Visit Wisconsin Soon

Southern Wisconsin sure turned out to be awesome, right?  And most likely you're eager to start planning a Wisconsin trip of your own--one following in my tire tracks to fun and adventure.  That's a great idea, but you might want to hold off on your Wisconsin immersion tour for a little while.  I don't think the state is ready for the entire Cycleblaze world to invade all at once.

While waiting for your opportunity to get into Wisconsin, you should undertake a tour in the next best thing--another Midwestern state.  Alternately, you could SETTLE for some less exciting place--like a different part of the U.S., or one of the other hundreds of countries throughout the world.  It's up to you, but like I always say, "Midwest is Best."

A Couple of Disappointments

The disappointments have nothing to do with Wisconsin.  They have everything to do with ME.  I'm disappointed that I spent too many nights indoors.  I don't know what came over me.  Probably it was the heat and the fact that I was out of shape after a long Minnesota winter that extended well into spring.  I thought I was ready for the hills, but I really wasn't.

Also, I opted for rail-trails too much.  Wisconsin's long distance trails are nice and all, but they were awfully flat.  On the upside, they were gravel and they showcased some glacial landscapes that I might not otherwise have seen.

A Review of a Cult Classic Movie Related to Cycling

Perhaps you've heard of the film "Breaking Away."  It's about a group of midwestern rubes like me.  They are a bunch of locals who are ridiculed by the cool college kids who refer to them as "Townies" or "Cutters."  

The Cutters trained hard in order to enter a bike race against their highly skilled University of Indiana tormentors.  In the end, the Cutters beat those dastardly teams of elite bike racers.  I heard it's based on a true story.

My review is this:  It's a fine movie.  I liked it a lot.  In my own world of cycling, I was like a Cutter on this tour:  A local, a Midwestern touring bum, an underdog, a naive dreamer, and ultimately, A BIG WINNER.

Heart

7

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

Getting All Philosophical About Bike Tours

Bicycle tours come in all shapes and sizes:  Overnight trips. Tours lasting months or even years.  Expeditions.  Jaunts.  History tours.  Wilderness tours.  Cultural tours.  Party tours.  Mountain tours.  Desert tours.  Autumn leaf tours.  Quaint inn-to-inn tours.  Wine tours.  Tours of all kinds.  They're all good.  

MY tour set out to be a "weirdness" tour, but Wisconsin didn't turn out to be all that weird.  It was actually pretty normal.  I didn't see a single person wearing cheese on his or her head.  Not one person complained about how the Packers got robbed in that playoff game eight years ago.  They were pretty friendly folks too--just like Minnesotans, Iowans, Illinoisians, Indianians and Michiganders.

Wisconsin also gave me a new appreciation for glaciation.  (While proof reading, I just noticed the nice rhyme I wrote there.)  I liked the towns and cities too.   I seem to like riding wherever I go.  Some might say I am too easily pleased.

From the Amazing Coincidence Department

On my tour of northern Idaho last year, I happened to come across a guy who was on a seven-year walk around world.  I wrote about the encounter  on the second last day of my "A Snake, A Heart and An Earring" journal.  I've continued to follow his website ever since.

At the time of our meeting, he said he was seven months from the end of his amazing journey.  In my wildest imagination I could not have predicted his epic walk around the world would have ended on the exact same day as my epic bike ride across the state of Wisconsin.  His accomplishment might have been a little more amazing than mine, but not by much. 

A Few Thoughts On How I Wrote This Future Pulitzer Prize Winning Journal

As an internet bike touring journal writer, I view my job as reporting on what I see and learn while on tour--not what I've researched beforehand--with a strong focus on ME and what I do.

Part of my No-Prior-Research theory is that everything I see and do will be a big surprise.  And I will never be disappointed by missing places the travel guides say are "can't miss" because I never knew they were "can't miss" in the first place.  As you may have seen, there aren't many facts and figures about the places I visited.  That would be because I don't know many facts and figures.  Like I said, I just report what I see and learn in the moment.  (I did elaborate quite a bit about pasties though.)

I hereby submit this journal to the Pulitzer Prize jury.  I expect they will independently recognize the value of this contribution to on-line bicycle touring journalism and award me the prize based on its merits.  I certainly will not go through the formal submission process, nor will I pay the fee.

Heart

9

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply