The church in Fitchburg had great coffee and Lauren’s family brought over quiche for breakfast. Maggie taught us an Irish dance in the morning. I rode with Kelsey, Sean, Maggie, and Divya to Reedsburg. We made our way around a rode that was completely torn out and climbed a pile of tires. We heard the story of Edna and Delores which made it difficult to ride up the hill because we were laughing so hard. We made a wrong turn adding about ten miles to our day but the weather was perfect so it really wasn’t that bad. That night we took showers at a local pool and biked to Culver’s for ice cream. It was a nice change to ride a bike without bike shoes, bike shorts, and jersey.Reedsburg to Lacrosse:We all split up into groups by names, we were the L group for the day. Lee, Lauren, and Ellie, plus Jan. It was a rainy cold day and I couldn’t find my under armor pants in the morning so I went without and was miserable until the first rest stop when Lauren decided to sag because she wasn’t feeling good, so she let me borrow her pants. Wisconsin is beautiful but it was difficult to take in everything around us because the weather wasn’t that great. In Sparta we got off the cues to take a bike path. It seemed like a good idea at first but the farther we got the worse it got. Really fine gravel was kicked up by our wheels and got on our bikes, butt, and clothes, adding a few extra pounds to each of us. This trail also took a lot longer because our tires were sinking into the loose gravel. We decided to ditch this trail about ten miles later, found a gas station, and sprayed off the excess dirt/gravel with a hose. Right when we got into the church the sun came out. We took a freezing hose shower at the church. Outback and Chipotle donated food for us! We choose Katie and Ron for our new ride leaders. Gideon became cue master as well.La Crosse to Rochester:Kelsey, Jan, Lee, Manny, Mark, and I rode together. We crossed the Mississippi early in the morning followed by a climb to a great view. Minnesota is a beautiful and the state of 10,000 lakes, but in the 80 miles we rode we didn’t see any that we could take a swim in. The majority of the ride was against the wind and uphill making it one of my least favorite. When we arrived in Rochester we went to the Hope Lodge. We were given a tour of the building and then talked with some of the patients. I talked to a couple from northern Minnesota. The husband had testicular cancer and had it removed 3 years ago but it returned. He and his wife are currently staying at the Hope Lodge while he receives chemotherapy treatments five times a week. I also talked to a lady shortly right before we left that was all the way from France. She told me that she was finishing her treatment tomorrow and was anxious to return back home. When she came for treatment she was on the waiting list for Hope Lodge for 10 weeks. The Hope Lodge is completely free and they can stay there until their treatments are complete. We once again got Chipotle burritos for free!
