The Penultimate Ride

Saturday morning sunrise. 10/21/2023

It was warmer Saturday than its been and the long range forecast called for a chance of flurries next weekend.  It felt like it was now or never to ride a lot of miles.

The sun rose at 7:20.  After 8 I started feeling the warmth from the sun.  The expectation was for clouds to move in, and they did a couple hours later.  Thankfully the clouds weren't carrying any rain.

My plan was a round-trip ride to Sun Prairie which usually clocks in around 60 miles.  Before heading out I looked at a map to find a more bike-friendly route in Madison's north-east corner.  I didn't know what I'd find but knew it should be less-traveled city streets.

Most of the route I was familiar with from earlier rides.  Because I was trying to add miles where I could, I added two trips off the Capital City trail on the Lower Yahara River Trail that skirts Lake Waubesa, which added nearly 11 miles to the trip. 

The thing that loop really added was momentary fear.  The boardwalk was mostly empty during the hour after sunrise, just a few people walking and even fewer on bicycles.  As I approached a mother and child coming my direction, I heard pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.  It was gunfire.

'What was that? Why is this happening?' were my first thoughts.  No other sounds were heard, I slowed and continued riding, keeping my eyes open.  About the time I saw decoys on the lake not far from the boardwalk, I heard another round of shots.  Someone was bird hunting.  

I've heard shots before, but usually from a distance and coming from a forest during small game, turkey, or an early deer hunt.  While confident the shooter was aiming away from the walking and bike path, it was a bit unsettling.  Later, when I covered this loop on the way home, all was quiet.

A look across Monona Bay. 10/21/2023 dwm

 Heading onto the isthmus, there was a detour where a section of the bike trail was under construction.  The detour took me through a delightful neighborhood with a couple dozen homes overlooking Monona Bay with downtown Madison on the other side.

 From there I followed the trail to Fair Oaks Road where I headed northeast.  There is a tunnel under East Washington street, a major arterial road, then I used surface streets to pass through the Madison College campus, eventually meeting a path through a park to Portage Road.

Prior to this ride I didn't know Portage road existed.  Going forward it will probably become the way I get through Madison to Sun Prairie.

Portage heads north of East Washington with a lot of nice neighborhoods on one side and farmland on the other.

Along Portage Road. 10/21/2023 dwm

Eventually Portage ended at Hanson road, which I took over I-90/94/39 which put me close to Oakwood's east campus near the American Family Insurance headquarters.

I headed to our Prairie Ridge campus and circled it on the walking path that travels the perimeter of the property as I reached 35 miles on the bike computer.

Originally I was going to head straight south before returning west but the ride had been so nice and easy, it made sense to return the way I came.  While making the decision, I did a little math and calculated I had a good chance of reaching 70 miles for the day.

I had snacks on the bike with me so I didn't need to stop along the way, other thank taking pictures.  A steady breeze made it a challenging ride and generated a wind chill that made me glad for the hat and gloves I brought along.

I reached home with a ride time of 4 hours, 20 minutes, averaging 15 miles per hour for 71 miles.  It was a nice bite out of the miles I had in front of me to reach 1,000.  That ride happened Sunday - read about it here in Thursday's post.