Day 6: Friday

Woke: 4:30 A.M.
Depart: 6:20 A.M.
Time in Motion: 4:30:11
Distance: 66.75 mi.
Max: 35.6 mph.
Average: 14.8 mph.
Temperature: 85-90 F

I woke early and fell back to sleep for a while. The night was pleasantly cool and dry.

After cereal and a muffin, I packed up camp and headed out. The start of the ride was quite cool. The pleasant temps did not help with the extreme hills, however. They seemed to keep coming: . Just when my legs were getting sore around Arena, 25 miles into the ride, I came onto Helena road. Flat for eight miles! With a tailwind no less! My front derailler gave me some trouble, so I was spinning in the small ring. My luck continued until the city of Gotham.

While cruising through Gotham, I noticed a bar called “The Bat Cave.” How appropriate. Wisconsin is all about beer and cheese. Free beer in Stevens Point, tours of wineries and breweries, and the “Beer Tent” at camp in Richland Center. There are signs everywhere that proclaim one magical word: “CHEESE!”

While snacking on a granola bar during a rest in Gotham, a local man urged me to take the new rail-trail that leads to Richland Center. The scenery was great, he informed me. Lots of old railroad bridges. But the surface was some form of gravel. He was upset when I told him I didn't want to take his advice, as I was riding a road bike and didn't want to stray from the route. But from the look of trail maps, Wisconsin has an impressive trail system. I wouldn't mind riding some of them – perhaps another time.

During this rest, I noticed a small crack in my carbon fiber fork. No doubt a result of the incident yesterday (or possibly from Greyhound's ridiculous treatment of my bike). Hopefully, my warranty will cover this and it will hold for the duration of the tour.

Backing up a bit . . . I stopped at the Frank Lloyd Wright visitor center: . I almost took a tour of Taliesin, but the cost was $10, I was the only one present at the time, and the tour only offered an exterior view of the architect's personal estate. Apparently, another well-known home of his, the House of the Rock, is also nearby.

Back to the Batcave! From Gotham to Richland-Center was beautiful. We snaked through a picture-perfect valley of picture-perfect farms: .

Richland-Center itself was disappointing. We camped miles from the downtown and there are few services. The shuttles the city provided made up for this somewhat.

Tonight, Justin and I spent quite a lot of time talking to a couple we've been camping with all week, Karen and Dennis: . Pictured above, I'm enjoying an issue of Bicycling magazine at Justin's campsite.

We're all a bit sad that the ride is basically over. It's almost time to head back to my keyboard.

The final campground of the trip: