...carrying 20 pounds of stuff. In freezing weather. In your lowest gear.
Wisconsin winters are like Donkey Kong: absolute brutality. We're talking regular subzero temperatures, etc etc. However, recently it's been in the high 20s/mid 30s, so I decided to kick it up a notch and ride outside this week. I did 15 miles on Monday, another 15 on Thursday, and tried doing the Madison to Cambridge route yesterday. It was going great - I made good time into Cottage Grove, felt awesome, even pushing my dad's heavy, rugged mountain bike up all those hills whilst towing at least 20 pounds of gear... I was in the zone. That is, until I actually hit the GDST trailhead. Being the epic ree-ree I am, I didn't stop to consider that the Glacial Drumlin State Trail just might still be covered in snow at this time of year. At this point, my two choices were to either ride further down highway N and see if I was brave enough for the very busy and highly not-recommended-for-cycling 12 and 18 or try my luck with the snow covered bike trail. Like Robert Frost I...I took the road less traveled by. And that made all the difference.
I got about halfway from Cottage Grove to London before it got dark and my dearly beloved father insisted that he pick me up.
Total distance: 17.2 miles
Total time: 3 hours
Average speed: A whopping 5.7 miles per hour. Thanks a lot, GDST.
The good news is that I can now add 47.2 miles to my training total, bringing me to 166.5 miles.
Well that was a time.
14 years ago
