Ride #2 – 10/11/2013
My second group ride occurred on October 11, 2013. Last time we had 8 riders; this time it was
only 5. Maybe that was because Jolyn,
who planned the route, noted that it was quite a bit hillier with a 1.548 ft
elevation change compared to 255 ft on the last ride.
Jolyn had us meeting at the Branch River Golf & Tennis club in Branch, Wisconsin (3212 N
Union Rd. Cato, WI 54230) and following the route below, which she noted was
about 19 miles:
Right (south) North Union
Road out of the parking lot 0.3 miles
Right (west) Hershau Rd. 0.1 milesRight (north) Fairway Dr. 1.3 miles
Right (east) Hwy 10 0.1 miles
Left (north) Danmar Rd. 0.5 miles
Left (west) San Rd. 6.0 miles
Left (south) Grimms Rd. 2.0 miles
Stop at T
intersection of Goodwin & Grimms Rds for view
Left (east) Hilltop Rd. 6.1
miles
Left (north) North Union Rd -
back to club 1.3
miles
The group included Jolyn, Stew, Jeff, Mary, and me. The way Jolyn had laid out the ride, we would
finish with the hilliest portion last, which was amazingly enough, was on
Hilltop road. Nobody really wanted to do
that, sp the group decided to ride the course in reverse. I think this helped me out a lot, because I
would have really struggled with the hills at the end of the ride and could now
tackle the hills early on when I had the most strength and energy.
Just as the group
headed out, I noticed my left pedal clip had come apart and there was some
hardware missing. I had just had the
bike out to make sure tires were good and to check the bike over, so I was
surprised to see the pedal in that condition.
I quickly disassembled the rest of the clip and threw it in the back of
my truck since the pedal would work ok without it. Stew had noticed my issue and waited for me,
while the other three had headed out.
After I made the pedal workable, we rushed to catch up with the group,
just in time to reach the beginning of Hilltop road.
Let me tell you that this road challenged me and had several
big hills. I spent the majority of the
time staring down at the road by my front tire and concentrated on keeping the
bike inching up the hill. About halfway
during that stretch, after topping one of the higher hills, the group stopped
and waited for me and Mary to catch up.
A few minutes to catch my breath and we were off again. While the hill from the last ride almost
finished me off, I seemed to have a better recovery on these hills. I attributed this to being able to start out
fresh on the hills rather than tackling them at the end of the ride.
The last ride, I was pretty much able to pick a gear and
stay in most of the time. Not so with
this route. I was constantly shifting
gears and it sure seemed like I spent a lot of time in my granny gear. At least the big uphills were followed by
some nice downhill runs that allowed me to recover and catch up with the group
a bit. I never could really catch up
with the main group unless they stopped and waited, but give me some time and
I’ll be right there with them. The turn
on to Grimms road started another big uphill, but the slope was more gradual
than those on Hilltop and just past the hill we stopped for the planned rest
stop at Goodwin and Grimm.
After a quick rest, we continued and shortly after crossing
over highway 10, took a right onto San road.
This long stretch had a very slight incline so while we were frequently
going uphill, it wasn’t much more work than level ground and there was one spot
where there was a nice long downhill where I was able to get the bike up to 31
MPH. There was one larger hill, where
the group stopped and waited for Mary and me to catch up.
We followed sans to Danmar which took us back to highway
10. A short jaunt on highway 10 and we
took a left onto Fairway drive. This was
a nice scenic stretch with plenty of trees and curvy road, we just had to be
careful as the road was still wet from the morning fog and there were lots of
leaves on the road. The main group was
way ahead of me by this time and there were a few times I wasn’t certain if I
missed the next turn or not, but just when I was about to stop and check the
map, I would catch a glimpse of the main group ahead of me.
Eventually we merged back onto North Union road, which ran
past the Branch River & Tennis Club entrance, where we finished off the
ride. As I was putting my bike in the
back of my truck, I found the hardware for the pedal clip, which made me happy,
since I could easily fix the clip before I used the bike again.