Day 33 La Crosse WI to Mauston WI

Day 33
La Crosse WI  to Mauston WI
Miles Ridden 75.4
Climbing 2546 Ft.
Total Miles Ridden 2449.0
Miles To Go 1204.0

This post is being written two days late. I'm just recovering from the painful fall I took.

Today's ride was relatively short and included a long stretch on an excellent rails-to-trails path through central Wisconsin. The long threatened rain had fallen all night in  La Crosse but when we started out, things were gray and low clouds were swirling. There was no rain although the forecast was for more all day.  Evin and I pushed through at top speed in an attempt to get as many miles in before we inevitably got wet.

The trail started after 27 miles  on the mostly fine Wisconsin back roads. The Sparta-Elroy trail is over 50 years old and claims to be the first rails-to-trail site in the country. It runs through some hilly. rugged and heavily wooded country that seems out of place in the mid-west. One of the features of this segment of the trail are three railroad tunnels that date to the 1870's including one that is almost a mile long. They are all unlit and require bikes to be walked. It was, of course, dark but also dripping wet inside the first and longest tunnel. We used our headlights and tried to avoid tripping over the uneven surface.

Evin  afraid to climb the penny-farthing

Robin, the mechanic, wasn't

After going through two of the tunnels, rain started to fall. The trail lead us through a heavily wooded and dark section. For a dirt trail, it seemed to be getting very slippery. I said to Evin "I think somebody is going to fall today" About 20 seconds later, at about 14 miles per hour, my rear wheel slipped out and I went over and hit the ground. I landed hard on my left hip and arm. Evin stopped and helped me up. When I tried to get up, I realized the heavily packed dirt surface was covered with some sort of moss that got as slick as ice when wet. We could barely stand on it.  One of the ride staff rode up and tried to stop but she fell and then three more riders tried to stop and they fell. Someone ran back to a crossing road and diverted the rest of the riders.

At the opening of the long tunnel

After the fall

I was cut in a few places, covered in mud and very sore but there was no choice but to push on to the next SAG stop about 15 miles forward. Despite a lot of pain in my shoulder, I was able to hold the handlebars and keep going. At that point we had  15 miles  to the finish so I kept going. The heavens then opened up and rain came down sideways. I can't put in words how miserable that last hour was. At least the rain got some of the mud off my bike.

Evin took care of my bike and luggage and allowed me to take a hot shower and fall into bed. Was not sure what would happen in the morning.