Bicycling (and not bicycling) in Wisconsin

After about a week of no Internet access, here in Tomah, WI, I finally have gotten online. Last Friday, I rode from Cambridge, Minnesota, to Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, thus entering Green Bay Packer land (though after the Packer's devastating game 1 loss, that may be a sore point). On Saturday, I rode on to Chippewa Falls, and then on Sunday, through Eau Claire on to Humbird. The rain Sunday cut my ride short (thus stopping in Humbird at a hotel whose tagline was "Bikers and bicyclists welcome, and normal folk, too"), and continuous downpours kept me off the road on Monday, as well. Tuesday morning, despite menacing clouds, I was anxious to hit the road, but the rain promptly started to dump as soon as I was a few miles down the road, so I stopped after a short 20 miles ride to Black River Falls.

Despite the nasty weather, there have been plenty of interesting sites along the way. I've cycled through Amish country and just as the plains of North Dakota evolved to rolling hills of Minnesota, the hills have started increasing with frequency and grade as I've ridden into Wisconsin. Still, the bitter 50 degree temperatures (20 degrees below normal for this time of year) and rain have been the hallmark of Wisconsin cycling thus far.

Having said that, despite occasionally discouraging conditions, my spirits are buoyed by the prospect of this weekend in Milwaukee where I will see Rachel (and I've concluded that two months of absence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment) and then all of my Capital Returns friends. Then, on Tuesday, I will be taking the ferry to Michigan and will be spending a few days with my parents in Michigan. So after a good two months in the company of strangers, I get to see some friends, family, and loved ones.

While I complain about the unusually bitter temperatures, someone upstairs is keeping an eye on me. Just out of Eau Claire, I noticed that my rear tire was wearing very thin. I've been looking for bike stores since then, in order to get a replacement. By the time I hit Black River Falls, there was no more rubber on the surface of the tire, having worn down to the weave of fibers that hold the tire together. At my third hardware store (all the bike stores had closed), I finally found a replacement tire (700x35 rather than my preferred 700x28's). As I walked out of the hardware store I looked at my rear tire, wet from the rains, and it was bubbling. Apparently, the tire and tube had finally given way just as I went into the store, and the leaking tube was releasing air into the tire, and since the surface was gone and only the web fiber weave remained, the air was bubbling through along the entire, wet surface of the tire. An amazing site, and I was incredibly fortunate. If this had happened 10 miles earlier, I would have been in a real bind.