Sauk City, WI to Mequon, WI

Pictures:

1. Arrived in Mequon, Wisconsin tonight (a story in itself as the narrative explains).   As I pulled into Dave and Camille’s garage the first thing that I saw was this bumper sticker.   I am not trying to push a particular agenda but did love seeing this sticker.
2. Are you tired of seeing MG (Miracle Go) at the doctor’s office.   I would like to say that she is fine and 100% but problem after problem has me being the skeptic.   Needless to say she is once again operational and I am hopeful that she is 100% – but she will have to prove it.

Summary: I do pretty well getting started and out the door on a regular basis.   As long as I am on my schedule I can typically do what I set out to do.  The problem comes up with the unexpected.   Here is today’s story!

Stayed at a motel that had breakfast.   The motel agreed to have the food set out at 5:30 a.m.   A couple of bowls of Trix, yogurt, Grape Juice, coffee cake and other delicious items set me up for a good day.

On the road with teeth brushed by 5:50, we were cookin’.   Ten miles, twenty miles, thirty miles with all all systems firing while enjoying gorgeous Wisconsin scenery which had all the makings of a great day.   At mile 30 I even passed up a bike store called the “Yellow Jersey” and thumbed my nose at it thinking, “tire is good we don’t need you” – boy was that a wrong thought.

At thirty five miles I felt something funny on the back of the bike and thought “oh no, another flat”.   I checked the tire at it was full pressure and thought I was imagining things.    As I started to get on the bike again and the bike rolled forward the tire caught.   I looked down and the tube had pushed the tire out of the rim.   Needless to say I was not a happy person.  I bought a bike to ride and not walk!

At this point I did something really out of character – I turned back.   If you know me then you should know was I start in a direction I continue in that direction till the objective is met.   This was the exception.   Given that I still had 65 miles to Mequon (with no guarantee that there was a bike store between here and there) and only 9 miles back to the “Yellow Jersey” which I knew was open, I chose to go back.   They quickly confirmed that the rim was shot (no really a hard diagnosis since the side of the rim was blown out (literally).    Three hours and a couple of hundred dollars later we are back on the road.

We passed the point where I stopped at 8:30 again at 12:30.   Updated my friend Dave that my anticipated 2:30 p.m. landing time in Mequon was delayed to 6:00 or 7:00.    He offered to pick me up but MG and I still had our pride.  We had to make a day of it and get some good miles under our belt.   We fought our way to Hartford, WI (20 miles west of Mequon) and called Dave to see if his offer to pick us up was still on the table.   It was and we were in Mequon by 6:00 p.m.   I figured that after doing 80 miles with a terribly late start allowed us to retain our dignity AND enjoy and early end to the day.

Dave and Camille welcomed me into their lovely home and fed me dinner that kings would have envied.   Again, friends old and new, are treasures that we should all be very thankful for and never take for granted.

Tomorrow will be an official “rest” day.   MG has been working extremely hard and with all of her recent surgery she needs to recover and I want a day when I can just STAY OFF the bike.   I do plan on getting some pictures of Mequon for tomorrow’s post but trust the mileage attainment for tomorrow will be zero.

I have a couple of favorite actors and one of them (no, not John Wayne) would say, “I can only stands so much and I can’t stands no more”.    Most of you should recognize this quote coming from “Popeye the Sailor Man”.    That is how I felt today with the latest tire blow out.   I don’t care what it takes I just want MG back to fighting strength.   I think we are there now and the road home should be clear of all obstacles!

Remember that your life is yours to direct.   Are you guiding your life down the path that you want?   If not, why?