dAY 34 journal La Crosse, WI to Wisconsin Dells, WI

Today I rode 93 miles. Unlike yesterday’s ride into La Crosse, WI today was a long and tiring day for me. I did not sleep well last night. Having gotten in late for the visit with my cousins/sister/niece my usual routine was thrown off. I think I only slept about 4 hours last night. There was a cloud cover today, which made for a cool day. Good for biking. I really did not like the change in the route that ABB had made since the 2001 route I took. When we got to mile 32 in Sparta, WI we got on a 30 mile crushed limestone rails-to-trails bike path. Crushed limestone is not a good surface for road bicycle tires. It is slower, and the sandy limestone surface gets kicked up into all the gears, chain, and makes the bicycle very dirty. The path was filled with fallen tree leaves and lots of small to medium sticks everywhere. We had three tunnels that when we came to them we had to turn on our flashlights and walk through the tunnel. The first tunnel was a 1-mile walk. Pitch black in there, could not see the end of the tunnel for a long time. It was dripping with water and the walking surface was bumpy stones. Not fun. The two other tunnels were similar but not as long. By the time I finished riding this boring bike path trail and arrived at mile 60 in the small town of Elroy, WI I was very hungry and out of water. The SAG van was there, but many of us opted to eat a hearty lunch at a local café. I made a BIG mistake by eating too heavy fare and too much. I was forgetting that I still had several hills and 30 more miles to ride after that stop. I ate this huge cheeseburger, a dish of bean/ham soup, chips, drink and a piece of pumpkin pie! Way, way too much protein in my tummy to get back on the bike and ride. I was feeling so sleepy after that much food, I had to fight staying awake on the bike! I was very glad to reach our motel in Wisconsin Dells!! I was more tired this night than I can remember on any other day on this trip. We had dinner at Perkins tonight and I went straight to bed afterwards.