June 9, 2019
Psyched Out by Rain
Star Campground to Shawano
Jackie’s avg speed: 8.9 mph
Scott’s avg speed: 11.1 mph
Weather: 55-65 degrees, overcast and rainy
Sun shining through the tent wakes us when we camp, so we were up at 05:30. No condensation on the inside, the Star Campground was much less humid than Marinesco. That would change in a couple hours. We made breakfast from the seemingly endless supply in Scott’s pannier, then broke camp and pedaled out at 08:04. We anticipated some traffic in the afternoon when revelers returned home from fun on the lakes.
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We were surprised to be competing for backroads at that hour on Sunday, but the 09:00 church-goers were out, headed to the town of Tilleda. Cyclists can be prima donnas and expect to have the entire road to ourselves. If we can’t have the “whole ting” as my two-year-old grandson once said to me, we like cars that share. And these drivers were unfailingly courteous.
In the first ten miles, a shower passed through and in a couple more miles of riding, we had dried out. Farmyards we rode past sported signs with unique patterns that we later found out marked them as being on a route designated for the annual September Bike the Barn Quilt ride through backroads like these. Good to know that local drivers were used to cyclists, though we were the only ones on this day.
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The forecast predicted 40% chance of showers. The longer we rode, the more showers we rode through. At mile 30, when we were getting soaked to the skin, we made a pact to have lunch in Shawano and dry out before pressing on to a campground 10 miles farther. We reached the packed gravel bicycle path into tow, crossed the river right below the diversion for the plywood plant, and then took a detour to Main Street in search of Angie’s Café, one of the few places open on Sunday.
The place was packed, mainly with families who had come in after church. We found a booth and ordered pancakes, eggs fried hard, and sausage (Scott) and a cheeseburger with fries and Coke (me). While waiting for the food, we pondered data points about whether to continue on to the campground, or pull up short in Shawano and make up time in the next days. The rain was no longer a shower, it was coming down hard. The food came, we ate, we paid, and waited for the rain to pass. We explained to our waitress that we were cycling and waiting for better weather. “No rush, take your time.” The cell signal was weak, so Scott could not access the app to calculate miles to Manitowoc. We needed to store the bikes there while we made a quick drive to Montana to celebrate the 100th birthday of Scott’s aunt.
For lack of data, we decided to camp. While en route to the grocery store to pick up supplies, the rain came back. Camping was a bad idea. The rain would stop later in the afternoon, but Weather.com showed it would rain again twice in the middle of the night. The prospect of waking up in a soggy campground pushed us to the Super 8 in Shawano. With WiFi Scott calculated that we had just 100 miles to Manitowoc, definitely doable in the next two days. We slept the sleep of the just.
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 1,519 miles (2,445 km)
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4 years ago