Swimming in the Wisconsin River
Today was a very interesting day on our ride. The original schedule said the day would be a 69 mile ride. When the final detailed ride directions were published it had somehow grown to an 88 mile day. On a hot day that is pushing it. We figured out where the route went closest to our hotel and rode directly there. Unfortunately later in the morning we missed a turn sign and went way off the route. When we figured out our mistake we made a new route to get back on the
official path. Again unfortunately we had to go on a mile of gravel road to get back – not our preference with road bikes. We ended up about a mile more than the planned route. After all that we had an enjoyable time at one of our stops at a Cheese Factory where they make many things including cheese curds. Several of us had root beer floats to help cool off in the heat of the day. Shortly later we had lunch at a near by park where we had lunch once before. We continued on into another stop at a Swimming area on the Wisconsin River on the north side of Steven’s Point(see pictures). Then on to Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point. By now it was nearly 2:00pm and we had gone 60 miles and several people were ready to call it a day. Since the SAG wagon will only hold 5 people and 4 bikes we couldn’t all go at the same time. So 4 people went early, and the other 5 of us who usually travel together kept riding towards Wisconsin Rapids. Again unfortunately after about 4 miles I heard a pop (spoke breaking) and almost immediately my back wheel started wobbling. I have never broken a spoke before in all the miles I have ridden a rode bike so it was a new experience for me. We called the GRABAAWR emergency number for help and within 20 minutes a truck from a bike shop pulled up and fixed 2 broken spokes in about 20 minutes and we were back riding towards Wisconsin Rapids. Rick and Dick had gone on towards the Motel. Robin came back from Wisconsin Rapids and picked up me, JoJo and Ingrid and took us back to the motel. We each did about 68 miles less whatever sag driving we did. Rick and Dick each did 80 miles. There were no clouds in the sky most of the morning, but high thin clouds started coming in earlly afternoon which helped mitigate the sun a little. It was still hot. After showers and refreshment we headed out to dinner at a nearby hotel that had a great Italian restaurant. We all ate well!
Tomorrow we ride to Mausten for an estimated 69 miles. We normally eat in the breakfast area in the motel we are staying at, but tomorrow we are going to try something different. We are leaving a half hour earlier than normal 6:30am and riding about 10 miles to the next town on the route and having Breakfast there. Will let you know how it turns out!
kws
Originally uploaded by kws1111