Well, I certainly hope that August and the remainder of the riding season is much more favorable than what July has been. Today was the first time I have been on my bike since June 28th. Either it was way too hot with dew points in the 70s, or when it was finally temperature tolerable, we had heavy Canadian wildfire smoke.
Today was supposed to be partly sunny, with a chance of a very isolated but brief shower at times, and in the 80s. With that in mind, I had worked on planning an all-girl ride for today, and then Kevin asked to join us which I felt that was okay since I can plan a really good route for him to put into his GPS without having to remember all those roads.
I also had plans for meeting my siblings at El Pig’s Butt in Kewaskum, and I had asked them to do breakfast in case it was a good riding day, and we were supposed to meet there at 9 and I left around 7:40. I didn’t anticipate getting there under an hour, yet I was there by 8:33 a.m. It was completely overcast and a bit cool on my way there, which was okay by me since I knew it would get pretty warm later.
The plan was, for Kevin to meet me at 11 in Kewaskum, and the gals to meet us in Rosendale at noon since Kari had to work in the morning. However, while I was eating breakfast, I received a msg from Denise stating it wasn’t nice enough of a day for her and she wanted to back out. I asked her to let Jody know too since I figured if Denise was out, Jody would be too and I was correct.
On our way to Rosendale we actually ran through some pretty good mist and could definitely see it off to the southwest. Still not bad in my opinion. When we arrived at Bluempke’s BP, we parked behind what I believed was Kari’s bike and went inside to use the restroom and grab a cookie. Here I walked right past her inside but didn’t recognize her because she now has blonde hair. Eventually she came out and we all got a good laugh since she couldn’t see the bikes from inside either. Traffic was super heavy on 26 and we could only assume it was because of the last day of EAA, but not sure.
We headed out west and then a bunch of back roads south and southwest, eventually connecting to Hwy 68 into Fox Lake with a stop at the Boat House as Kari suggested. It was still pretty overcast when we arrived, but warm enough to sit outside and while we were there, the clouds started to break a bit. I told them that it was nice to have some overcast because I knew it would get quite toasty if the sun came out.
From there we took alphabet and other back roads into and out of Fall River with our intended destination of Pardeeville for cream at Carol’s. Apparently Columbia County had pea-graveled quite a few roads and we ended up taking a couple, and while on one of them, a pretty good size doe ran out in front of Kevin, but at least a bit ahead of him and she kept going. Whew! He doesn’t need any of that again!!!
By the time we made it into Pardeeville it was mostly sunny and I was feeling the heat a bit. So much, I had to take my boots off while we ate our cream outside.
When we were leaving, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t able to back my bike up since it was downhill and on my second try, Kevin yelled and signaled “timeout”! I had a flat back rear tire. Well almost flat, which explained that! So, he got out his portable compressor and kept trying to find the hole. I suggested that we head to the KT down the road once he got enough air in it to be mobile, which we did. However, while we were doing that I realized that Kari would probably want and need to get home for Randy, and not to wait around with us. So, we told her how to get back to Hwy 23 to head home with the stipulation, she had to let me know when she got home, and I would do the same to keep her posted on my situation.
When we got some good air in the tire at KT, Kevin was able to locate the hole and out came the tire plug kit he had with him and he plugged it. Then we had to wait to let it seed/seal, so he went inside to cool off and I sat on the curb by the air pump and the horse the Amish couple parked next to it. The couple asked me when they were leaving or more-or-less commented “tire problems”, and I said yes we plugged the hole, and I hope it sticks.
After a while Kevin gave it a little more air, which is all it would take and there wasn’t anything leaking by the plug. So, off we went but planned on taking a more direct route than what I had planned. However, we stayed on Cty P and at one point we passed that Amish couple on their buggy and I gave them a fingers-crossed sign as I went by. We then planned a stop at the KT in Fox Lake to check the tire and it didn’t take hardly any air. Great sign, as that meant it was holding up. I lead all the way from Pardeeville so Kevin could also keep an eye on it, but I certainly know what a low tire feels like and I never felt that at all on our way to Carol’s. So whatever caused it, must have been just before making it to Carol’s or in their parking lot.
We made one more stop in Waupun at their KT for gas and the tire still looked good. Kevin followed me all of the way to Elkhart Lake as added reassurance before breaking off to head home, and I made it just fine the rest of the way from there to Grove.
Boy what a long day for me though. As it was shortly after 7 p.m. when I finally got home. Based on my tracker and knowing it was at least 38 miles to Kewaskum because apparently I missed hitting start on it when I left home, I put in right around 260 miles. My butt was sore! Hahahaha.
Although not an ideal day of riding with a flat tire, I still had a great day and it felt so good to finally get back out there!
