Biking, biking and more biking

Our longest ride- 120 miles into Gays Mills, Wisconsin. It was a long, hard, beautiful day. We started at 7:30 am, and rode nearly 50 miles to our first lunch. Lunch is usually around mile 35, but we added an impressively long detour in the first hour by taking a wrong turn. All of a sudden, we saw the riders ahead of us turning back and realized that we were lost in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. Not where we wanted to be on such a long day.

After first lunch, we rode another 50 miles into our second lunch. The sun came out, and it was hot. The terrain included a number of hills, some of them quite steep. By 100 miles, my whole body was tired, and I leaned against the shady side of the trailer as I inhaled calories. I perked up for the last 20 miles, and made it in by 7:00 pm.

It was the landscape that made the day beautiful. Green hills, flowers along the way, cow farms and red barns dot the horizon. There were few cars and the roads were well-paved. As we neared the end, there were stunning views out over apple orchards and valleys. The strong blue of the Wisconsin sky lit up as the sun began to set.

The town of Gays Mills has seen disastrous flooding over the past few months. Waters reached several inches into ground floors, and many basements were completely flooded with water and sewage. The kitchens of our church had been destroyed, so the pastor invited us into her home. Like many of the pastors, she’s a woman, and she was especially happy to have us. She has been posted to Gays Mills for seven years, and the 598-person town might be a bit stifling.