Day 41: Hello Madison!

Today was a wonderfully brief day of riding-72 miles. After back to back to back centuries (114, 113, 100) we were ready for something a bit less demanding.

We began riding in the rain. The previous night our weather reporter told us there was a 20% chance of rain, and our Fennimore host assured us it wouldn't rain. I didn't trust him, and, after the meeting, went and put the fly on my tent. I awoke at 5 am to the sound of gently falling rain, which quickly became not so gently falling rain. I felt so wise as I snuggled down into my sleeping bag. When a few drops splattered on the inside floor of the tent, and then on my face, my smugness was quickly dispelled. My wonderful, Sierra Designs Tent leaks.

The rain was mostly over by the time we started riding, and the day became very pleasant. I rode the first half by myself and then joined up with Anne, Ed, and Joan for the trek into Madison. I have to tell you, Wisconsin is beautiful! And the roads are smooth. One of our Wisconsin riders said, "They ought to be; we pay some of the highest state taxes in the country." I expressed my appreciation for his sacrifice.

Inspite of the excellent roads we did our first off road biking. We took a bike path (former railroad) for 8 miles to avoid a dangerous section of highway. The crushed gravel was pretty solid and permitted us to ride fairly fast. "Pretty" and "fairly" indicate that I rode quite cautiously. Still, riding through the woods was a nice change of pace.

We all met at a park about a mile from our final destination, Crossroads Church, and completed the ride as a group. When we arrived at the church, we were greeted by cheering people waving signs, a brass quartet, and the district alderman. The church provided shuttles to take us to the showers, area stores, and the laundromat. By supper I was clean, my cothes were washed, and I had bought some much-needed sunscreen.

The church continued to minister to us at night, showing a movie, providing refreshments, and a communication room in which we could blog and check our e-mail. The only negative are the mosquitoes that were swarming over me as I set up my tent at about 9 pm.

Maybe they'll be better now that it is dark. What time to mosquitoes go to sleep? I don't want to go back outside until they're all asleep.