Crosscountrycancer’s Weblog

Day 5 was very interesting. We had a fine breakfast served by Steve at the very victorian Franklin Victorian B&B. We took off for Elroy on the Elroy Sparta Trail. We puled out of the “bicycle capital of the world” relatively late and were on the trails. The trails were a mixed bag. The surface was not always great: crushed lime and a some hard packed dirt. It got pretty boring in places but it smoothed out the hills. On the slight uphills it was really frustrating because you could not tell if you were going uphill. On the downside you could not tell you were going downhill. So you thought you were really fast or really slow. THe tunnels are really amazing old hewn rock tunnels that vary in length from .75 miles to .25 miles. In Elroy Jim decided that Chili dogs were the best riding fuel. Gene thought that fried cheese curds were the best idea. Both survived. After lunch, we used trails and roads. It was a little difficult on a couple of places because we were not sure how to get to Baraboo. The Angle of Dairyland (“AOD”) was instumental. She was at every corner where we needed to turn. Once we got to Baraboo, we realized that we had four miles to go. It became something of a time trial.
We spent the night with Lyle and Marge at the Pine Haven Bed and Breakfast in Baraboo. It was a very bucolic setting with a small pond that Lyle had made out of what was wilderness. He also built a nice house with three or four bedrooms.
We went to the Village Cafe in Baraboo for dinner. The setting was very pleasant and the food was great. Lyle tried to get us to go to the Homestead, but with no liquor license, that was a non starter. We got back to Lyle and Marge and their pet mosquitos and had decent if somewhat fitful sleep.

Day six threatened rain all day, but we only got sprinkles. We had breakfast of a celery and sausage quiche and a lot of fruit.
THe riding on Day six was also something of an “adjust on the fly” thing again. Again the AOD was right where she needed to be when she needed to be there.

We had lunch at the DeForrest Family restaurant in DeForrest. After a couple hours of hard riding we made it to Watertown and Mark Keckheisen’s house where there was beer and great food. There we met Gene’s college roommate, Mike Guinta. Mike brought Jeff’s brother Jim with him. Great guys. Many more Spotted Cows.

-No Towel