Day 30

Lately the Big Ride days have been fairly uneventful.  It seems odd to spend 6+ hours on a bike and still struggle to think of something to write about.  Not today.  Today was one of the most eventful days of the trip.  Unfortunately, not all was good.

We started the day pedaling along the east edge of the Mississippi.  We still in Minnesota, but not for long.  I've stated before that there are several landmarks on this ride that really mean something to me.  Well, the Mississippi is at the top of the list.  No problem finding something to write about today--holy cow!  I've rode my bike from Seattle to the Mississippi.

About 20 miles south of Winona we stopped at the Myers residence for a second breakfast.  Actually, it was a huge feast.  Apparently the Myers are fans of the Big Ride and put out a spread every year for the riders.  The story is that they helped a rider out with water years ago and subsequently the party has grown to the point that each year the riders come though they good all out with a feed.  They have pictures of past rides and riders and plenty of stories to tell.  They are great folks--see no problem with the stories today.

Next we rode into Wisconsin.  Our 7th state.  I was thinking that this was a great day, no problem with the blog tonight.  It was already written in my head.  What could top riding on the Mississippi, being fed by Big Ride Fans, and crossing into a new state?

Well, that's easy--crossing the Mississippi.  It is a dang landmark.  Seeing a landmark is one thing.  Putting it behind you is another.  We crossed into La Crosse, Wi.  The Mississippi is so big that Wisconsin calls La Crosse their west coast.  I thought that was funny.

LaCrosse is home to La Crosse Brewing.  I've never heard of them but I had heard of a feature related to the brewery.  It is the beer storage tanks known as the world's largest six pack.  I'm not sure how I knew about them, I just did.  For scale purposes you can see me leaning on the sign at the bottom of the middle can.  Pretty cool day, huh?

It gets better.

The upper Mississippi wetlands in the refuge are incredible.  What was also amazing is that my GPS indicated that our elevation was less that 800 ft.  That means the Mississippi drops less than 800 ft. between Wisconsin and New Orleans.  That is incredible to me.

The climbs out of the Mississippi valley were painful.  One climb was 1.5 miles long and averaged 8-10 percent.  We haven't climbed significantly since the Black Hills in western SD, so everyone felt it.

We still reached Viroqua by early afternoon.  It was hot and the humidity was high so everyone was parched.  Some of the young dudes started trash-talking Sam (the sauerkraut eating champion of New Elm) that they could out eat them.  Needless to say, a competition was born.  I never thought it would happen, a I went down the street to do my laundry.

Well, the competition did happen.  I don't know all the details, but it involved a relay consisting of consuming a brick of cheese, and downing a half-gallon of chocolate milk and ice cream. 

In eating contests, if the product doesn't stay down it's called a reversal.  A reversal is ground for disqualification.  Apparently, there were several reversals and the competition was called off.  To add insult to injury, while everyone was in the dairy barn watching the competition, an old dude turned around in our campground and backed over Andy's bike.  The bike was totaled.

Andy is the school teacher who is posting the great videos on you-tube.  Andy was livid.  I don't blame him.  This is a once in a lifetime trip.  You can't just pick this up next year.  It wouldn't be the same.

The bike situation remains unresolved.  Frank, one of the ride coordinators, has loaned Andy his bike until Madison.  The old guy initially offered Andy $1500 for his damages.  I think that was close to the value of Andy's bike and he could buy another in Madison.  But then the guys family showed up and they took back the offer.  Andy will have to deal with the insurer.  I hope it works out.

Some of the riders ride bikes that are worth at least $4000.  The old dude is lucky he didn't run over one of them.