Gentlemen's Tour Summary

The HC Gentlemen's Tour is over and what a great time I had. Not only was the weather perfect but the cast of characters that participated assured the trip would be unforgettable. I only took a few photos personally but check here, here, and here for future photos and trip reports.

We started the tour by driving to Red Wing. The idea was to avoid riding miles getting out of the metro, and spend more time enjoying the beautiful scenery along the route. We were joined by good friends Doug and LeAnne who rode with us as far as Nelson before heading back to Red Wing. Jim showed us a new route on the Wisconsin side that paralleled Wisconsin 35 but was much quieter. After climbing the Bay City Hill, we stopped in Maiden Rock and in Stockholm to enjoy 2 pie stops -- in 10 miles. Continuing south, the headwind continued to pick up as we headed to Nelson's Cheese Factory where we enjoyed a hearty lunch.

Continuing south, the wind got stronger and stronger as we made our way to Merrick State Park, near Fountain City. One of the participants was driven down so he could join us, and he reserved a most excellent camp site along one of the river channels. Good food, and a few adult beverages topped off a fun but challenging day. A few showers fell that night but that was the last rain we would see for the next 5 days.

Day 2 dawned bright and sunny and we continued south -- with a decent tailwind!! At Bluff Siding, we picked up the Great River Trail, an unpaved trail that goes all the way to La Crosse. At Trempealeau, we jumped off and had a great lunch at the Trempealeau Hotel overlooking the river.

We continued south, eventually finding our way into downtown La Crosse. After securing lodging, we headed out for beverages and dinner -- a great way to end the day.

Day 3 dawned cloudy with a chance of rain so we ate a hearty breakfast and headed out early. Crossing the Mississippi found us in La Crescent where we began what we thought would be a big climb over the bluffs that line the river here. The road was actually quite nice and the climbing was minimal as we headed towards Houston and the trail head for the Root River Trail.
We found a delightful coffee shop in Houston where we fortified before hitting the trail. This sign was seen hanging in the shop:

The only change I would make would be to replace "Espresso" with "greasy bicycle chain" before hanging it in HC.

As we headed out on the trail, the sun came out and we had a great ride the 30 miles to Lanesboro. The trail was well paved and empty given it was a week day. Just outside of Lanesboro, we found a campsite right along the Root River that was virtually empty and a very short ride into town.

The plan was for a rest day in Lanesboro and while the rest of the gang headed out to ride to Fountain, I chose to stay and rest what was to become an increasingly stiff right knee. I made a rookie mistake of changing the gearing at the last minute and found that I was pushing a higher gear than accustomed to. I puttered around town, spent time chatting with the locals and read a book I picked up at the local library.

We left Lanesboro after a hearty breakfast at the Pedal Pushers Cafe and headed straight up the bluff as we rode north towards Whitewater State Park. The road became packed gravel as we rolled along beautiful and quiet farm roads. Admittedly, there was one hill that I had to walk -- the grade certainly exceeded 10% and I just couldn't keep enough forward momentum without falling over. Bucksnort Park was a wonderful site so we stopped for a short respite before continuing the climbing.

After crossing I90, we stopped for a nice lunch and baked goods in St. Charles before dropping down into Whitewater State Park. Mongo had driven down from the cities, secured a camp site and was already catching fish for the evening meal. Eric from Banjo Brothers had ridden down from Red Wing to spend the evening before riding back the next day. We had a great meal and conversation before I packed up and headed back to the cities with Mongo. Despite massive doses of Vitamin I and icing, my knee was still very stiff and the final day would be quite hilly.

Definitely one of the best tours I have ever done. Kudos to Jim for planning the route and to my comrades for making it a blast.

Cheers