Madison Summer Tour - Home to Spectacle Lake

Friday, 22 Jul 2022
112.36 miles
4042 ft of climbing

It was finally time for another ride from home to Madison, Wisconsin! Plans for a bike tour earlier this year had fallen through, so I was getting itchy to get out the door and onto my bike for a few days.

The route was nothing too different, but would hopefully hit the high points of past trips and avoid long stretches between towns and the busier highways I'd encountered on previous rides. This was a more central route, staying east of Wausau but not going as far as Marinette.

Anyway, 7:00, time to go! Or maybe I'll just wait until this angry storm cell passes. If I can ride out the worst rain of the day sitting at the kitchen table, I will.

Anyway, 7:30, time to go! The sky was clearing and everything was lush. I paused at the hop sign for good luck.

Steam rose off the asphalt as it warmed, and I settled in for a quiet spin to Tapiola. One of the old men chatting outside Karvakko's store called out to me, "Hey, slow down, there's a speed limit here!" "Ha!" I waved.

Should I stop at Kurt's Korner to get a snack? I'm always debating whether to stop for a bit or keep rolling, especially today, not having a locked-in place to stay the night. The correct answer was yes, and I had half a giant cookie bar while sitting at the picnic table in front.

Then off to M-38 for several miles until I got to the forest highway. Sometimes this stretch is stressful and unpleasant, but with no traffic and just a light breeze, it was less of a slog than usual. I turned to the south on FH-16, entering the Ottawa National Forest. Two swans and their babies welcomed me!

I rolled on to Kenton where I stopped for lunch (a huge sandwich I'd made that morning), and filled my water bottles from the well. Things were feeling pretty good so far, though the temperature was into the 80s already and I knew I had a long, open stretch of road ahead of me.

Back on the road and, whew, yeah, sunny and warm. I paused at the Golden Lake campground about 88 miles in and found it completely empty. Maybe a good stop for a future trip.

At some point I entered Wisconsin and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest; there wasn't really a sign or anything. But there was a bench with instructions written on it, so I obeyed.

But not for too long. I still had the voice in the back of my head telling me I'd find a full campground and need to head to the next one down the line. So back on the bike and toward Phelps, Wisconsin.

A few miles later on Highway 17 my bike started to feel weird. I looked down, yep, rear tire looks low. Bounce-bounce in the saddle, okay, it's losing air pretty fast. I found a precious bit of shade just off on a gravel side road and stopped.

Well, no big deal. I took my bags off the bike, arranged them in a neat pile, and flipped the bike upside down so it stood on its handlebars and saddle. As I went back toward my bags to get my tools and a spare tube, I spotted a tiny skunk waddling through the grass with apparently the same goal. I let out a little yelp, stepped back, and pleaded with him to not spray me and all of my belongings. He seemed as startled as me but complied, and scurried back into the ditch without emitting even a whiff.

I laughed and then texted Nancy to let her know about my brush with danger. Thinking that the skunk might be on his way back with Mom to investigate, I quickly swapped in a new tube, put everything back on my bike, and got ready to leave the shade behind. It was really getting hot now and I was starting to run out of water.

Not knowing what I would find at the campground, I opted to head into the town of Phelps to fill up on water and get some food even though that added a few miles to my ride. As I stood outside the convenience store I started to feel nauseated and tired, and knew I definitely hadn't been taking on enough water. I drank as much cold water as I dared, but again felt the need to push on to the campground to find a spot.

About eight hilly, hot miles later I rolled into Spectacle Lake Campground, a nice little national forest park, and was relieved to find that it was only about half full. I plopped down at the first tent site I found, now feeling more effects of heat exhaustion. I drank more water, poured some over my head, and after a while felt well enough to set up my tent and register my site.

Time for a swim to cool off some more and rinse the grit off me and my bike clothes. The campground was buzzing with parties and generators at this point, but the beach was completely empty! This little lake was clear with a sandy bottom, and I felt as good as new when I got out of the water.

One last thing to take care of: charging my USB battery so my phone, GPS, and lights would work the next day. None of the normal campsites had electricity, but I noticed that the campground hosts had some lights strung up on their site. I pretended to be extroverted and struck up a conversation with the (very good-natured) hosts. They were kind enough to let me plug in my battery to charge overnight. Thanks! Off to bed, 112 miles behind me and feeling back to normal again.