PAW

Wisconsin 2004

For ride information, please contact.
www.pedalacrosswisconsin.com
Heart of Wisconsin - Northwood's Tour
Aug

Story by Laurie Allshouse

Back in January of this year, Jim started surfing the Internet for possible weeklong biking tours that we could enjoy this summer. After last summer’s heat wave in Wyoming, he knew we better head even further north. He stumbled on a Pedal Across Wisconsin (PAW) Heart of Wisconsin – Northwood's tour that began the first week in August. It didn’t take much to convince me that August in Wisconsin was going to be cooler than August in Oklahoma. Lodging was to be in Best Western style motels, which included an indoor swimming pool and hot tub/Jacuzzi. I was guaranteed a hot, private shower and air conditioning. Sign us up!

That began a pre-ride e-mail exchange between Jim and Dr. J. Pedal, tour director. I don’t know which man can pull your leg longer but the e-mails were quite entertaining. On May 4^th when Jim wrote Dr. J that we had about 900 miles under our belts, Dr. J replied, “I’m sorry, but miles before April 1^st are not recorded north of Carbondale, IL. Anyone signed up for a PAW trip who already has 900 miles is subject for investigation for climate manipulation, inside weather tips, and taking unfair advantage of the less fortunate. This is every bit as serious as insider trading and will be sure to come up at the very next PAW board meeting. You will be lucky to escape with a mere “slap on the wrist.” Most likely your chocolate chip cookie allotment will be curtailed and you will get only the white ice cream.” Of course, this is the same man who told us to skip the hill training. Even people from Florida thought the route was flat. Now, I’ve never biked in Florida, but compared to Oklahoma, this tour was hilly. Not excessively so and I never saw anyone walk a hill but I sure wouldn’t skip the hill training. I used my granny gear liberally. Anywhere there are lakes and evergreen trees around every other corner, there are going to be hills.

After sending in our deposit, we received a welcome letter signed by Jerry Goldman and Dr. J. Pedal. It wasn’t until we were on the tour that I realized Dr. J and Jerry were the same person. Jerry just has enough personality for two people. If one makes a mistake or gets in trouble, blame it on the other person.

July 31^st we gathered together in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for our pre-ride briefing. Those who arrived in early afternoon had a chance to ride around Stevens Point. Jerry supplied maps of a 30-mile route. We became confused. Imagine that? A directionally challenged map-reader loses her way. We really wondered how the week would progress. We didn’t quite understand the route markings and the map was hard to follow. We did get to cruise around two of Stevens Point’s city parks and saw a recumbent rally in progress. A few of the riders had the strangest contraptions with solid racing tires and a very low rider clearance. I thought aliens had landed. Traffic took all these cyclists in stride and proved to us that Stevens Point was very bicycle friendly.

At a 7 p.m. pre-ride meeting we hooked up with friends, Jim and Arletta Webster from Stillwater, OK. As we looked over the queue sheets and maps, we wondered what the strange abbreviations meant. On Sunday morning we would have about a 20-minute drive to the small town of Rosholt, where we would park our vehicles for the week in the school parking lot. A baggage truck would take our luggage to Antigo, our first day’s destination. 16 miles into the 60-mile ride would be the town of Bevent. BRWFT/PFS What does THAT mean? It was all explained and made perfect sense. Bath room with flush toilet/ planned food stop. Easy, eh? We were supplied with queue sheets, marked maps and the roads were marked with little upside down L’s, which indicated which way to turn. After the meeting, we were served ice cream and cookies to celebrate the start of a fantastic tour.

Thus began a wonderful week of riding in the lush, green country of Wisconsin. We rode 60 – 65 miles a day in rolling hills that had abundant tree coverage. There were clear, blue lakes around every other corner. Roads were smooth and had very little traffic. Homes sported neatly trimmed yards and lots of flowers surrounding their property. Window boxes were common and potted flowering pots with unique yard art pieces decorated the lawns.

Our nightly destinations included Antigo, Rhinelander and Eagle River. Antigo and Rhinelander were visited on our trip north and then again on the trip south but on different routes. We spent two consecutive nights in Eagle River. Wednesday was an optional day to either swim, sleep, shop, canoe, or cycle. Jim and I chose to ride the marked route that took us as far north as Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin. We even rode in the upper peninsula of Michigan for a short ways.

Land O’Lakes is not only the name of a brand of butter; it is also a town that encourages cycling. We rode on paved biking paths and saw bicycle-crossing signs painted on the pavement. Downtown had a bicycle lane that turned out to not be such a good idea. As I looked down the main street, I saw one lane of traffic going each way. Then the bicycle lane was on the right and then parallel parking to the right of that. I saw the problem when two parallel-parked cars opened their driver’s side doors and they swung right into the biking lane. Traffic wasn’t very heavy so I chose to ride in the car lane. Better than getting doored.

Once on the bike path, we were out of town and parallel to the highway. At one point we turned on Forest Rd. Forest Road was nothing but a one - lane dirt road but the paved bike path ran alongside it and we seemed to have the forest to ourselves. What a wonderful feeling to hear the birds singing and no hint of traffic or people for miles of solitude.

84 riders enjoyed this tour. Groups of women were not an uncommon sight. Six friends from a Chicago area bike club had t-shirts made that stated, “Wild Women of Wisconsin”. Twins, Sandi and Sue, left their spouses in Downer’s Grove, IL while they escaped for a week of riding fun. Mary Ann is a veteran of 63 tours, many in foreign countries. She told me that she became hooked on the University of Wisconsin’s bike tours. There were many couples too. We met Ron and Ellie from Lafayette, CO, Jane and Bruce from Minnesota, Ray and Rae Ann from the Chicago area and Fred and Ann who both rode recumbents from Maryland.

Our three days of riding in the Eagle River area were the prettiest and the coolest of our trip. We started out at 39 degrees but it warmed all the up to 70. The morning sky was deep azure blue. In the afternoon, fluffy, billowing white clouds appeared. We rode in and out of pine wood forests and took note of numerous snowmobile trail signs. Eagle River is the home of the World Championship Snowmobile Derby.

Our last day of riding was bittersweet. More than one person lamented the fact that we would soon be leaving the land we had quickly grown to love. Jerry encouraged us to come back and ride again next year. Our good-bye would only be temporary.

Due to the amount of pictures I took, here are the first half of our trip from Rosholt to Eagle River.

Click thumbnail for larger view of photo. Captions below