Scenes and Seen from the Trail

It was a great ride yesterday and the longest one of the year - trekking from south to north starting in Brodhead, Wisconsin at their refurbished train depot.

Most of the ride was on crushed limestone trails.  Some of it had been graded this spring and had sand added to level the trail and fill in some of the bumps left behind by snowmobiles who travel the route in the winter (when else would they use it!).

The 'corduroy road' effect from the snowmobiles makes for a rough ride sitting on a bike.  Fortunately, there was maybe 10 miles of it and about half that was bad enough that finding level parts of the trail was difficult.

I saw plenty of birds and heard plenty of frogs along the way.

There is a new personal record for Bluebirds.  At least a half-dozen of them flashing their color in trees before dashing off to a new perch as I approached.  Perhaps you remember, if you grew up in the Midwest, in the late 1960s Bluebirds seemed on the road to extinction and kids from many classrooms helped by constructing little Bluebird houses.  I guess they worked.

The birdhouse I built was probably condemned after a few years by the Bluebird home inspectors, but maybe it gave a young family an inexpensive place to start a family.

Also saw the first Kingfisher I've seen in a long time.  (They live around water and go after fish, amphibians, small crustaceans, insects, small mammals, and reptiles.)  There were also plenty of Gold Finches, and several Sandhill Cranes pecking away in a farm field as I passed.

It was a perfect ride on a sun-streaked day with little to no wind (or a tailwind) that helped me keep moving up the route.

Some of the corn is popping through the ground already, while farmers climb into their tractors to keep busy planting, fertilizing, and tilling the ground.  Speaking of fertilizing - for much of the ride there was the unmistakable smell of the 'honey wagon' lending the 'Dairy Air' for which Wisconsin is known.  (Note - it's not honey in the wagon - you can probably Google it.)

Lots more bikers on the trail today and lots of dogs getting walked (near the small communities and thankfully all of them on leashes).

As a final note that my science teachers might appreciate - it's much faster riding on the paved portion of the trails than the crushed limestone.  I believe that has something to do with friction!

After finishing on the trails, I rode up into Madison and through some sections of Forest Hill Cemetery.  I saw a couple of things I'll blog about in the future, but it's a peaceful and interesting part of Madison and worth the trip.  From there, it up and around the Veterans Hospital, a ride through Shorewood Hills, and back home.

It's been a great week of riding - more than 20 back and forth to work and 50 today.

Ride On!