Rails to Trails to Chicago!

Adam had broken his derailleur on a fall in Minneapolis…

But luckily, it was his driving day heading out of Minneapolis. As he found a shop in Stillwater, MN to fix up his bike, the 3 other boys biked through the trails of Minneapolis and St. Paul and alongside the Upper Mississippi and towards Chicago. On “one of the most pleasant rides of the trip,” we were provided with a great omen for how the rest of our 4-day ride into Chicago would be.

Camping in Minnesota for our last night in the state we started to have our first taste of “cool” weather again. Overnight the temperature dropped to ~65 degrees, which is a great sleeping temperature! Another sign of good things to come. We slept very well as we left our last city that was a home base of one of the B4B’ers (Denver, KC and Minneapolis). Everything from here on out was new territory! No more “homes” for us to stay, we were to be guests in every city that was left on our journey. Bring it on!

The next morning we crossed over the Mississippi for the last time. This time, we swear! East side of the Mississippi repre-ZENT!

It was about there, in LaCrosse, that we joined up with our first Rails to Trails. This was our first experience thus far on our journey across America, and we’re glad it won’t be the last. Rails to Trails is a non-profit conservancy organization that focuses on creating a network of trails built from former rail lines.

So America used to be primarily connected by a bunch of railroads. Well, now that we have cars and airplanes, some railroads have become more or less extinct. Instead of letting these perfectly graded lands that stretch for miles become useless, Rails to Trails removes the rails and builds trails for America to enjoy!

Consequently, these trails are in such beautiful locations. Covered by a canopy of trees that provide a window into as far as the eye can see, we rode. With little to no bike traffic, a few casual strollers and zero cars, it was easy to get lost in the scene. Riding on a shoulder with traffic and where we are constantly looking at which street we are passing on a well-paved road, makes for a fast ride. These trails have no turns for miles, no distractions, nothing else to think about; which makes for a slower ride, but a more enjoyable one.

As we reached Sparta, we rode up to our first bike depot. An old train depot turned bike depot that now serves as a hub for passersby to learn about the trail from an employee who has more than enough brochures and pamphlets at their disposal. The depot provides bathrooms, tables to eat at and benches (probably the same ones that were originally with the train depot) for all to enjoy as they pass through.

A large banner on the outside of the depot stated, “Sparta – the Bike Capital of America.”

We were curious as to how Sparta was able to afford this self-proclaimed title so we headed into the depot to ask.

1. No one else had the title and Sparta kinda called “dibs.” – fair enough
2. Sparta’s claim is based upon the first rail bed in Wisconsin to be converted to bike trails from Sparta to Elroy. – pretty sweet.

We also learned about three tunnels that we would be riding through, one of which was 3/4 of a mile in length! Trains didn’t go over hills, they went through them. Bike trails usually go over hills, unless they are built from old railroads.

Riding up to the tunnel, we could feel the breeze from within and the temperature felt like it dropped 15 degrees as the cold air poured out.

We were warned that we needed lights to go through the tunnels. Well it was a day ride, and all we had was our rear lights and… our phones. We used any and every light we could and we would need it. In the middle of a 3/4 of a mile long cave, you can hardly make out anything. It’s too dark to be riding your bike, which is why they suggest for you to walk your bike through the tunnel. Well, we actually missed that memo somehow and didn’t want to walk our bikes? We don’t know why we didn’t get off of them. NO WALKING EVER!!

But we sat on our bikes for the entire ride through the tunnel, through the pitch black, dodging the bats and making it through to the other side. It was less like a tunnel and more like a cave. We loved it.

We rode through two shorter caves throughout the day, finally finishing up at a campsite in Elroy. We made a quick dinner in the parking lot off of the trail via our camp stove, left our bikes and trailer at the parking lot of the trail head, and hiked up the steepest climb we’d had all day to our campsite. Another cool night of sleeping and we could get used to this!

It’s always lovely to be able to see the capital cities of each state. Sometimes they aren’t synonymous with the most populous city so we aren’t able to visit them on our ride. Can’t really just ride 60 or 70 miles out of the way sometimes. But the most populous ARE usually the ones with the MLB markets. So when we are able to visit a capital city, we look forward to it. Madison, Wisconsin was on our list!

In Milwaukee, the B4B team had a great host to look forward to in Adam’s second cousin, Jeff, and his wife, Ann. Through this connection, Ann worked in the DA’s office with a co-worker named Lynn, who was a Big Sis with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee. Well Lynn, heard about Biking for Baseball through the BBBS as well and was excited about the cause. She phoned home to her lovely parents, Mark and Ellen, who live in Madison and told them that we would be riding through Madison. Things move quickly in Milwaukee apparently, as this sequence played out all the way back in April. Actually April 12th to be exact. We hadn’t even “begun” our journey at that point. Well done Team Milwaukee!

We got excited to ride into Madison after a couple nights of camping. Did you know that Madison was voted the 4th best biking city in the nation?! We didn’t! As we biked in and around Madison’s trails, we realized we had now biked through some of the top bike cities in the nation! (Madison, Minneapolis, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle) There is a considerable difference in bike-friendly cities. There are more bike lanes, more bike trails and the culture surrounding bikes is more supportive. The drivers are a big one too. Drivers in bike-friendly cities give bikers a good 3-ft of passing distance as they move around a cyclist (sometimes this is a law, as it is in Wisconsin). In non-bike-friendly cities they don’t do this. That’s a culture swap right there. That takes time to instill into a population. But some of these cities that we have rode through have done it very well!

Riding into Madison we rode right into the Great Dane Pub and Brewery to visit with one of Chase’s instructors from his time in the Colts drum corps, Beth. Another great opportunity to meet up with friends… and over a local beer.

We then shuffled our belongings over to the Cook house and met the wonderful family of Mark, Ellen and Crague. They lived in Louisiana for quite some time and still brought their Cajun cooking on a regular basis. For this night, they made a delicious dinner with alligator sausage! Tasty tasty tasty.

We swapped stories, as Mark had traveled around the East way back when, and got excited about the rest of our time on the road. Mark was really excited for us to head east because of his fond memories of traveling around the area. Lovely people and lots to see.

Local bike mechanic Jim also dropped by and was interested in the Biking for Baseball cause. Jim had been a mechanic in the area for many years and was a regular at the Cook house as well. Hearing Adam’s tale of ‘Mericuh! (American flag bike jersey and American flag on display on each ride), Jim graced Adam with a great gift that would add to the American spirit. American flag bar tape! Yes!! Our night of rest in separate beds in the Cook house was going to be a good one.

Our last riding day into Chicago was going to end with another treat: our first chiropractic appointment of the trip. We probably needed these semi-regularly with all of the riding we were doing, but these trips are pretty expensive, and this one was to be donated by Petrie Chiropractic in Dixon, IL. That’s an easy “yes.” Our ride was trail-heavy and hot but it was fast. We had to be in Dixon by 3 PM for our appt and well, we were close. We were there by 3:10. Pretty tough to gauge exactly when you will make it to a location that is 80 miles away from you and you’re on your bike without any knowledge of the terrain or trails.

But, we made it for a great adjustment, packed up and headed into Chicago! Chicago is, surprisingly, a top 10 bike city. That seems surprising given how big the city is. But once you get in the city, you notice how friendly the drivers are and how many bike lanes are provided on main roads.

The ride through Wisconsin was one of our best that we’d had. Rails to trails was a new BFF of ours and we couldn’t wait to get more opportunities to ride through Wisconsin. Oh wait, we were leaving for Milwaukee in two days! Perfect! More Wisconsin riding!