Riding in Wisconsin

Amber and I spent the weekend in Green Bay, Wisconsin riding two of Michelle Brougher's populaires on borrowed bikes.

We flew out from LA to Milwaukee on the red-eye and drove to the Quality Inn in Green Bay. This is where Michelle is hosting the Dark Chocolate Cow 1000k, Door County 300k, Chocolate Chicken 120k, and the High Cliff 110k. Michelle loaned Amber her new rando bike and her treasurer loaned me one of his many classic bikes.

That evening Amber and I walked up and down the Fox River bike trail and were very impressed by the Green Bay waterfront. It's well paved, clean, graffiti-free, and beautifully illuminated at night.

Bridge from Fox River trail

The Saturday Chocolate Chicken ride started in Egg Harbor, about a one hour drive from Green Bay. The riders were Michelle and Lisa on a tandem (Lisa's first time), Regina, Amber, and me. I had authorized this route in my role as route committee member and just loved it. It's scenic as heck, on quiet roads, and fairly flat.

Michelle brought a tow vehicle in case her Prius broke down

Regina and Lisa at Northport Ferry

We started by riding north up to, and through, Peninsula State park, then on to Ellison Bay where we ate at the Viking Grill. I was disappointed to find we weren't going to quaff mead out of horned helmets, but the food was great. The black fly there were a joy - the way they can bite you through socks gave me considerable pleasure - not! We continued on to Northport Ferry, meeting many of the 1000k and 300k riders at various times.

At the ferry Michelle had put an info control in the window of the ticket office but, despite providing the clearest instructions imaginable, at least one rider couldn't find it. We headed back along a parallel route, crossing and re-crossing our outbound route enough times to confuse my gps system, but not Michelle. We rode a large chunk of Door county and it is gorgeous.

About eight miles from the end we were at the last control in Bailey Harbor. While reviewing the route I felt a control a mere eight miles from the end was excessive but it seemed perfect on the day. Kelly's bike (1000k rider) was outside so I went in to say hello to her. Despite having met at least twice already today, she looked at me without a gleam of recognition. "Who is this guy, and why is he talking to me?" It wasn't until I invoked Michelle's name that she realized I wasn't a weird stalker.

Bailey Harbor

We got back to Egg Harbor after a very leisurely day and I had the best plate of loaded fries imaginable before the drive home.

The eponymous Chocolate Chicken

Sunday we rode the High Cliff 110k from Green Bay to the Marina in Sherwood and back. This was even flatter than the previous day. Michelle and Lisa had been working the 1000k all night so it was just Regina, Amber, and I today.

Fox River trail

We started south on the Fox River trail and worked our way over flattish wood and farm land to the High Cliff State Park marina.

High Cliff State Park marina

Again, we met up with some of Michelle's 1000k riders so I was able to offer them a few slices of my pizza. Then we headed back up to Green Bay, finishing on the Fox River bike trail again. What a great way to finish a ride.

The best part of the trip, though, was that the St. Brendan's pub across the street from the hotel sold Murphy's Stout.

Murphys!

While supporting the 1000k riders, Cathy accidentally purloined a sign advertising a Christian school.
It made us all chuckle to see that the sign had an error on it and advertised 3K instead of Pre-K. If this is a quality school, I can only cringe at the thought of what kind of kids a merely average Christian school might churn out. I'm thinking Mike Pence.

3K or Pre-K ?