Half-Fast, his wife, Mike and Dave last year rode the Sugar River, Badger and Jane Adams trails in one day with a shuttle between trail ends. I missed out, due to a very bad night out on call. I recall dialyzing a lithium overdose for 10 hours. It was someone who had done this before, and my attitude sucked to say the least. We had all been talking about it, and I really wanted to go. That was not to be.
This year, we have been talking about doing the whole thing "minus the sissy shuttle". Mike thought a clover-leaf pattern route would be cool. I really liked the idea. So much that I decided Wednesday night I would spend Thursday doing it.
Start time was supposed to be 7 am. I ate a huge breakfast with plenty of protein and fat. It was 7:50 when I finally got loaded and moving. There is nothing worse than a good bonk when you don't have anyone to call. So packing was important. There were a couple of mountain dews, pb&cheese sandwiches, gatorade and a bag of almonds to eat. Figured anything else could be bought in towns located at the trail ends. The other side of the bag had spare tires, tubes, air, wrenches all just in case of emergency. Cell phone and wallet brought also.
The weather was chilly at the start, so all the cold gear was on. Three miles down the trail, I realized the trail pass was at home on the counter. Mike always says that he only gets stopped about every thousand miles by the DNR. To be so lucky. I knew by not going back I was committing myself to sweet talking a ranger. DRAT. And 5 miles down the road I was already starving. Good grief.
First stop was at the bridge just north of Albany. The sun was still pretty low in the sky. Took in some scenery and pigged out. Some turkey hunters showed up out of nowhere and scared the bejesus out of me.
An hour out and the heavy clothes needed to go. Ya! That's what I wanted. Stopped at the crossing of the Badger and Sugar River Trails, took some more pics and got comfortable.
Bagder to Jane Adams is the longest section. It is 18 miles from the crossing
of Sugar River Trail and Badger to get to Jane Adams, 45 miles from my home to the end of the Jane Adams Trail. The Badger Trail is actually built up quite a ways to maintain the rail grade of not > 4%. Between the steep valleys and the sun coming up it really was quite beautiful. I crossed over to the Jane Adams trail at 10:30 and this is were I saw the first cyclist of the day.
At nearly noon I had made it to the end of the Jane Adams Trail. Lunch time. Pb&cheese does not travel well on the trail. Gross! Really it had become something of an amish bread dough concoction that I wished could have gone in the trash. Instead it was more or less squeezed from the sandwich bag into my mouth. Blech. Washed it down with some nutritious mountain dew and headed back up to the Sugar River Trail.
Turning to New Glarus is much easier mentally. It is about 6 miles to the end of the north trail head from the crossing. It was about a half hour before I reached the northern end. Subway was a quick stop for a sandwich and water reload just in case it was needed. The other half of the foot long went into the go bag for the same reason. Quick jaunt back to the four-way where the trails cross. HA! Met the DNR ranger about half way back. After a brief conversation and a stern "never do that again" (until the next time I forget it, hehe)I continued on. Reaching the crossing, I turned to the left to begin my final section of trail heading up the northern portion of the Badger Trail.
Badger trail is a bit rougher riding than the Sugar River Trail. There are more areas that are prone to wash outs and they fill them in with soft gravel. Which means ride with your eyes alert. Stewart tunnel is relatively close to the crossing. And did you know I hadn't even thought of packing a light since the day before. It was sitting on the charger next to the trail pass. Rock on!
I had to use the camera flash to get through the tunnel. So lame! But the darkness is so impenetrable that it barely makes a dent! It is about 35 degrees in there and plenty of flooding/ice sickles on the ground to make it dangerous. Every time I approach the tunnel, I have to stop and listen. The birds sound like people chatting in there and it is creepy. The whole tunnel is built at a curve, so you cannot see the light at the end until you turn. Really, this section was not the highlight of my day.
The remainder of the trail went fast. There were some little boys running up the trail ahead of me in Bellville that I tried to get a pic of but was a bit slow pulling out the camera. They were laughing and chasing one another, like kids do on these early warm spring days.
There were plenty of cyclists out now. They were everywhere! The Badger Trail ends at Purcell Rd for the time being. When funds are sufficient, they will finish it. Cyclists were steadily going past the trail head up Purcell when I stopped to take a pic of the end of the trail.
The trip home was uneventful save for another trip through the tunnel. When I arrived home, I got the usual. "Mom, how far did you go today?" I thought maybe an eyebrow raise at the 136 miles might be a possibility. Nope.
"What bike were you on?" Chey replied.
"My road bike"
"That doesn't count, you know. To say you road the whole trail, when it wasn't a mountain bike. That is cheating!"
Good to know. I thought the saddle sores made it real. Oh well. Maybe I will do it right next time, on the mountain bike if the rest of the troops decide to tackle this ride. I am debating if I should tell them it doesn't count if it isn't a mountain bike!
This year, we have been talking about doing the whole thing "minus the sissy shuttle". Mike thought a clover-leaf pattern route would be cool. I really liked the idea. So much that I decided Wednesday night I would spend Thursday doing it.
Start time was supposed to be 7 am. I ate a huge breakfast with plenty of protein and fat. It was 7:50 when I finally got loaded and moving. There is nothing worse than a good bonk when you don't have anyone to call. So packing was important. There were a couple of mountain dews, pb&cheese sandwiches, gatorade and a bag of almonds to eat. Figured anything else could be bought in towns located at the trail ends. The other side of the bag had spare tires, tubes, air, wrenches all just in case of emergency. Cell phone and wallet brought also.
The weather was chilly at the start, so all the cold gear was on. Three miles down the trail, I realized the trail pass was at home on the counter. Mike always says that he only gets stopped about every thousand miles by the DNR. To be so lucky. I knew by not going back I was committing myself to sweet talking a ranger. DRAT. And 5 miles down the road I was already starving. Good grief.
First stop was at the bridge just north of Albany. The sun was still pretty low in the sky. Took in some scenery and pigged out. Some turkey hunters showed up out of nowhere and scared the bejesus out of me.
An hour out and the heavy clothes needed to go. Ya! That's what I wanted. Stopped at the crossing of the Badger and Sugar River Trails, took some more pics and got comfortable.
Bagder to Jane Adams is the longest section. It is 18 miles from the crossing
of Sugar River Trail and Badger to get to Jane Adams, 45 miles from my home to the end of the Jane Adams Trail. The Badger Trail is actually built up quite a ways to maintain the rail grade of not > 4%. Between the steep valleys and the sun coming up it really was quite beautiful. I crossed over to the Jane Adams trail at 10:30 and this is were I saw the first cyclist of the day.
At nearly noon I had made it to the end of the Jane Adams Trail. Lunch time. Pb&cheese does not travel well on the trail. Gross! Really it had become something of an amish bread dough concoction that I wished could have gone in the trash. Instead it was more or less squeezed from the sandwich bag into my mouth. Blech. Washed it down with some nutritious mountain dew and headed back up to the Sugar River Trail.
Turning to New Glarus is much easier mentally. It is about 6 miles to the end of the north trail head from the crossing. It was about a half hour before I reached the northern end. Subway was a quick stop for a sandwich and water reload just in case it was needed. The other half of the foot long went into the go bag for the same reason. Quick jaunt back to the four-way where the trails cross. HA! Met the DNR ranger about half way back. After a brief conversation and a stern "never do that again" (until the next time I forget it, hehe)I continued on. Reaching the crossing, I turned to the left to begin my final section of trail heading up the northern portion of the Badger Trail.
Badger trail is a bit rougher riding than the Sugar River Trail. There are more areas that are prone to wash outs and they fill them in with soft gravel. Which means ride with your eyes alert. Stewart tunnel is relatively close to the crossing. And did you know I hadn't even thought of packing a light since the day before. It was sitting on the charger next to the trail pass. Rock on!
I had to use the camera flash to get through the tunnel. So lame! But the darkness is so impenetrable that it barely makes a dent! It is about 35 degrees in there and plenty of flooding/ice sickles on the ground to make it dangerous. Every time I approach the tunnel, I have to stop and listen. The birds sound like people chatting in there and it is creepy. The whole tunnel is built at a curve, so you cannot see the light at the end until you turn. Really, this section was not the highlight of my day.
The remainder of the trail went fast. There were some little boys running up the trail ahead of me in Bellville that I tried to get a pic of but was a bit slow pulling out the camera. They were laughing and chasing one another, like kids do on these early warm spring days.
There were plenty of cyclists out now. They were everywhere! The Badger Trail ends at Purcell Rd for the time being. When funds are sufficient, they will finish it. Cyclists were steadily going past the trail head up Purcell when I stopped to take a pic of the end of the trail.
The trip home was uneventful save for another trip through the tunnel. When I arrived home, I got the usual. "Mom, how far did you go today?" I thought maybe an eyebrow raise at the 136 miles might be a possibility. Nope.
"What bike were you on?" Chey replied.
"My road bike"
"That doesn't count, you know. To say you road the whole trail, when it wasn't a mountain bike. That is cheating!"
Good to know. I thought the saddle sores made it real. Oh well. Maybe I will do it right next time, on the mountain bike if the rest of the troops decide to tackle this ride. I am debating if I should tell them it doesn't count if it isn't a mountain bike!
Comments
I am setting up a blog and link it with buckeye as you did.
Very nice looking blog.
Thanks