[ride reports] [photo album this trip]
ST.N Regional Meet
WI-IA-MN Tour
September 4 - 6, 2004Highlights
Saturday Day 1
Total miles for the day still to be determined
The alarm went off at around 5:30AM. I finally managed to scrape myself off the bed at around 7:30AM and go downstairs for my daily morning dose of coffee. I still had to pack, plan a route and get ready. Fortunately the saddlebags were still on my 954 from last weekend’s Flat Four Tour and most of the other stuff I needed was still laying around from the Colorado – Utah tour the week before. I guess it pays to be a lazy ass sometimes. After some breakfast, we were finally on the road by 10:30AM. There was a lot of traffic per usual. I wanted to ride 60 in it’s entirety... finally, so for a direct route and since I didn’t have much time to plan, we took 89 all the way to Columbus, WI from 11/14. 89 ran though many towns and there was much traffic everywhere. The road also only had a few turns in it. I hope I remember not to take that road ever again. Since we had a late breakfast, we ended up stopping for a late lunch in Suix City at the Culvers, which incidentally was the first Culver’s restaurant. It was a hot day, mid to upper 80’s and humid and I was feeling tired. After riding all of 60, the best parts are the ones I always ride, Suix City to Spring Green and Gotham to Orion. Boscobel to Prairie du Chien which runs along side the Wisconsin River is also nice, with great views, but not as tight as the other sections. We arrived in Boscobel, WI around 5PM. A lot of ST.Ners were already there. We checked in to the Sands Motel, unloaded our luggage and rode a few blocks to downtown Boscobel for dinner at the Vale Inn. Everyone was already inside. After dinner we rode back to the motel, gathered some chairs to sit on and started the suds swap.
Sunday Day 2
Total miles for the day still to be determinedThe rest of the folks were going to be riding in the SW Wisconsin area. Since I’ve been on almost every road, I wanted to explore some roads in Iowa and Minnesota. We took off around 9:30AM West on 60. Stopped far gas in a near by town and I had some breakfast pizza and a Red Bull, then back tracked to 131 North. 131 was pretty tight in the beginning, some elevation changes too, towards 171 there was more sweepers. Pavement was OK, could have been better in some places. The next road on my list was 179, but this road was closed so we continued on 131 and turned west on 171. Also a nice road, not as tight as 131. From there we went North on 35 and then West on 82 over the bridge to Lansing, Iowa. We traveled North on 26 and then turned left on A26 South which promised us some nice curves according to some sources I looked at the day before. At the intersection there was a “road closed ahead” sign, but since we were already here I wanted to see at least a little of it. We continued on A26 for a few miles and it was very scenic with good pavement and nice sweepers, but then the pavement just ended and the road continued as gravel. It looked like they might have been working on it, so hopefully it will be paved in the future. We turned around and came back to 26 again. I didn’t feel like taking out my map, so we just rode North. I was going to try and get us back on the planned route somehow.
Crossed over in to Minnesota and made a left on 14 West, which looked good and twisty. It looked like it might have been pea-graveled earlier this year but it wasn’t too bad. Had some nice switchbacks and curves on it, mostly sweepers. The scenery along this road consisted of nicely manicured fields and farms, plenty of cows too. At some point this road changed names to 5 and we stopped in Caledonia trying to figure out how to get back on track. Since I saw 294, a road we were going to hit on our way back, I decided to just head in that direction now and ride my route backwards and not worry about the roads we might have missed already. 249 East was a great road, had a few switchbacks on it, some tighter turns, mostly really nice sweepers and nice scenery. The plan was to take this road all the way to 61 but as we got to Freeburg, we noticed that the pavement also ended on 249. We didn’t want to go all the way back to Caledonia, so we took 24 but just around the bend, the pavement ended here too. Give me a break. We took 249 back to Caledonia and stopped for gas. It was now lunch time so we decided to have something here. To add to the lousy gas station breakfast I had earlier, I had a corn dog and iced tea for lunch. Brian also had a corndog, plus some other things that were sitting under the heating lights at the gas station. From there we found 44 Northeast and took a left on 76 North. At first this road was nothing special, straight too. Then we made a 15mph left turn and the road spiraled downward surprisingly. I was not ready for such tight corners and such a steep road with a rock wall on one side and a cliff on the other, it twisted and turned for a few miles. Some turns were posted at 25MPH, most at 35-45MPH. I got stuck behind a truck pulling a horse trailer, so I turned around to do it again.
From there we turned on 16 Southwest. At first this road had barely any turns on it, then a little more, but after a while they started multiplying and they came one after the other, nothing really tight though. The pavement was also good. Made a right on 52 and headed Northwest. Just some sweepers here and more traffic. Made a right on 30/74 Northeast and stayed on 74. The plan was to take 74 all the way to 61, 74 gets pretty twisty there, but it was getting late already so when I saw 14, I took that heading east instead. 14 gets nice and twisty just before you reach Winona, MN. I was too late to turn off and see the tunnels on the right side of the road, but Brian saw them and turned off for some pictures. Stopped in Winona for gas and looking at the time, we decided to take the quick way back to Boscobel, via 61 South. Ran in to some road construction in La Crosse, WI but other than that, 61 is a nice road with some nice sweepers. Right before it got dark, we stopped in Readstown on the corner of 14 and 61 for dinner at the Kickapoo Corner restaurant. There was a few empty tables outside, inside was pretty busy. Brian ordered fish and I got a taco salad. Brian ended his meal with a minced meat pie for dessert. Food was edible but nothing special. Even though it was pretty warm today, the temperatures started falling now as the sun began to set. We changed out the tinted shields for the clear ones, put a warmer layer on and continued South on 61. 61 is very nice and twisty here. Down the road as I was following a car and I was about to pass it when a car traveling in the opposite direction flashed us with high beams. I waited and waited and did not see any thing for a while and I was almost about to pass the car in front of me, when up on a hill I saw a dark squad car hidden in bushes. Crap. I’m glad I was patient enough to sit behind the car and go speed limit, I would have not spotted him up there. We arrived in Boscobel at about 7PM. A lot of people had left already, so the circle of chairs was smaller this evening but there was still plenty of suds to swap. The rain that they predicted never came.
Monday Day 3
Total miles for the day still to be determinedWoke up to the sound of falling rain and rode over to the Vale Inn to meet up with the group for breakfast at 8:30AM. I had the best French toast ever, made with the big, thick Texas toast. Yummy! By the time we finished breakfast and made it back to the motel, the rain had stopped and the sun was peaking though the clouds. We were packed and ready to go by 10:30AM. As I turned North on 61 I felt a sharp sting on my neck. WTH. I didn’t even see any bees around me. I pulled over on the shoulder of the road, Brian looked but could not find any stingers, only two welts on my neck. They were stinging and throbbing, just like last year when I got stung over Labor Day weekend. This is becoming a tradition now, not one I would like to continue. We continued North but a few minutes later it was raining. We pulled over at a gas station where I put more layers on. It was cold. We continued again and made a right on 14 and headed northeast on 131. From there the plan was to take “S” north to “P” . The pavement on S was broken and choppy. The road was narrow and nothing special. It had stopped raining by now but the road was still wet. When I got to 56 and looked at the brand new pavement, I decided to save "S" and "P" for some other day and made a right on 56. It had nice curves, mostly sweepers and some nice scenery at times. There was hardly any traffic on this road although in three places there was construction and we had to ride over some bad gravel sections.
Continued South on 80 and we arrived at Richard Center and stopped at a gas station to put on more layers. Even though the storm was ahead of us and it wasn’t raining, the temperatures were cool and it was becoming very gusty. Continued from there on 14 east, which as always, has a tons of cars on it. We got gas in Mazomanie and made a right on "KP", from there we were going to take "F" south but when we got to "F", instead of reading the sign, I made a left thinking this was the way we went last time. Within a few minutes I realized we were going the wrong way and we turned around in Black Earth. The first section of "F" is my favorite all the way to Blue Mounds. The next sections of "F" resemble 78, which in not too far from here. If I didn’t know it, I would think it was the same road. "F" has some uphill right turns which are blind, they are tighter than they seems. Not a lot of traffic on this road but the winds were still picking up, it was hard to keep a line at times. I prefer "K" better, to either 78 or "F" south of 18.
At some point we lost "F", I don’t know how both Brian and I could have missed a turn, must be the lousy signs here. We made it to Darlington and took 81 east, one of my favorite roads, brand new black and shinny pavement, nice views and sweepers posted at 45MPH. Since it was so gusty, I only managed to do about 70/75 though the turns, Brian said that under 100MPH this road isn’t fun at all. I have to disagree, it was plenty fun at about 70MPH for me. Took that to 11 East, since parts of it are still closed off we went though the detour again. I didn’t want to stop anywhere for food, just wanted to get home. The winds died down as we entered Chicago suburbia, temperatures were cool all day long and I had all my layers on throughout the day. At least we didn’t run in to any more rain. The winds did gave me a work out all day and I got home pooped around 6PM, ordered a pizza and spend the evening relaxing and watching TV.