Days of Wine & Roses

That's the name of the Bombay route Dennis and I attempted. Wine & roses? Not quite. Not by a long shot.

I mapped out the route (wine & roses because it goes from Middleton to the Wollersheim Winery) and - luckily - e-mailed it to Dennis before he left to meet me at the park in Middleton. He showed up with his Cannondale - well, one of his Cannondales - with his new wheels, new tubes, new tires... I showed up with nothing new, and a Garmin with a dying battery. I forgot to charge it. That should have been a sign.

But Dennis had the route too so we figured all was good.

Six miles in, Dennis gets a front flat. His new wheels require valve extenders, and the tube he had wouldn't work with his extender so I gave him my tube. Back on the road.

Then...closed road by Crystal Lake. Probably from the flooding last summer. But that didn't stop us. We scaled the fence and carried our bikes. The road was mostly clear so it wasn't bad.

Then....Mussen road...




For the second week in a row, Mussen Road has gotten the better of me. How could I have forgotten the name of the road that had me standing on the side of the road last weekend wondering how I routed myself right through the middle of a lake. But, I did. I forgot and routed myself through a lake again. Now it was detour time.

Two miles into our detour, Dennis gets another flat. A rear flat this time. His new tubes with 80mm stems (to avoid valve extenders) have both gone flat within 20 miles. Between the two of us we now have one tube, one CO2 and one valve extender - the one on his front wheel. We took the extender off and tried it out, but like before it wouldn't go on our spare tube. Screwed. 20 miles out of Middleton.

Dennis called his wife to pick him up. I offered to hang out on the side of the road with him for the 45 minutes he would have to wait, but he said I should continue the ride. My Garmin was dead, so he gave me his. We were on the corner of Cty Y and Mussen. A left on Y and I should run into the route right outside Roxbury and then I'm good to go.

The correct way was to take a right on Y, and that would get me to Roxbury and back to the route.

Eventually, I found my way back to the park in Middleton...the same time Dennis made it back.

This wasn't our day, and it's a shame because it was a beautiful day for a ride. The temp was just right, the sun was out and the winds were calm.

Below is a picture of my detour last week, after discovering Mussen Road was under water. Yes, I climbed over the rock pile with my bike on my shoulder. It was a little sketchy. So was the pile on the other side of the lake. I almost fell in the lake with my bike.



Here's hoping the obstacles are behind me for a while. The Spirit of Racine is this weekend. I'm not sure what to expect. I don't feel ready. I never do, though.