My Week that Was - July 11

On the Badger State Trail. 7/4/26 dwm

The streak is alive at 14 consecutive weeks with a weekend bike ride (Friday - Monday) in 2026. Going into last weekend Saturday appeared to be my best chance but it looked like it was going to be a small window to ride based on the forecast.

 

It was marginally cooler Saturday morning, but the overnight low was around 70 so you could wring water out of the air.

 

I took off around 6 am finishing around 9 without feeling a single drop of rain. As it turned out it didn't rain all day.

 

Saturday and Sunday weren't significantly cooler but the humidity dropped Saturday. Sunday's high was expected to by typical for early July with a high in the low 80s.

 

In the wee hours Sunday morning my wife's phone rang and minutes later she was off to meet a client at the hospital for her second assisted birth in four days. It turned out to be the quickest delivery yet; she was home in less than six hours. (Mom and baby are fine.) 

 

In the afternoon we caught up with the July 4th festivities we recorded on the DVR. If you didn't get an opportunity to watch the parade of Tall Ships into the mouth of the Hudson River, I suggest checking out a streaming service.

As the work week started, I was focused on the articles I wanted to include in our upcoming newsletter. My goal is to have the letter ready for printing before the end of the month.

 

Wednesday I attended my first meeting of the resident Senate on the west campus. It was a privilege to be invited to speak about the Foundation and I hoped to cover the content in a short amount of time. I was shooting to wrap up in under ten minutes, it seemed to me I was under that, but I'm not sure.

 

Crossing the Wisconsin River on Colsac III. 7/10/26 dwm

The Brewers are 14 - 6 in their last twenty games, notably beating Cincinnati in six of seven games and taking four of five from the St Louis Cardinals. 

 

There are three games left in Pittsburgh before the All-Star Break, the Brew Crew has 59 wins and 34 losses, which puts them 7 games ahead of the Cubs, who have been playing well lately, too. 

 

The Brewers have never won 60 games before the break, that would be fun to see. 

 

Friday we headed to Eau Claire for Saturday's Ride Across Wisconsin. I'll have a post about it in Tuesday's post.

 

Since we had plenty of time to reach Eau Claire, we took a side trip off U.S. Highway 12 to take the Merrimac Ferry Across Lake Wisconsin. 

 

As we approached the ferry landing, there was plenty of room and all lanes were open, so we pulled into the last place in the outside right lane. Usually when there aren't any more vehicles approaching, the captain takes off, but the captain was taking a short break, so the passengers waited for him to return and take us across.

 

Let's get some carbs! 7/10/26 dwm

 A few hours later, we checked into our hotel and did some early bike prep so I'd only need to do a few things before heading out .

in the morning.

 I was able to check in for the ride Friday afternoon so that was taken care of and I would only need to join the crowd of cyclists waiting to for the 6 am start.

 

 Part of the process of preparation involves the bike and the rider. In this case, it was time for supper and when I ride or bike, I fall back on what the advice my cross country coach gave, which was to eat plenty of carbs. I enjoyed the bread sticks, spaghetti and meat sauce!

 

 After supper, it was back to the hotel. On the way I picked up stuff for breakfast because I had to leave before the complimentary breakfast was served to guests.

 

 Thanks for reading, please come again tomorrow.