Taking a Crane Ride

Sandhill cranes 20-feet off the road. 9/9/23 dwm

It's been a while since I joined someone for a local ride. When we met a new couple two weeks ago, I learned Paul was an avid cyclist and enjoyed the same type of rides I do. 

We met on Madison's west side and worked our way south to Verona where we went south on State Road 69 before heading west on Riverside Road which took us over and next to a young Sugar River.

I'd been over this stretch of road before in a car but it was better on bike.  The road took us to County G where we came to a stop where we admired a calm pair of cranes which continued grazing while I grabbed my phone to get a few shots.

 

To minimize their concern, I tried turning around on the seat of my bike to unzip the bike bag but I couldn't grab the correct zipper from that angle forcing me to stand.  It was no matter, the birds tolerated our presence a few seconds and then began a slow walk stage right.

Donald Rock near Town Hall Rd.

 From there we rode G to the community of Mt. Vernon, a small bedroom community southwest of Madison.  There's a church and a bar and several homes around a town park; most of the area west of town are hundreds of protected acres thanks to far-sighted gifts of property to the state and county to preserve wetlands and their natural beauty.  The Donald Resource Area is named for John Donald, a local dentist who served the community and in the State legislature from 1903 to 1913.

 From Mt. Vernon we turned at Donald Rock on to Town Hall Road, which fittingly took us past an old building where people in the township took care of business.

 

 The last few times I've ridden with someone was for stretches of the Ride Across Wisconsin.  Conversations pass the time and tend to keep me in the saddle for longer stretches of riding. I learned a lot about my fellow rider, heard about previous cycling adventures, and shared tales about prior bike rides.

Paul has traveled the back roads of west Dane County where I traveled primarily on state trails through the areas.  It was fun to discover short cuts and connections from the trails to the county roads.

Fog ahead - the last of it on our ride. 9/9/23

We stayed on Town Hall all the way to Ridgeview Road where we took a break at Mt. Horeb's new Kwik Trip.

 

Instead of hopping on the Military Ridge trail east, we rode back on Ridgeview to County P.  This stretch of county road was a first for me, I've ridden through Klevenville dozens of times on the state trail but this time I was riding the pavement I usually crossed.

Then it was right on the Klevenville Riley Road to the cute community of Riley which is home to the Riley Tavern.  It was too early to stop on this ride, but it's atmosphere is described as friendly and welcoming to cyclists, so I hope to check it out.

We played leap frog with a trash truck for a mile or two on County J and Paulson Road before it turned around after its final stop.  It was another first-time stretch of road until we got to Timber Lane, which led to climbing Mid Town Road at its western starting point before picking up speed gliding down Shady Oak Lane.

Our route shared quite a few stretches that are part of the Madison Ironman route for the bike race portion of the competition.  A small group watching us descend Shady Oak asked if we were warming up... we waved, laughed, and admitted that would not be us riding at top speed come Sunday.

After a bike lap of our own around Epic's campus, we headed east where we said good-bye, promising we'll plan to get in another ride while the weather cooperates.  It wasn't a fast ride, it was fun and nice to get to know a fellow rider, the trip itself finished at 45 miles on the nose.

All photos by David Mossner, September 9. 2023.