This was a hard day. The hills just about killed our legs.
After last night's Wisconsin food-fest, I couldn't bear the thought of eating breakfast, so we got an early start to try to beat the projected 1-2" of rain accompanied by quarter-sized hail. By 9 we were seeing lightning, so we holed up in a Perkins restaurant for 2 hours while the storm came through. Had breakfast but eventually the rain slackened, so we suited up and went. In short order the sun came out and that was the last of the rain.
The landscape began to become rolling hills. Very scenic but tiring to pedal up.
See how it's not flat like it has been?
I know you're thinking this is lovely but those bumps on the horizon are mean. We were on roads all day, some of which has bike paths adjacent, but none were old railroad beds like the "rails to trails" paths we have been enjoying.
This rise looks benign enough.
This one, not so much. To get to this point we climbed at 3 mph and I eventually gave up and walked the bike for a ways. That's pretty unusual for me to get off and walk.
Descending this hill, I hit 43.3 mph coasting. You know it's steep when you exceed 40 mph. But when we'd try to get up the next rise, our legs were jelly. We were both feeling very beaten up. I did see this dream house:
And this cool church:
We eventually staggered into Reedsburg, Wisconsin with 61 miles showing on the odometer. Marie says if we have many more days like this, she's going to rent a car and drive sag wagon for me. Fortunately, tomorrow's route to Sparta is exclusively on rails to trails bike paths, including the country's first, which opened in 1967. We will have to pay another $4 each to use them, and I am happy to do that.