Ride 16 - The Box

Sunrise over the Capital City Trail. 7/5/25 dwm

This Saturday I'm participating in my fourth Ride Across Wisconsin. My final warm-up was last Saturday. It was a hot day again, so part of the plan was starting and finishing early.

I've ridden the roads and paths earlier this year but the ride felt different.

I was riding counter-clockwise. And, while the map below won't confirm my feelings, the route felt like riding around box.

I was on the bike at 5:22 with a protein shake in hand. I finished it a mile later.

The bottom line of the square (it's a one-dimensional box) goes east from Verona to McFarland. That's where I turned around to get back to the Capital City trail where it heads into downtown Madison. 

The detour from the path to McFarland's McDaniel Park and back adds five miles, so that puts a tail on the box. From the point I rejoined the Cap City trail, feeling like I was going north to where we turn at the northeast corner of Lake Mendota to go west. 

At that point I'm following the new trail along County Highway M until it curves to roll into Middleton. That's where I got back on a trail, this one, part of the Pheasant Branch Nature Conservancy until I reached the connection with Pleasant View Road for the home stretch.

The Box ride (more or less) dwm &Google maps

 The older version of this ride took a straight line either to or from Madison's isthmus, but in the search for miles, extending the ride to McFarland adds up.

 Last year, after the July 4th ride, I had 627 miles in 16 rides. This year, after 16 rides through July 5, I'm at 772.

 One thing that seems to help this year is eating more during the ride. After the shake, I had a PB & J ready to eat then later bought a Twix bar for energy to finish strong.

 The RAW ride isn't a trek across the state this time, instead there are routes as long but with the same start and finish line. I'm looking forward to it.