Today was supposed to be absolutely gorgeous and I had a couple of options. One to ride with Denise & Jody to Waupaca, the other to go along with Kevin to meet his riding group in Orfordville (near Beloit) for lunch with an early leave to get there. And I opted to go with Kevin with hopes to get home early too.
I left my place pretty bundled up at 7:45 to get to his place at 8:30, which I did but a few minutes after that and we pretty much headed out right away with a mostly direct route to get there so we could make it on time to be in Orfordville at 11. We connected onto Hwy 26 south of Waupun and took that to Janesville before taking other roads which he had planned. In fact he had planned the route for the whole day today. So I was at his mercy. Haha!
There were a few guys already at Knute’s when we arrived right around 11, and the rest showed up shortly after that. With the exception of Norb & Jill who arrived after we already had our food. However there’s was ready super fast and we were still eating when they got theirs. The gig with this place was that you got a free appetizer with a soda, but it was now $3 with a soda. Still a super good deal and I think almost all of us ordered the combo platter which had fish, chicken and a potato pancake. And although the Packers started at noon, the place wasn’t very busy at all. Bonus!
After everyone chatted and catched up a bit, we finally departed with Kevin II following us for just a bit to test his Sena Mesh. From Orfordville, I do not know all of the roads Kevin chose, but we did go through Milton and we did not go back through Janesville. Instead avoiding all of the cities.
I truly think that Kevin has gotten so used to riding alone and maybe also because he is now such a better caliber of rider than me, he has lost all patience with me. Today like other times when it has just been the two of us riding, I have been a bit behind when he’s gotten to a stop sign and has taken off without waiting for me. Today it happened again and a car was coming by the time I got to stop. No biggy since there wasn’t any other traffic and the car pulled off shortly after that. I also think he’s frustrated with me that I am still struggling with the height of my bike. I don’t know, and maybe it just means I need to stop tagging along with him. Guess I will see what next season brings, but it probably would be best for me to bow out riding with him a whole lot.
We stopped for a stretch in Ashippen and then onto Holy Hill area before heading north through Hartford and into Slinger where we continued north on 144 and Glacier where Kevin told me to take the lead. Since I had just hit the Scenic marked route with Jody last weekend, I opted to take D east and then I think Hillside north and Ridge Road up along Sunburst with a stop in Kewaskum for gas.
Since it was actually getting so late, we opted not to stop anywhere for cream as we had talked about. I opted to take Cty S out of Kewaskum which turns into Cty G into Dundee and then I continued east on Cty F to connect onto the Scenic route north of there and we split up just outside of Greenbush. Since it was so late, I just took Cty A in and out of Glenbeulah and Cty C and J around Road America. Then E north to Garton with a stop along the She River for a photo to use as a progression of the same spot I stopped for a photo the past two weekends, to show how much the colors were starting to pop there.
When I got home, I cleaned up my bike because the bugs were bad since it was so warm out today. I was in fact a bit overheated by the time I got home. Then when I went to stop my tracker it said I had 315 miles, but it never saved my map. Probably because it was way too large and the app isn’t really made for that type of distance. However, it made sense when I seen Kevin’s map below of 291 miles, because I always have at least 40 more miles than him when I meet up with him to ride at his place.
It was a glorious day! With just the exception that I was so wiped out to start out already and I can only think that was because I am still not sleeping all that great from the pain in my leg. Even after having a cortisone shot on Friday.
Not sure if I will get back out yet before the leaves fall since I will be going to Niagara Falls but at least it looks like I won’t be missing a nice weekend here while I am gone. Only supposed to be in the 50s. Fingers crossed, but this might be the last ride of the season, or at least while there is still good colors.
