Nicer Nelson: Provisions, rising sun, and marshmallows.
Scott, Wally, Jerry, Dave, Linda, Katie, Amy, and I roll out of Fairfax Park on time at 8 a.m. Sunday, August 23rd on a perfect looking weather day with the intent of enjoying quiet country rodes, challenging hills, good company and food (ice cream) on our way to and in Nelson WI.
Wives Mary and Linda drove off to their designated locations with enough provisions along to supply us on a ride to Nelson, Missouri.
We must have looked like a second rising sun to oncoming traffic with all that Overdrive yellow cresting the hills at the same time.
About ten miles out, we hear a gun shot and Dave pulls over with a sliced sidewall on his front tire. Dave replaces the tube, boots the slice and Wally airs and then later de-airs the tire a little as the boot is bulging at 100 psi.
Next stop comes a few miles later when I learn something I previously thought not possible. Jerry pulls alongside and says we should stop and put some air in Amy's tires as they "look" low. Understatement. They are as soft as marshmallows. Jerry pumps in about 40 shots to each tire using his hand held pump until we get to Mirror Lake and Linda with the floor pump. The floor pump shows 40 lbs psi which means they probably only had 15-20 in before Jerry's efforts. I did not previously believe you could ride a road bike with 15-20 lbs psi in the tires.
Linda's homemade energy bars, a brief comfort stop, a new front wheel/tire for Dave (part of the provisions from Wally) and we are off to the hills.
Amy is much faster now.
Car traffic is very light, temp is just right, scenery is pastoral, the bike feels good underneath me. All is right with the world.
A few hills and a nice pull a 21+ from Scott leading the train bring us through Urne to the intersection of County D&F where Mary is waiting with more provisions to refuel our engines.
I promise Amy and Katie there are only a couple of rolling hills left to Nelson. When you get older your memory tends to fade and details are fuzzy. After a couple pretty good climbs and great descents I promise that the toughest hills are behind us. I get the look from Katie and decide to keep my distance for a while, you know, a woman's scorn........
We roll into Nelson, meeting up with the Nicest Nelson gang, and commence to talkin', eatin', and card playin'. Cards were doled out along the way for prizes based on the best poker hand. Great prizes Jim!
This write up has gotten almost as long as the ride. Can't help myself, it was such a great day.
Joel
Nicest Nelson: Ruth and Taylor agreed to meet me in Nelson provided they got breakfast at Beth's and ice cream for lunch, so I rode down to Mondovi to meet Ann, Cheryl, Sandy and Bruce. As I headed south on Cty H the fog became increasingly thick until it was soup-like at Mirror Lake. I needed to catch my breath before we headed out, so I astounded the group with my death-defing lion-tamer tricks. As we headed west out of town the fog began to thin, but on every rise Ann's chain misbehaved, until she was forced to turn back. The remaining 4 of us continued on, enjoying the tremendous scenery of Buffulo County. One of the benifits of riding to Nelson is crossing the Eide Ridge, which we did at JJ. The 15% slope gave us a chance to practice our traversing technique. I needed to catch my breath again, so I started the poker game. Everyone seemed very happy with their cards and estactic that it was downhill all the way to Urne. After I explained how Urne got its name, we continued on to the refreshment area, set by Mary Roesch. Fortified, we tackled the next big climb and at the top continued our poker game. Unfortunately, Bruce lost his cards on the +40mph descent. Supposedly he had a flush, but I could only find 3 of his cards; the queen of diamonds was missing. We continued on to Nelson, enjoying the ups and downs of Pepin county until we could see the Mississippi Valley and smell the ice cream. After we got to the Cheese Factory I found Ruth and Taylor and reserved a table for the group. I waited for 10 minutes, but when the Fairfax group didn't show, I headed back up D to find them. I didn't get far though, before they came into sight, riding in a nice group of yellow and orange, clearly enjoying the day. Wally and Dave explained their adventure as we rode into Nelson.
