Madison-Albany-Blanchardville

June 4, 2001

Believe it or not, four of us had a pleasant bike trip last weekend.

We met in Paoli Friday evening. About half way to Albany, John had a blowout. (That's why I recommend carrying a spare tire!) While we were fixing that, the rain arrived. A little later, Kelly's bike developed a serious problem, which provided an opportunity to find out whether my cassette tool actually worked. It did, and we got to Albany soaking wet about 8 PM. The laundromat closed while we were eating dinner, but we were able to dry our clothes the next morning.

Saturday was cool and gloomy, but dry. I took the longer route through Monroe. Monroe is a classic victim of sprawl: Virtually all the businesses have moved out to the highways on the periphery, leaving nothing but a couple cafes downtown. Southern Green County is tough biking, as most of the roads are straight, going over all the hills instead of following the drainages. The valley roads just don't go the right direction for this route.

In any case, it was a pleasant surprise to arrive in Blanchardville dry. The campground wasn't crowded, but it always seems strange to share it with gigantic RV's. As usual, we had dinner at the Lone Star bar, not that there was much choice.

Sunday morning dawned cool and sunny, though the clouds soon moved back in. After breakfast, at the Lone Star again, of course, we headed home into another headwind under gray skies. The short ride home was cool, but dry.

While temperatures were in the low 50's most of the weekend, it was never uncomfortable. Everyone had plenty of warm clothes. Even if Saturday had been rainy, we could have just taken the short route to Blanchardville, where there was another laundromat. No one complained, and the mosquitoes weren't bad at all. The next time we're trying to sleep on a miserably hot, muggy night, we'll be thinking back to that cool weekend in early June!