S & J Adventures

We’ll, that was a long and brutal winter. We are in Minneapolis for a long weekend and brought our tandem. Snow has just melted here, and this weekend is uncommonly warm so the paths and trails are alive with bikers, runners and walkers.

We’ve taken a handful of short rides on our hybrid bikes this year, but today is the first day we’ve been out on our tandem since last August! I must say that when Jeff took it down from its hanging place in our garage I was excited to see it and touch it - like a long lost friend!

Feels great to be back on the saddle and doing what we’ve dreamed about during those long cold dark days of Winter! Here we go!!

One phenomenon we’ve realized is the shrinking of our days! I guess we did leave during the longest days of the year, but it sure is apparent that the days are getting shorter. Combine that with the long days we’ve been putting in recently and we run out of time each day. The last two nights we were putting up the tent as the shadows were getting long, and finishing our showers as the sun was setting! In our routine of washing out our bike clothes each day, they don’t have time to dry! Nor did our tent dry just from yesterday mornings dew! Last night as we unrolled it and it was as wet as if it had rained heavily. And of course with the high dew point, it just got more wet overnight. So as we packed Bob this AM, he’s retaining a lot of water … probably an extra 10 pounds for us to haul over the Baraboo bluffs this AM!

So we continued along the 400 Trail on yet another gorgeous morning. Impossible to think we’ve only started on one rainy AM out of 40!
They’d regraded the trail since last year and it was great riding. Spotted several herons and heard lots of cranes.

After riding hundreds of miles of converted rail trails and seeing thousands of miles of railroads, we are in awe of the infrastructure that went into building the railroads. Blasting through mountains, bridging rivers, building up low spots and marshes. How did they do this kind of work in those days!? We sang lots of refrains of “500 Miles” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and truly feel differently about trains these days. In fact, between the trucks, trains and barges, I understand so much more about the transport of commerce now!

Took an extended coffee break in Reedsburg where JT participated in a conference call and I caught up the blog and maybe had a nap on the sofa. Then we were back on the road towards Baraboo.

From Reedsburg, we were off the trails and back on the highways. Gorgeous scenery with rolling hills and small farms; good roads with little traffic. Easy ride to Baraboo where we climbed a massive hill - 14% grade, to where our staff were meeting and we’d invited ourselves to lunch. Great to see the group, but they had a big agenda and we weren’t done with the hills, so we ate sandwiches and fruit and chocolate and hit the road again.

We’d ridden to Baraboo and the Devils Lake area several times this spring for training rides. So I was really dreading the climb, but was pleasantly suprised that it actually felt pretty easy due to how strong we’ve become! I rewarded myself with an ice cream cone while we waiting for the ferry at Merrimac to cross Lake Wisconsin.

Then to Lodi for a Gatorade break, and then home to Waunakee. As we turned into our neighborhood, the back tire became squishy! But we just kind of ignored it - not ready to take everything apart and change a flat at that point! Home just about 4:30pm, and the cats thought that was perfect - time to eat!!

We’re both feeling a mixture of sad and excited. It was such an awesome adventure, but gosh it feels good to be home! I had a funny moment after I took a shower and walked into my closet I was immobilized by indecision with what I should wear - too many choices and I just couldn’t deal with it!

Stats
Mileage today 71.8
Average 14.1
Assent 2361
Descent 2380
Max 40.4
Ride time 5:06
Total time 9:42

Total stats:
2728 total miles
84,866 ft assent
36 days of riding
5 days of rest
26 nights of camping
8 nights of hotel
5 nights other (friends/family)
13 tubes changes
4 tire changes (1 front, 3 rear)
1 new chain (both timing and drive)
1 set disk pad change
1 new rear cluster
1 lube job for Bob