XC Day 0 - Madison Rest Day
Today was a rest day for all of the Cross Country bikers. Since I have not biked the 2500 miles from the Pacific Ocean to here, my legs are fresh. I used the afternoon to spin my legs and explore the nearby countryside. I rode a nice 42 mile loop.
Here is a selfie I took while riding. I use a small Sony camera when biking. It has a wrist strap and nice physical buttons so I can take photos without stopping.
While I am using a bike from Trek Travel, I have customized it to my liking by adding bar end mirrors (just visible in this photo) and added my aero-bars. The aero-bars are valuable when I am either biking alone or leading a small group and there is a headwind or it is flat so I am going relatively quickly. The other huge advantage of aero-bars is that it allows me to significantly shift my position when riding. I find this substantially reduces stress and aches when riding 6+ hours a day.
There were lots of corn fields and red barns on my ride.
Once I was 15 miles outside of Madison, many of the roads were very quiet and beautiful even if some were a bit rough.
Another example of a red barn.
I saw this tall grass and loved the bright white tops.
Finally, I did stumble across this Christmas Tree farm which was a fun change from the corn fields.
Tomorrow I begin the ride east in earnest. We bike to Milwaukee. It is relatively short day at 86 miles. I will be making a slight detour since we will be riding quite close to Delafield WI where my parents moved while I was in college. I will see if I can get a photo of the house we used to live in.
That is all for today.