raced. We weren't going to catch them. But we just kept gutting it out to the finish. Heading directly into the wind, we were doing 15 mph. Going south with a cross wind it was 18-20. It was hard the whole way.

We finally got to Champion, turned south and then back east. A tailwind at last. At this point though, the rest of the group gapped me about 50 meters. After all the hard riding, my legs just couldn't spin faster than 25-26 mph, and they were going faster than that. I closed the gap down once, but then would get gapped again. I finished about 100 meters back of my group, but not bad at all. It was a hard day. I know I went into the red-zone multiple times and I could just feel my legs burning in anguish a lot of those times. The weather was hard too. I had the right gear for the rain (booties, rain jacket, waterproof gloves), but there was no hiding from that wind.

Getting back to the parking lot, one of the guys who organized the ride had a souvenir for all of us who had finished. It was a small Belgian flag. How cool is that. If the (simulated) pave', weather and hills didn't make this a true spring classic, then certainly this did.

All in all, this ride was tons of fun. If I would have stayed home, I probably would not have even rode as the weather was so bad, or if I did ride, I would have done 20 complaining filled miles. But I was out there on new roads with a bunch of guys doing the same thing that I enjoy doing. I stayed with a lot of guys who a faster riders than me until the very end. I pushed myself in ways I haven't in a couple years. And I have a Belgian flag. What could be better for Easter Weekend than that.

Crash!

I did the Chain Reaction Wednesday night group ride tonight, which has become a staple for me. Its good to do some group rides to push yourself a little, break up the boredom and practice group ride skills.

We did the Grand View loop tonight, which is the first time I've done this route with this group. Turnout was impressive with 55 total riders. In the "fun" group (the group that does 18-20 mph) we had about 30 riders or so. For the route, we go north on Meade, then west on Rock Road all the way out to Stephenville, south on 76 to work our way down to Grand View. On Grand View is the bigger hill on the ride. Not long, not terribly steep, but it does get the blood flowing when everyone is sprinting up it. From there, its Grand View to Greenwood to Quarry to Mayflower to Capitol to get back in. I think from the Chain Reaction shop its about 35 miles in total. Compared to the other ride this group does (the Swamp Ride), I think this one has a few more hills.

So we are headed down Capitol coming up on Meade getting ready to turn right and head back to the shop. We are riding in two lines, and I'm up front in the first row. Becky and I had even had a conversation earlier about how its safer to be up front on these things. So we are coming up to the intersection and to the left I see a rider on a road bike heading south on Meade. He's going at a good clip, probably about 22 mph as he is headed down the hill from where Meade passes over 41. I shout "Rider Left, stopping". I'm in the right hand line, but my partner up front, in the left hand line either didn't see the other rider or didn't hear me. So as I am clipping out and stopping, he turns right into me.

Boom!

We both go down.

Fortunately, neither of us were hurt. And no one else went down either. My foot was tangled up in his spokes and Niki had to lift up his bike and rotate it around to get me out. I have a sore elbow and I'm sure he has sme bumps and bruises too, but no road rash. Mostly I think it was pride that was hurt. On my bike I have a scratch on the pedal and lost a bar end. I think he'll need a new spoke, but we were both able to ride home.

I haven't went down in a long time, like 10 years. You never want to go down, but if you have to, its sure better to go down when you are almost stopped rather than at 30 mph. The most important thing is that no one was seriously hurt. No one was really hurt at all. Its good that neither bike was damaged or seemingly even scratched at all either--but even if so, bikes can be fixed, people not so much.

If you ride enough, at some point you are going to go down. While I wouldn't describe hitting the concrete tonight as gentle, I also realize that both of us are very lucky that its just a couple bumps. We both rode away, which is the best you can hope for.

Appleton West Between the Lakes

Another Saturday, another longer ride. I did 85 miles today on approximately the route below. I say approximately because I had to make a detour for construction and after riding the route, I made a couple small modifications. Plus, I started riding at my house, where the route in Bikely.com starts from Erb Park.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-West-Between-the-Lakes

The ride starts off escaping Appleton to the south and east heading through Neenah and then down close to Oshkosh. As I've discussed in my other posts, Prospect Avenue in Appleton is a little beat up, so you have to look out for road hazards. But the route down and through Neenah is either low traffic or with nice bike lanes, so its a pretty easy escape. County Road A to Oshkosh has some traffic, but it seems that a number of cyclists use the route and there is a sufficient shoulder, so it was not a problem to ride on.

My original plan was to go down to Sunnyview Road/County Road Y and then turn right (West). But when I got there, the road was closed for construction. So I headed back north and took Indian Point road over to 76, did a short stint on 76 (lots of traffic) and then back onto County Road Y heading west. And right by the Oshkosh Landfill. There were a lot of swarming birds over head. I am happy to say I didn't experience any bombing runs, but based on that, changed the route in bikely. Use County Road G, and then wind your way down to County Road Y once you get west of Highway 41 and the landfill.

County Y will pass under Highway 45 and then you will turn right on County Road S. One of the interesting places you pass is called M. Schettl. I guess these guys sell this sort of outrageous lawn art. If you have ever needed an extra large bison or bear for your yard, here is where you get it. I couldn't resist a picture.



From here, County S takes you up to Highway 116. Its just a couple miles into Winneconne. I only went into town far enough to stop at the local Kwik Trip to get some hydration and food. But that did provide a laugh. When I get up to pay, the clerk asks me "Any gas with that today?". Why yes, and a couple packs of smokes too.

From here, you backtrack about half a mile and take County M to the north. This eventually puts you onto County II where turning right (east) would shorten the ride and take you back to Appleton, and turning left (northwest) will take you to Fremont. This is really one of the nice parts of the ride. Very quiet, rural roads. You feel a lot more than 25 miles away from Appleton.

I did not actually go into Fremont. At this point, the skies were overcast and it looked like rain could come any time, so no time to waste to go exploring. I rehydrated at the store located at the intersection of Wisconsin 96 and County II, and then its about 1/4 of a mile to the west you can go north on County Road H. This is another great road to ride on. Quiet, rural, a good amount of trees. This eventually dumps you out on County W, where you turn left (north) to head towards New London.

About a mile up the road, you take a right onto Brehmer Road (which is really School Road). Its unmarked, but its the only right turn in the area. At the turn, there is a mill or agricultural storage units or something, so that is a good way to tell too. From here, its pretty much School Road back. I turned right on Manley and went down to Shady Lane just because I like that route back into Appleton.

Overall the route is very flat. There are a few small hills on School Road and a few others scattered throughout, but I never got out of the big ring. As with most rides in Appleton, wind can be a factor as you go through a lot of empty fields. There are stores in Neenah, Butte des Motes, Winneconne and Fremont. After you get out of the Oshkosh-Neenah area, the route is very rural. There is some traffic in the towns of course, but all of the back roads are very quiet. And yes, you do get some views of the lakes.

One good thing about the route is that there are a number of places you can cut miles off if needed. One option would be to head back to Winchester and then Appleton when you get to County Road II. Another option would be to head straight across to Winneconne on County G. Or you could add miles. My original plan was to head through Winneconne onto the west side of the lakes and work my way up to Fremont that way. It just all depends on the amount of time you have

Shawano Lake 100 Mile Century Loop

I completed my first Century ride of the year today, a ride from Appleton north to Shawano Lake. I circled the lake, went through the east edge of the town of Shawano, down through Shiocton and then back home. I have posted my route over at Bikely. This was not an 'organized' century ride, just a solo one I did on my own.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-Shawano-Loop

The weather was great. I left at noon, when the temp was about 45 degrees. It later warmed up to about 52. Wind was out of the northeast at about 8 mph all day, so not too windy. It made it a bit of a grind going up to Shawano, just because you were going into the wind for so long and the terrain was flat farmland, so there was no where to hide. But it was nice to have a little bit of a push on the way back.

Shawano is interesting because it is really sort or a dividing line in Wisconsin in that south of Shawano, most of the ground has been cleared for farm land, but to the north, the north woods of Wisconsin start. A satellite phot from Google maps clearly shows this.



View Larger Map

There is nothing wrong with rural roads, but it would be nice to trade farmland for forests once in a while. Now today, April 11, none of the trees have leaves, so being forested didn't really mean much. But this would be a beautiful ride in the summer.

The ride itself is pretty basic. Its not an out and back, but its pretty much a long leg north and a long leg south. I decided to take Ballard up today just because I've been on French Road a lot lately. Crossing 54, its more farmland as you keep heading north. As you get closer to Bonduel, there are a few more hills, but nothing serious. Bonduel is the first refueling point at 37 miles.

From here, I just took Highway 117 up to Cecil and Shawano lake. There is a fair amount of traffic on 17 and its fast. There is also a 4 foot shoulder, so its possible to ride on, but the riding conditions aren't great. I took it because it was expedient. A rider who is not as comfortable with fast traffic may want to zig-zag out to one of the country roads. But today, I wanted to do a 101 mile ride, not a 106 mile ride.

Cecil is a little town on the SE corner of Shawano lake, and you can actually see the lake at one point. From here, you swing north and then west on Lake Drive to circle the lake. This area has a lot of vacation homes, camps and resorts. There is some traffic, but due to the nature of the road, its slower. One does have to be careful though as there is no shoulder on Lake Road. At the NE corner of the lake, Shawano County has a park where you can see the lake (most the rest of the time you are just looking at trees) and I snapped the following photo.

From here, its into Shawano and the second refueling stop at the 53 mile mark. I actually ventured into Shawano a little bit to find a store with more food/beverage options. East Green Bay Street seems to be the main drag in Shawano, so there is a lot of traffic. But you only need to venture into town about 1/2 mile.

Out of Shawano, I got onto Airport Road and then Highway 187. Highway 187 is a highway in name only. There is almost no traffic on the road. And these 19 miles in many ways are the highlight of the ride. To your right, the ground is all forested. This is the Wolf River area, and in summer is just beautiful. Today, it was nice to have a smooth low traffic road with a light tailwind with something other to look at other than farmland.

Shiocton is around mile 80 and the last chance to refuel before heading back to Appleton. You immediately get off of Highway 76 onto County A and then wind through the country roads to get back to Appleton. I decided to do Mayflower to Capitol today just because I usually go over to Meade and go down.

So in summary, 101 miles is always a good ride. This ride also lets you see some forested land, different than what we have in the immediate Appleton area. There are 3 towns to stop in, and they are pretty well placed on the ride. If you are looking for something a little different than your normal century, this may be it.

Riding Around Lake Winnegago

One of the rides which is probably a right of passage for Fox Valley Wisconsin cyclists is to ride around Lake Winnebago. For those not in Wisconsin, Lake Winnebago is the largest inland lake in Wisconsin, about 30 miles north to south and 10 miles east to west. Appleton sits about 10 miles north of the lake. At the bottom is Fond du Lac (whose name literally means "Bottom of the Lake")

I have mapped out the route that I took over at bikely.com. The link is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnebago

This is actually just slightly different, because I started at my house in North Appleton, and the route I mapped out starts at Erb park (because if you are going to do this ride, you probably don't want to park at my house)

TO get out of Appleton, I took Prospect Road east through town. This is a generally pretty good road to take to get to the eastern escapes. Its a through route, so you don't have to turn all over the place and traffic isn't too bad. The road is rough in parts though, so you do need to be careful.

Just before getting to the Highway 41 underpass, I turned south on Northern Road. From here I used Stroeble to get over to Lake Road. Lake Road has very low traffic and will take you all to Neenah, so anyone looking for a southeast escape, this is a good one.

Going through towns is always slow and potentially a safety hazard. But Neenah was a joy. The roads I was on had wide bike lanes and were in good shape. I only had to stop at a couple of lights. I was very impressed with how friendly cycling in Neenah was.

From here, you hook up on County A all the way down to Oshkosh. Traffic is pretty light on County A, no problem to cycle on. Unfortunately, there is no good way to get through Oshkosh. I will say that County A entering Oshkosh becomes 4 lanes. Traffic wasn't too bad and all of the cars used the left lane so I was fine in the right lane. You do go through downtown Oshkosh, which has some neat older buildings, but it did seem that I hit a lot of lights. Oshkosh is a grd pattern, so that is going to happen. And then, on my way out of town, A got stopped by a freight train for 5 minutes.

Finally on my way again, I was on Highway 45 headed south/southeast towards Fond du Lac. From Oshkosh, you will spend about 15 miles on Highway 45. Traffic was not bad today. And there is a 3-4 foot shoulder that is in good shape that I was able to ride in the whole way. I did not have any problem riding Highway 45, which was one of my questions, was this road acceptable for cycling. Its not perfect, there are cars and the speed limit is 50 mph, but riding conditions are acceptable.

So finally I was in Fond du Lac. I didn't stop, just rode through. You are on city streets, so you do have to be aware of more traffic, but nothing that bad. The big thing you have to pay attention to in FDL is that Highway 45 through town is in pretty bad shape. A lot of potholes and the shoulder and edge of the road is real tore up, so you have to keep an eye on that.

Leaving Fond du Lac, you come to an intersection with Highway 151. Turning left here would be the fastest way back to Appleton, but one with a lot of fast traffic. Go straight instead and get on the Prairie Trail to get out of town. This trail goes on for 3-4 miles and safely takes you out to rural roads. There is also some climbing here, about 350 vertical feet. But the grade is never bad, so you just work your way up on the bike trail.

From here, its a series of rural roads north. They are all very quiet with little if any traffic. County QQ will take you up to Johnsburg, where you turn right and then shortly a left to get onto Schumaker road. While on Schumaker, you will ride through about 50 giant wind turbines. Even on a day like today where the winds were light, they were spinning. Schumaker will take you to St Paul Road, named for the old church you will pass while riding north. Then its County HHH and onto Tower Road. Tower makes a jog at one point, but you stay on it all the way up to County Highway F.

At this point, I made a decision to head back west to Highway 55. It was a combination of reasons. The afternoon was starting get on, the sun was behind a number of clouds and I was just ready for some faster progress home. Going east, I could have picked up more rural roads, and that works fine. Going west, I could have continued past Highway 55 to Lakeshore Drive, which is very low traffic, but today, I just headed north on Highway 55.

Traffic on Highway 55 was pretty light today. On a summer weekend, it would probably be heavier, and I would probably make a different decision. There is a 3-4 foot shoulder on Highway 55, so if you need to ride on it, its not bad for a highway. Everyone like rural roads, but sometimes, you need to be on the highway because roads don't connect or you need the shortest route. So will I would never take a group ride on Highway 55, its fine for the solo rider or a smalle group in a paceline.

I rolled into to Stockbridge and refueled at the BP. I think the clerk was a little shocked that I was going all the way around the lake. From here I headed north again, staying on 55 again. It 4 or 5 short miles, I beared left and headed towards High Cliff State Park.

The "back" way into High Cliff deserves some discussion. All the maps show a southern entrance into High Cliff from High Cliff Road. I've been on that road and I have never seen it. It looks like from the maps there may have been a pay station there at one time, but apparently that is now blocked off. But if you are on a bike, continue up to the point where High Cliff Road is about ready to take a sharp right turn (as shown here). There is a service building here with a service entrance that will connect you up to the park. I think if you are on a bike, you are probably OK using his to get over into the park (because bikes don't pay a fee to enter the park and a bike is a lot closer to a pedestrian than a car).

Once in High Cliff, you roll down the big hill, out of the park, and then east to State Park Road. From here it is north all the way to Block Road, and then Buchanan. Cross County CE, north through Combined Locks, and then along the river to the Washington Street Bridge, left on Main (Wisconsin Avenue) and back home. All told I ended up with 90.7 miles today.

Some other comments about riding around the lake. The west side is very flat. The east side is not hilly, but there are a few more ups and downs. The west side is much more built up (Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh) but really Oshkosh is the only town that is a little problematic to get through (if anyone knows a good way through Oshkosh, leave it in the comments). Because the west side is built up, there are no shortage of places to stop at for supplies. On the east side, it is pretty sparse. I stopped in Stockbridge, though if you were riding Lakeshore drive, this would have you deviate a mile to the store and a mile back. You could cut further east to Chilton, but then you will miss out on some lake views and it will add quite a few miles. So you may want to make sure that you are fully supplied before heading up or down the east side of the lake (or plan to take a detour to Stockbridge)

Wind can be a major issue. Today I had light winds, so I was OK. But there are a reason they have all those wind turbines down by Fond du Lac, and its not because there is an abundance of calm days in NE Wisconsin. Also realize that on the lake, thee is absolutely nothing to block the wind, so it can really get going. If you are facing a day with 15-20 mph winds, you may want to ride Lake Winnebago another day.

You do get some good lake views though. On the west side, you can see the lake in Neenah and then sever places on your way into FDL. Here, you are around lake level. On the east side, you are more overlooking the lake, but you can see it from Tower Road and St Paul Road. And of course you can see the lake from High Cliff.

So there it is, a ride report on Lake Winnebago. Hopefully the route and the descriptions are useful for someone else who is planning a ride. It is a good ride, and a 90 mile ride is always a great accomplishment. And now, when it is snowing tomorrow, I can know I already have all my miles in for the week.

A Mighty Mighty Wind

One thing Wisconsin seems to have no shortage of is wind. Forget the "frozen tundra of Lambeau Field". On a road bike it seems to be more "the windswept plains of rural America". Thursday, October 23 was no exception. There was a howling wind out of the east blowing at a constant 20 mph.

Calumet County Wisconsin is a client for the IT Consulting company I work for, so I was in Chilton for a 1:00 PM meeting. I brought my bike, and after my meeting changed clothes and headed off south of Chilton for a ride. My original intention was to do the route below, a 42 miler.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/216493

But the wind coupled with the fact that I hadn't had lunch was too much. I turned arund on County Road GG near Hickory Road and just went back to Chilton.

This is good country to ride in. Its all rural with lots of farms with big red barns. As you get further south you also get a few rolling hills, which are nice to change things up. I know further west there is a road called Seven Hills Road that lives up to its name. Chilton is a neat little town too with some interesting buildings. Here's a picture of a bank downtown, built when banks projected an image of strength, stability and security.


The wind was tough today. But this time of year, you take the days you can get. It didn't feel like 52 degrees (which was the temp) due to the wind, but I got 24 miles in, so nothing wrong with that.

Appleton East 40 Miler

I did a route today that is one of my favorites today, a 40 mile loop east of Appleton. You can see the route at the following link at Bikely.com

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/214473

I did this route or a close variation quite a bit in the summer months when there was more daylight in the evening. Its nice because its a good amount of miles for a weeknight and its very low traffic. Also, those who live in Appleton know the wind generally blows out of the west, so this route would have a tailwind on the way home.

The route is generally flat. On Manley Road south of Highway 15, you will have a couple of rollers but nothing too serious. The scenery is pretty much small farms. There is an old Lutheran church to see on County Road O right after the "Y" from the Quarry. Its neat to look at from the bike, but nothing I've ever felt the need to get off the bike for. Once you get down onto Island Road and Shady Lane, you do have some more trees. I snapped this picture today along Island Road.

We had a couple storms come through Appleton this last week with some wind and rain. So the trees have lost a lot of their leaves from the previous weekend. There are still some fall colors out there, just not as many. I've always liked the area down by Shady Lane. Being a little more wooded, its a little more interesting than just farm after farm.

There are a number of variations one could do on this route. You could follow County Road MM into Hortonville to add a couple miles or if you need a store stop. At the "Y" intersection at the Quarry, you could go left instead of right and cut off a few miles if you want a shorter ride. You don't have to come in Shady Lane either. It all depends on what one is in the mood for.

The temperature today in Appleton was mid 50's. There was some wind out of the south, but it eased as the ride went on. I moved to Wisconsin from Virginia, where I would ride year round. Yes, January and February were cool, but you would usually get some days in the mid 40's or even 50+. I was concerned coming to Wisconsin about how much the weather would cut into the riding season. Clearly, there is going to be snow on the ground here in January and February, so those months will be for cross country skiing. But how soon would that snow and cold get here? Would I be done riding November 1? October 15?

I have to say I've been very pleased so far. I like riding when the temp is around 50 degrees. I like riding in arm warmers. I like to not have to wear the leg warmers, but something about 50 degrees to me seems like the perfect temperature. Maybe because its warm enough that you aren't worried about staying warm, but cool enough that you aren't worried about overheating like on a summer day. I wore a long sleeve base layer and a long sleeve wool jersey today and felt great. Clearly it will get colder, but I also have more gear I can wear, so my cycling season isn't done yet.

Appleton - De Pere Loop

I took advantage of the almost summer weather today to get a 50+ mile ride in. A number of times since I had been here I have rode east to Wrightstown, but just about every time I turned around there and headed back. Not really sure why I hadn't went further, but today I decided too.

I've mapped my route out at Bikely (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-De-Pere-Loop)

Just east of Appleton, there is a bike lane on Wisconsin avenue for 3 miles into Little Chute. It would be nice if more roads had bike lanes like this, but that is a different post for a different time. I just follow the main drag through Little Chute until I get to Kaukauna and cross the Fox River there. One of the bridges is a metal structure, which doesn't seem to bother you as long as you don't slow down. Swing left past a baseball field and then at the Y intersection of County Z and County ZZ, continue on County ZZ so you hug the river.

This is where the good part of the ride starts. The road hugs the river so you get a lot of nice views. Also, to the left of County ZZ is not really farmed, so on an October day like today, you have quite a few trees in fall colors. County ZZ passes through Wrightstown at about the 15 mile mark, and then its more of the same as you go towards De Pere.

I meant to take a left onto Old Military Road, but missed the turn and wound up taking Highway 32 North into De Pere. It wasn't bad. There was not too much traffic and there was a sufficiently wide shoulder to ride in. Once into De Pere, the should disappears, but its two lanes each direction, so traffic was not a problem.

Getting to downtown De Pere, I decided to look around a bit instead of just crossing the bridge and coming back. The downtown area seemed very clean and pedestrian friendly. There is also a paved bike/walking path along the river I rode a couple miles on. Overall, it looks like they have done a nice job with the area. Lots of people out walking and biking.

I crossed the bridge back to the North side of the Fox River (and I should metion there is both a pedestrian and bike line on the bridge) to start to head back. Lost Dauphin Road becomes County Road D. Fo a while you have more good views of the river and of some very impressive homes built along the river, but around Little Rapids, the views start to disappear. This same road eventually takes you back into Wrightstown.

From here, I stay on Wisconsin 96 until I can pick up County JJ. There doesn't seem to be much traffic on WI 96 in this area, and its easier just to get to JJ because then you can get directly to Appleton without winding around (I've would around these roads before, but today I wanted a more direct route). Once on County JJ, its just riding past farms until you get to where you want to turn off--French Road, Ballard, Meade. And then its back into Appleton.

There are stores to refuel in De Pere and both times you go through Wrightstown (stores North and South of the river). Terrain is pretty flat, which is typical for Appleton. Today winds were out of the southeast, so headwind out, tailwind back. Traffic is very low on the rural roads, but of course there is traffic going through Little Chute, Kaukauna, Wrightstown and De Pere. No where is really dangerous, but there is a roundabout by the bridge in De Pere, so that is a good place to be careful. Bikely shows the ride as 50 miles even. I ended up with 52.9 due to my little bike trail foray.

Overall, this is a great ride. Very scenic, low traffic and some good miles.