Ah, another day in dairy land. We rode through the picturesque fields of Wisconsin in slightly nicer weather than yesterday, and truly hit as many dairy spots as possible — including not one, but TWO Culvers. We toed the line between dairy paradise and purgatory, as some of our teammates learned the limit of exactly how much they can handle while still hopping on a bike for 78 miles. We arrived in Wisconsin’s capital city in time to enjoy dinner, some live music, and a quick visit to the lake and UW Madison campus (see below for adorable duck pics).
Ride Overview
Mileage: 78
Elevation: 2,149’
Points of Interest: Delavan, WI, Glacial River Trail, The World’s Largest Culver’ of Edgerton, WI, Oregon, WI, Badger State Trail, Rock River, Covenant Presbyterian Church
Quotes of the day
“Who wants a fun necklace?” - Maaike, holding up an entire bicycle tire
“Women don’t snore.” - Dylan
“NO!!!” - Tommy, at a chihuahua chasing us
“If you touch your handlebars, you’re a coward.” - Lucas
Tales of the Trail
We sometimes joke that I4K feels like some sort of strange summer camp — or even a traveling circus — but this felt more true than ever during our morning activity for today. Olaf had us sing some very high energy camp songs, which worked wonders at waking us up, and also convinced us that he’ll be a truly amazing teacher one day. We rolled out in small groups with fun themes, such as sock size and for one group, age — meet the “Grandpa Group” of Michael, Dylan, Olaf, Anthony, and Lucas. If there’s one thing we love more than our recent graduates, it’s making fun of their age.
Grandpa Group goes riding off into the distance.
The overcast skies and windy weather made for a slightly more pleasant start than yesterday. While the wind gusts were a bit intimidating, we’re slowly and surely getting used to them, and starting to thank them for keeping us cool in such warm weather. The repetitive fields of Wisconsin bring a similar mental challenge to Ohio and Indiana, but some change in elevation brings prettier sights to enjoy along the way. The addition of music has also brightened up the ride a bit; popular tunes include anything from the “Pitch Perfect” soundtrack, the complete discography of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Katy Perry, and for the Grandpa Group, nothing recorded after the 90’s.
Believe it or not, this giraffe is taller than Joey.
Smiles in Delavan!
Joey and Logan prove that our road bikes are more versatile than they look.
Alongside the farm field-filled views, we feel like we’re getting the authentic Wisconsin experience with our rest stops, picked expertly by Claudia. Of today’s three rest stops, two were near Culver's restaurants, one of which claimed to be the “world’s largest” (Maaike and Logan swear they’ve seen at least two other Culver’s locations that claim the same thing. This is probably easily fact-checkable, but we’ll leave it to the comments section). The assorted Culver’s gave our teammates plenty of opportunities to fill up on that good ol’ Wisconsin dairy, and whether or not this was wise, why not live life to the fullest while you can? Our third stop of the day was also near a Dollar Tree — Dollar Tree and Dollar General have become huge team favorites. Today we bought some fun cereal-themed socks — pictures will come in the near future, I’m sure.
We promise we're more coordinated on our bikes.
While we are enjoying the scenery of Wisconsin so far, we’re also finding it interesting to behold the sights — and smells — of Wisconsin dairy production and cultivation. The huge amounts of dairy farms make games of “My Cow” more interesting, but also provide an insight into how the food we eat so frequently actually gets to our table. Seeing the country from a bike seat provides little censorship of anything, and for those of us who grew up in more urban areas, it’s been a journey to see such a diverse landscape across the states.
Tommy gazes at some grazing Wisconsin cows.
Our first rest stop for today, outside of a pig farm.
Our stayover in Madison has been full of fun surprises, including dinner catering courtesy of Joey’s grandparents, who live in the area. Additionally, we enjoyed live jazz music for the SECOND time this week, as the music group Mr. Chair arrived to our stayover to perform for us. It was amazing to enjoy some snazzy tunes during dinner, and to chat with the musicians about our cause and their musical journey (Riddhima and I, currently on break from our music journalist gig at the Daily Illini, geeked out a bit). A huge thank you to Mr. Chair for sharing their music with us and taking interest in what we’re up to. Please come play in Champaign again sometime soon :)
Mr. Chair playing for us at our amazing stayover.
After dinner, some of the team took a quick trip into the city to explore, make yet another dairy stop for ice cream, and see some truly adorable ducks. Emma and Kev stopped by the Capitol Building, while Neal, Olaf, and Lucas took a quick dip in the lake — Anthony got some drone shots, of course. We’re grateful for the great weather and time we’ve had in Madison, as one of the top cycling locations in the United States, it’s truly been one of the more pleasant major cities to ride through. We’re excited to have a shorter day tomorrow as we move on to Reedsburg!
Befriending some ducks in Madison.
Kev and Emma at the Capitol!
Cyclist’s Corner
Today’s Rider: Anthony DiRico
How are you today?
I’m really good! Today was a really fun, quick day and I think everyone is in pretty high spirits. Wisconsin — one of my most favorite states that we’ve visited thus far. It’s been really pretty and we’re gonna get to explore Madison later today.
You’ve fundraised thousands of dollars for our cause. What has been the most impactful fundraising experience you’ve had?
On our jersey right now we only have three sponsors, and I was responsible for getting one of those. It’s Peralte-Clarke, a company I worked for last summer. I have mixed emotions when it comes to reaching out to people and asking for money, because it’s never an easy thing to do. But, as the fundraising process went on, I think I got way more comfortable with telling people about our cause… Peralte-Clarke was a huge help in terms of my personal goal but also for fulfilling the cause. They donated a lot of money and I think part of it is because the CEO is a huge biker… so getting to talk to him and tell him about my experience, what I’m going to be doing, it kind of made the whole process easier. I also wanna add that Peter, the fundraising director last year, made the process so much easier. He was super hands-on, checked in all the time, and was really helpful for people that were falling behind.
What keeps you going when it gets difficult to put in all of those miles or even to get on the bike?
The rest days really help. Looking forward to having a day off to explore a city or to just hang out with the friends that I’ve made so far definitely keeps me going. And, the Portraits that we have collected have been really inspiring. I did not think I would be getting as many Portraits as I have — they’ve been in totally random circumstances on the side of the road, at rest stops. So hearing people’s stories and how willing they are to share — even just today, we met a lady at Culver’s who’s going through cancer. She didn’t wanna do a whole Portrait, but she told us about her story, and it was super inspiring, very impactful.
Do you have a favorite accessory to wear with your ride uniform?
In Columbus, Olivia and I made a makeshift bracelet out of paper. We took an origami class. I don’t know where it is currently, but it is fun to wear, so!
What’s your rest stop routine?
Lying down on the ground is definitely the first thing I do for maybe like five minutes to kind of just relax. And then, finding a bathroom! And filling up on snacks. Those are like the top three most important things. I’m one of the people that tends to run behind a little bit at rest stops, in terms of grabbing sunblock last second and making sure everything is going good with my bike.
In the remaining portion of the ride, where are you looking forward to visiting the most?
I really have not seen much of the Western side of America. I’ve never been to Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, so it’ll be really fun to visit all the national parks out there. I’m most excited for the Grand Tetons because they have a big climbing culture there, and it’s just super beautiful.
Anything else you want to talk about?
Thank you to all the friends and family that came out for the Champaign and Chicago days. It was really fun meeting the alums of I4K in Chicago and I hope that they continue following along with the ride!
(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)
We regret to inform you that Kev will no longer be riding with us, as they have unfortunately been swallowed by this very real tiger.