Training Ride - Getting Prepared

In 19 days, the Scenic Shore 150 starts, a two day ride from Mequon to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

March is when the initial steps for this ride started.  At the annual Madison Bike-a-Rama, I heard about the Scenic Tour 150 and signed up with Art Saffran and another volunteer who were on-hand to promote the ride and encourage riders to sign up.

Just three months later, and several emails later I got together with Art again.  This time a training ride for the Scenic Shore.  We gathered at the Lakeside Coffee Shop on Lakeside Street.

It's been nearly two years since moving to Madison, and there are still new neighborhoods, shops, and restaurants to discover.  Close to Monona Bay, it was a perfect place to meet and start a ride.  The weather was getting warm, near 80 and sticky at the start.  Some cloud cover and a nice breeze helped keep us cool.

Leading the group is Art, a veteran of the Scenic Shore ride, ten times to his credit already, and he lined up a perfect route for the day.  We started south into the wind in order to place the wind at our back on the ride home - that's good planning - and nice when the breezes cooperate like they did on Saturday.

Yellow jerseys at the front and back of our training pack showed the way as we navigated through Madison's streets and onto the Capital City Bike Path and the Badger State Trail south before turning east toward Oregon. 

It was a great route, quiet rural roads, rolling hills that offered a challenge without killing your spirit, and a little more than half-way through the ride we stopped at the Firefly Coffeehouse in Oregon to re-caffeine and visit.

Art and Rick ride together frequently and answered questions for us newbies when it comes to the upcoming ride.  Jerry has ridden with Art before and Debbie made a drive over from Milwaukee to join the ride for the same reason I did... to meet some other members of our Lymphomaniacs team before the ride starts July 19.

Along the route there were several good photo opportunities I passed up to stay with the group - there were the Buffalo that Rick promised we'd see in a pasture off Lake Farm Road (let me just say I'm glad to have noticed the additional leg on the animals before riding over for a closer look).  Then there was the statue.  It was a way off the road about 40 feet on private land near Lake Waubesa - a statue (bronze, I think) of a naked woman standing hands raised toward the sky.  (I thought I might learn more about it online, but so far no success.  If I ride past it again, it will have to join the "things I've seen around Madison top ten.)

We finished the 35 mile trip at a good clip and in good spirits - eager to meet up again in Mequon in a few weeks. 

I'm making good progress toward my fundraising goal, if you would like to support the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma this is a great way to do it.  Thank you!

Jerry, Debbie, Me, Art, and Rick