Nice day, where to go for lunch...

So I think today was probably one of the most perfect days for riding so far. Clear skies, no breeze and 80-ish temperatures.

I did remember to wear (and bring) sunscreen this time, so I am not all sun burned like last weekend. We wiggled our way up to Green Bay for lunch, the route we took made the trip last almost 2 hours including a stop for gas (normally 45 minutes via the interstate), had lunch, wiggled our way back to Appleton to H-D Appleton to get windshield bags and a spare hat, then came back home. All in all it was over 5 hours.

I found out I must have been sitting on my bike funny yesterday though, I ended up with 2nd degree burns on the back of my thigh. Not sure how because we rode longer last weekend and I didn't have them. So now, I have 2 small blisters that make me look like I have the plague or something on the back of my leg. Ed says if it keeps happening I have to get rid of my bike. Maybe I need a different seat, or maybe I was just sitting weird, or maybe something is exposed that shouldn't be on my bike. So, no riding long distances for me this weekend, looks like I will be getting some more gardening & yard work done instead, not a bad thing since it has been getting neglected because we have been riding.

I still like the headsets, I'm getting better at figuring out where to wear it so it doesn't kill my ears, and the GPS got us everywhere we were supposed to be. I forgot to plug my headset in to charge though, so I could only use it the first 2 hours of the ride. I did plug it in as soon as we got home though so it's ready to go for next time.

Horicon Marsh Part Deux

Today we made the GPS take us on the Horicon marsh trip. It was a good ride. Lots of hills and curvy roads. It was really, really warm though, and I got pretty crispy. I'm not ready for 90 degree temps yet. We left at 8:30 and it was over 70 already then, and it was 84 degrees (feels like 88) by the time we got home at 2:30. We went a total of 215 miles. The wind didn't even feel cool when we were riding, and there was a 10 MPH plus wind today. The highlight of my day was riding through the Town of Leroy (our last name).

We had the roads to ourselves most of the time, so we could go slower if we wanted to look around more. There were a few breathtaking moments when we would reach the top of a hill and look down on the green valleys below. Lots of farmers were out getting their crops in or getting the fields ready for planting, so we had to contend with a few tractors on the way as well.

We ended the day by dining at the always tasty A&W restaurant in Oshkosh. Taking the back roads was awesome during the ride, but we forgot to allow for stopping for gas, potty breaks and food! Luckily when we needed the first 2 there were gas stations we could stop at, but we waited until we got back to town to eat.

Did the Horicon Marsh trail today - I think???

Well, we set out this morning to do the Horicon Marsh trail. Apparently the GPS is possessed and it decided to play a little trick on us. Of the route that we had in there, we did less than 10% of it. We did ride through the marsh, and we saw lots of geese with goslings when we rode through. There was some beautiful scenery with rolling hills and lots of big trees. It was nice to see everything green and growing again. It was a little foggy, but not too bad. The sun came out here and there as we were riding, and I could feel it starting to warm up. We had to pull over before the end of the ride so we could take some layers off and lose the gloves.

I think we even saw an owl in the trees on the side of the road. Whatever it was, I just saw its butt and it was big. I figured it was too fat to be a hawk and Ed said the same thing. We ended up driving through Rosendale, then Horicon, then Beaver Dam down to Sun Prairie, and various little burgs on the way. Ed appears to be a bird magnet, since there were several times today that a bird came within a few feet of not existing because it almost hit him.

I guess we will be doing this trip again - only we will actually do the one in the GPS, not the one the GPS decides to take us on. It was a great ride, about 185 miles and 5 hours with a stop at the Arby's in Columbus for lunch and a couple stops for gas and stretching.

First 1,000 miles? Check!

Well, I've officially passed the first 1,000 miles on my bike! We went riding all over the place this weekend. The bike goes in on Wednesday for the initial 1,000 mile fluid swap, and we have decided to change it out for synthetic. It's supposed to help keep everything cleaner longer, and since I plan to keep this bike for a long time, we figured it was worth the extra cost.

Now for the riding. Saturday we went West to Nekoosa. It was the first day we haven't had any wind so the ride was AWESOME! We did a lot of back roads and twisting and turning, and only had a few detours due to construction. Riding along the Wisconsin River was amazing. The views were incredible. We did learn that apparently that day was Rummage Sale day since we went through Port Edward and I swear almost every house had a rummage sale going on. It was actually kind of funny after a while. I lost count of the sales after a while. We ended up putting on about 230 miles, and ended our day back in Oshkosh and had pizza at West End Pizza, one of our favorite spots for pizza.

Sunday led us to the other side of the lake to meet up with friends. It was a little breezier riding, but not as bad as previous rides we've had. We cruised back around to our side of the lake, went to The Twist for ice cream in Greenville (think Dairy Queen), rode out near Poy Sippi and then back to Oshkosh to meet some other riding friends for dinner at the Tilted Kilt. It was a great day for riding and we got to see a lot of interesting things while tooling around on the back roads. Lots of twisting and turning and curves to keep things interesting.

This weekend helped us learn more about the GPS, and the headsets are still working out well. I'm getting a lot more comfortable on my bike, and I think this is starting to look like a great riding season!

1st ride with friends

Last Sunday we rode to the other side of the lake to meet some friends, then back to our side of the lake for some more casual cruising around.

We ended up in Winneconne and ate across the street from our last stop at The Other Place. I had a bacon cheeseburger and Ed had a the king of clubs sandwich with criss cut fries. My streak of crappy food while biking has finally ended. My burger was great - the only bad thing is that I ordered it medium rare and it came out well done, but so did everyone else's that ordered it that way.

We rode around some more and ended up in Omro to have ice cream. I had Superman ice cream by Cedar Crest. I loved it! Unfortunately, you can't buy it in stores, it only comes in 3 gallon pails for parlors (I checked online) and Ed had some kind of rootbeer ice cream that tasted like a rootbeer float.

It was a great day for a ride. We trolled around on back roads and it was nice to smell some blossoms of things that were in bloom. Here's hoping it's a sign of many great rides to come!

Holy crap was it windy!

We went riding today to try out the new Bluetooth headsets. After about 120 miles of testing, I would say they performed very well considering the winds were 22 mph gusting up to 30+ and we could still hear each other the majority of the time. They came in handy when I wasn't so comfortable riding on a main highway because I was getting blown all over the place so I told Ed to turn off and we took side roads instead. The only bad thing I have to say about them is that the headphones hurt our ears. The sound was great but the comfort level was less than desirable. I saw on the manufacturer's site that you can order an adapter so you can use your own ear buds. I think we're going to try that.

The GPS is working great now that it has it's own power supply, and that really came in handy when we had to deviate from the route before we had even gone 10 miles. There were a lot of twists & turns and hills all made slightly more exciting by the wind. There were some really nice views at the hilltops, but I wasn't looking around so much, again, because of the wind.

All in all it was a good ride. Got more experience riding in the wind, saw a turkey and had to slow down to avoid being taken out by it since it flew between us and Ed also saw a pheasant but we scared it back into the woods instead of across the road.

We had lunch at The Pioneer Pub in Wild Rose. The restaurant was a pretty neat looking place, very rustic with indoor and outdoor dining options. We ate indoors because I didn't feel like dealing with the wind anymore outside. There were a lot of dead animals and fish up on the walls, and it felt like being at someone's cabin. It was very clean, and there was a bar in the inside dining area as well. There was a nice water view off the deck if you chose to dine outdoors.

Ed had the Ruben, and I had a 1/4 pound cheeseburger & fries. I thought the pricing on the sandwiches was a little high because it was $9 just for the Ruben and no sides. Mine was $6 plus extra to have cheese put on it. I got a soda and Ed got a lemonade, and they charged us for his refill (at $2.50 a piece, you'd think you could get free refills if you're eating there!). I didn't get a refill so I don't know if I would have had to pay for mine or not. My frozen hamburger slab was barely cooked through so it was luke warm in the middle, but the fries were good. Ed said his Ruben was good. All in all, I thought $24 (plus tip) for 2 sandwiches & one order of fries plus non-alcoholic beverages was a bit pricey.