SAGBRAW Day 4 Waupun Loop.....

The absence of pictures from today's post should not be taken as an indication that the ride was boring or difficult. I was on a mission, and I simply didn't take the time to get the camera out and snap many photos. I did get a few, mostly to document the towns I went through, and I will upload those later.

One of my missions was to beat Hubby back to the RV. He went to play golf across the street, and I made it my goal to get back before he finished. That goal turned out to be pretty easy to reach. I had already had a snack and a little bitty nap by the time he got back to the campsite.

My other mission was to ride 60 miles in under 4 hours. That's riding time, not total time. The terrain was fairly flat, so I thought it was a reasonable goal. I have both a computer and a GPS on my bike, but I have them both set where they don't show the miles traveled unless I push a button. (Otherwise I start to obsess about how much farther it is, what my average is, what percent grade I'm on, anything else I can think of to whine about.)

The GPS is more accurate, of course, and I have it showing the map. That's especially useful on a ride like this, where I have no idea of the towns I'm in and I have the comforting pink line to let me know I'm still on the right path. The bike computer is set to show my riding time, and I've started using it as a motivator or goal-setting tool. I pick a distance and a time I think is reasonable, and then I try to beat it. I also use the time to remind myself to drink. Every 15 minutes, right on the quarter hour, I make myself drink. That way I can't fool myself into thinking I've consumed more liquids than I really have. Oddly enough, I haven't had any of those post-ride headaches this week that usually indicate slight dehydration. Imagine that.

Today I was on the road back to the campground when I realized the time on the computer said something like 3:58. I rode as hard as I could, and when I stopped the bike at the RV, it read 3:59:59. Ha ha ha ha ha. (The GPS data wasn't quite as dramatic, reading 3:59:38. I had seconds to spare!)

I looked at the map for tomorrow, and it says we should enjoy some great views of Lake Michigan on the way to Green Lake. Uh.... I hope that's a typo. Since we are going WEST, and Lake Michigan is to the EAST, getting great views of it would mean we would have to pedal up Mount Everest or something. I'd rather not, thank you.

SAGBRAW Day 3 Plymouth to Waupun.....

I have been going about the business of trying to make a new route to find the regular route all wrong. I've been getting on the computer, locating the route on a map, creating a new map to an intercepting point, then uploading the new map to my GPS.

All I have to do is turn on the GPS and tell it to navigate the REGULAR route, and it will tell me which way to go to find the "pink line." Duh. (Bicycle GPS units don't have spoken commands. At least mine doesn't.)

Now that we have THAT out of the way.

It was no problem to get to the route from our campground this morning. It was about a 3-mile ride on what could have been a busy highway, but it was early. Besides, most of the roads here have nice shoulders that are plenty wide for riding a bicycle.

The downside of this town is that the nearest campground (supposedly) was 11 miles BEYOND the school where the route ended. The next one was 18 miles. I wasn't looking forward to riding 64 miles and then tacking on an additional 11, but I was resigned to having to do it.

Then Hubby called me in the middle of my ride. He said the campground sucked, and even the proprietress suggested he might want to look somewhere else. (Her "campground" is mostly for "old folks" [her words] and fishermen.) Hubby showed her the map of where we were going to be and the list of suggested campgrounds provided by the ride organizers. He showed her the one that was 18 miles away, and she said, "Oh no, you don't want to stay THERE. It's worse than THIS one."

Then she looked at the map and said there was a campground just 2 miles from the school. I was a little dubious when Hubby told me, because SURELY the ride organizers would have included one that was a mere 2 miles from the school when they were creating a list of nearby campgrounds. Wouldn't they?

Ahem.

Hubby picked me up at the school (thank all that is holy for THAT), and we did indeed find the campground. It is indeed 2 miles from the school. And we were the only campers. (Some more have since moved in.) Better yet, there is a golf course right across the road. Hubby already has a tee time for 8:30 tomorrow morning with one of the club members. How cool is that? Because tomorrow is the loop ride, we will be camping here two nights. It is a very, very nice campground.

A rather silly shadow shot of me riding along. I wonder if people think I'm nuts when I take photos while I'm riding.

There was a photo op at the top of Parnell Tower, somewhere around 11 miles on today's route. A lot of us made the trek through the woods and then climbed the 96 steps (according to a girl who was already there) to the top. It was well worth the effort. I realize the sun is interfering, but that's Lake Michigan way off in the distance.

The views from the tower were breath-taking.

Or maybe THIS one is Lake Michigan. How soon we forget.

Breath-taking. Heart-stopping. Jaw-dropping.

When I left the tower, the route took us past this little farm. Sure enough, when I turned around to look, the tower was barely visible above the tops of the trees.

I know, I know, I've seen farms before. But I can't stop taking pictures of them.

I didn't really stop here. Just paused to take the picture.

I was almost past this one before I got the shot off. I was intrigued by the "Ice Age Visitor Center."

This one was worth getting off the bike for. It's hard to see clearly, but the walls of the church are covered in ivy. Just gorgeous.

We had a rest stop in a pavilion in the small town of Campbellsport. I love that name.

I wanted to see what the quarry looked like. Or maybe I just had to go up to the fence because there was a sign warning against trespassing.

I have discovered some things about myself regarding taking photographs on bike rides. I start off the week trying to document every pedal stroke, every scenic view, every cool thing I see. Then by the end of the week everything starts to look similar and the number of photos drops off considerably. I'm also more likely to take photos early in the day. (That's also the time when I'm more likely to pass another rider and say pleasantly, "Good morning!" Not so much later in the day when it's hot and I'm tired.)

Most of the pictures I take are snapped from my bicycle while I'm riding. It's always a crap shoot whether I will actually get what I meant to take a picture of. Some are worthy of stopping my bike to get a good shot. And some are worthy of turning around and going BACK to get the shot, like the ivy-covered church above.

I'm so glad I came on this ride. I may never get back to Wisconsin, and I'm enjoying every minute. Except for some of the steep uphills maybe.