Ride 23 - Calling an Audible

On the Capital City trail. 8/23/2025 dwm

The plan was to ride down the Badger State trail then join the Sugar River Trail near Monticello.

But once I left the paved portion of the Badger, it took less than a mile before I changed course.

It had been more than a week since the last heavy rain but the crushed limestone/mud trail was still wet and slippery in places and along the edges were thicker sections of mud that could grab a wheel and knock a rider off a bike.

The conditions could slow the pace and make the ride less enjoyable; while at the worst there could be a wipe-out on the trail. I wasn't excited about either, so I called an audible and came up with a different route.

The Cap City trail downtown. 8/23/25 dwm

 Yesterday (August 23, 2025) was a perfect day to ride. It was in the 60s when I started with a forecast high in the mid-70s. It's been a few years, at least, since I've ridden the Sugar River Trail and was looking forward to re-tracing previous rides.

 Since that wasn't happening, I wanted to get some miles under my wheels, hopefully in the neighborhood of 50.

 When the route changed, I was already 20 miles into the ride; thinking over earlier rides, I knew the distance to McFarland where I could easily add a few miles, then rode downtown where I could head back home.

I had two conversations with cyclists about my recumbent during the ride. The first was with two riders I caught up to on the Badger trail. One asked how to acclimate to a 'bent and asked what the toughest thing is on a recumbent. Climbing hills is different because you don't have the option of standing on the pedals, you just have to keep things spinning.

The other conversation was outside Kwik Trip when I came back to my bike after grabbing a donut and a bottle of chocolate milk. This guy recently moved to Madison from the west coast, where he left a recumbent trike because it's too expensive to move. As I got ready to continue the ride, he said our talk had him fired up to get a bike to ride around Madison. 

Early fall color. 8/23/2025 dwm

Because the weather was better, I didn't leave as early, so I encountered more runners and more bicyclists.
We aren't done with summer heat, but we should experience more September weather than summer temps.

Not far from home, along the Ice Age Trail, is a stretch of trees, most of them maple, that create a wonderful wall of autumn color. Just one of the trees is showing color now, but it won't be long before the reds and orange leaves outnumber the green.

This week's ride, 56 miles, 3 hours and 24-minutes on the bike, with an average speed of 16.4 miles per hour.