Day 29: Madison Rest Day Recap

This was a busy rest day.  It started with the obligatory trip to the laundromat which I find to be a humbling and down-to-earth experience that everyone should occasionally do to stay "grounded". This was followed by an early lunch at the Great Dane Pub with Jack Bierman, our friend from Stevens Point, and Jan's sister Suzie and her husband Rocky who drove up from their home in northern Illinois.  It was a very enjoyable lunch in the outside beer garden on another picture perfect Wisconsin day.

After a lazy afternoon which included a long nap, I was treated to dinner at a local restaurant by my cousin Betty, her daughter Betsy, and Betsy's husband Peter all of whom live in Madison.   It was great seeing them and having a nice conversation over an excellent dinner.  And they had me back to the hotel by 6:30 - of course they were motivated to get home for the kickoff of the Packer's game at 7:30.  This town and probably every other place in Wisconsin appears to go crazy on a Packer's game day - Packer's jersey's are definitely the preferred attire.  I'm a longtime Packer's fan and I find the whole scene exhilarating.

This past portion of the trip from our rest day in Rapid City to our arrival in Madison has been a real physical and mental challenge.  Mentally I hit my low point as we crossed the unchanging landscape of South Dakota while strong winds, which were never at our back, sapped our energy.  I seemed to have snapped out of my mental slump during our short ride into Sioux Falls and our relaxing stay in this very nice small city.   (My cousin Betty reminded me at dinner today that my parents lived for a time in a small house near downtown Sioux Falls at the beginning of WWII - I wish I had known so I could have located the house). 

Physically, I am doing great and exceeding my expectations.  Only on my Day 26 30+ mile "sprint" to West Union have I exceeded my self-imposed average speed limit of 16mph.  I am a very competitive person so it has not been easy to dial back my pace to be a "middle to back of the pack" guy.  But it has been hugely important to maintaining my good physical state.  I need to have the same discipline as we continue across the eastern part of the country.

We have only five days of riding to our next rest day in Cleveland - including a 3 hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan on Day 31 and two back-to-back days of 120 and 127 miles on days 33 and 34 respectively. I've sort of known what to expect as we've made our way across the west, but what we'll  experience as we pedal across the more heavily populated states of Michigan and Ohio is more of an unknown to me.  I certainly hope, and expect, that the Trek Travel folks will continue to do their outstanding job of routing us on scenic and less traveled roads.

Steve