June 30

Day 23:

Somedays the pedaling is effortless, the miles fly by, and everything goes as planned. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. We left the lodge anticipating another 80 mile day, but after such a long day yesterday, today ended up being “just one of those days.” Starting on the sandy Mountain Bay trail got us off to a very slow start. While it was the most direct route, riding on that surface proved to be slow going and hard on the legs. We decided to get off the trail, have lunch, and continue on the main roads in the afternoon. The riding was easier, but the headwind was still making things difficult and we encountered more hills than expected in Wisconsin. As the afternoon wore on, it got colder, and we grew tired quickly. The problem with the rear wheels became frustrating on the big hills and we managed only 40 miles by 4 o’clock. We made it to Wasau where we stopped in the bike store for directions regarding the next few days. When we were leaving the store we ran into a local police officer who offered his assistance. He actually called a good friend of his to get better advice about getting to Minneapolis – his friend (Bill) even offered to host us at his house! Thank you Andrew – It was great talking with you. We had hopped to get in another 20 miles before we called it quits, but there was nowhere to stay within 40 plus miles so we decided to call it a day and check in to the Hampton Inn. As soon as we did the skies opened up and poured, good timing I guess. Though we only logged 45 miles today, it felt like a long day and we are very ready for bed. We will be up early tomorrow to hopefully log some big miles and still get to Minneapolis by Friday.

Happy 18th Kelly! Thanks for looking after Tracker too!

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