Friday, July 18, 2003 Blanchardville
As is our tradition, eight riders headed for Blanchardville for our Friday afternoon ride from New
Glarus. The sky was blue and the temp was in the upper 70s – a great day for a ride. The route goes
through some of the hilliest terrain around New Glarus. Larry made plans to ride with Gretchen a new
rider who wanted the challenge of hilly road rides.
At the start I rode at the back with Larry and Gretchen to be sure they could make the hills! Larry
was recovering from a femur brake and Gretchen was meeting hills for the first time. Both rode to
the top of Legler Valley Road – congratulations to Larry & Gretchen! Gretchen could be a strong
candidate for rookie of the year honors in 2003.
Anticipating they would be able to complete a shorter route towards Blanchardville I sped up to ride
with Lee, Eric, and the Schwartzes. I joined them at the top of the second major climb and we were
our way to Blanchardville.
The roads were in excellent condition and without pea gravel, so we could zoom down the hills after
each climb. The final descent ends with a long level stretch that ends in town. After building up
sped going down hill we cruised into town at 20mph.
We found our rest stop which is some long benches outside a bar across the street from a small
grocery store. Eric rode across the street to a park to refill his water bottles. As always seems to
happen we were joined by a group on motor cycles before we left.
On our return we had a couple of miles of flat warm up we started up a series of hills as we rose
above Yankee Hollow. From this point rolling hills replaced the long hills. Often we sped down
hills, so we could coast halfway up the following climb. At the end of a series of rollers I tried
to call Larry, who should have been nearby if he had taken a planned shortcut. I was out of range.
Lee continued pushing the pace, so Eric, the Schwartzes, and I tried to stay with him. On Dividing
Ridge Road we got good views in all directions and rode on a few rollers before descending and
winding our way through several farms in a large wooded area. Finally we did our last major climb
ending up on hwy N where we rode to Legler Valley Road and a fast descent to New Glarus.
Larry and Gretchen were still on their route when we got to the Chalet Landhaus. Lee & I drove back
to see if they were ok. We found them about six miles away and since they were willing to accept a
ride we brought them back.
Saturday, July 19, 2003 – Mt Horeb
I was staying at the Hoch House a B&B on the north side of the green in New Glarus. The B&B had just
two rooms with a shared bath that included a Jacuzzi for recovering from a ride. Cable TV included
OLN which was carrying the Tour de France. Barb and Steve asked me when I wanted breakfast and what
I wanted to eat, so I had eggs, fruit, muesli, toast, and coffee.
After breakfast I sipped coffee on the front porch until the first riders passed. I hopped on my
bike to join Larry, Gretchen, and Cassie. They were going to Mt Horeb and returning while other
riders were going north beyond Mt. Horeb. We rode by a deer apparently hit by a car that morning; it
was not there on the return trip.
I caught up to the other riders near the top of the hill where we turn onto Cty A. The next turn was
Cty JG which has a long descent that starts steeply and then slowly levels off allowing me to fly
down the steep part of the hill and cruise until I finally came to some small rises. As I rode
towards the hill just before Mt. Horeb, I noticed a rider catching up to me. Soon Brenna caught me,
she was cruising. We rode into Mt Horeb, turned around and pedaled back to the other riders.
Our rest stop was the service station at SR78 where we saw a group of riders from Madison. A few of
us went straight back to New Glarus, while the rest went north. We rode through town which required
winding our way through the craft fare that filled the mainstreet. I wanted to go by Schuberts
Bakery & Café to see if they had reopened following a fire. When we got there the owner said they
would reopen after Labor Day.
From Mt Horeb it was downhill on the S curves by Stewart Park. We zoomed down speeding most of the
way to the Tyrol Basin which is the start of the Wright Stuff Century. At Cty F we split into two
groups; one going back on Cty F and the others riding around to K. Four took the short route and
separated into two groups with one going the wrong way on Cty JG. They ended up riding as far as
those who chose the longer route. Riders on the longer route rode as a group for about ten miles of
relatively flat (for Wisconsin) road. We separated on a long climb but regrouped at the top going
into Barneveld for a short rest stop at the park in town. Then we rode along the military ridge on
our way to the grocery store in Blue Mounds for a snack.
Instead of returning to Mt. Horeb for lunch we decided to eat back in New Glarus. From the ridge we
descended to German Valley riding along a brook. We climbed back up to get to Daleyville and a rest
stop in the church at SR78 and Cty A. The church leaves its back door open for cyclists to get water
and make a rest stop.
The route from the church Cty A to Cty G descends into three valleys and climbs three ridges. We
separated a little on each climb and regrouped on the flats and the descents. Cty A was then pretty
flat until we reached Cty G which started with a nice descent and a level ride back to New Glarus.
Sunday, July 20, 2003 – Evansville
Our plan for Sunday was to ride before brunch going towards or to Evansville for about an hour and
15 minutes, turn south for a couple of miles and then return around 10am. The weather forecast was
for rain before dawn continuing for most of the day. We awoke to cloudy skies which were dark in the
north and light in the south – Evansville was east. Hoping for the best we started riding.
At seven it was cool as we warmed up on the level for a few miles and then climbed a ridge and
descended. On the first descent, the Schwartzes on a tandem cruised away from the rest of us never
to be seen again until we reached the turnaround point at 8:15. On Nye Road we did a series of
rollers. With some help from a tailwind we sped down the hills and easily climbed most of the next
ascent. We were having a great time feeling like we got a free ride up the hills. There was payback
on the return into the wind
We crossed the Sugar River riding with cornfields on both sides for a few miles before a couple of
long climbs; the last taking us to Cty T where we turned south and soon west towards New Glarus.
Again the Schwartzes cruised ahead of us and we followed as a group on the flat parts of the ride
and separating up most of the hills. On most of the flats we faced a strong southwest headwind while
the climbs gave us relief from the wind. We got back to New Glarus just after 10am still dry. It
didn’t rain until the middle of the afternoon.
Thanks to Larry Alvino for organizing another great trip to New Glarus.