Great Lakes - Lake Geneva, WI (pics!)

Monday July 2.

It's a regular work week for this cyclist and I can't see spending it only riding up and down
the bike path or on the parkway ... so it's time to squeeze in a quick road trip. They mentioned
on the radio this morning that the 17 year Cicada's are still active in Lake Geneva ...
so that does it ... that's where I'm going! (More on the Cicadas later)

Here's the plan: Routeslip (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/49327)

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/ScreenShot006.jpg

Briefly driving through town shows that parking is at a premium,
so I end up at the L.G. Middle School.

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG02.jpg

... and learning from experience ... when you're in unfamiliar territory,
know where you parked your car!

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG01.jpg

Off I go heading towards town ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG03.jpg

Courteous drivers ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG04.jpg

Downtown was crowded. Lots of shoppers, lots of cars ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG05.jpg

The plan is a counter clockwise lap of the lake,
so I continue west on HWY 50 until I see ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG06.jpg

Ugh, I've only been riding 10 minutes, I need a warm up.
Left turn! which looks better ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG07.jpg

But these are steep! 38x24 up ... 50x14 down ! ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG08.jpg

THese are no joke ... see what I mean??? ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG09.jpg

Continued ...

It didn't take many of these to empasize that I didn't have the legs today,
so I turned around and headed back to town (over those rollers again, UGH!)

Arriving in town ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG10.jpg

Ahhhh, this is more like it!

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG11.jpg

Feeling much more like a holiday now.

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG12.jpg

But soon it was back uphill again and my legs weren't liking it.
I felt shakey, uncoordintated, perhaps I was bonking.

LUNCH TIME!


http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG13.jpg

Gee ... do I know anybody around here???
THAT would be sweet.

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG14.jpg

So, over the next climb heading south now, and back down to the lake ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG15.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG16.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG17.jpg

Uphill again, but now it's a gentle 4-5%

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG18.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG19.jpg

Continued ...

Nice area ...beautiful roads ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG20.jpg

But the old legs just aren't comming around, so I bail the plan,
and head back. Climbing up ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG21.jpg

and descending down again ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG22.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG23.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG24.jpg

and again, up a long steady climb, back down to the lake ...


http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG25.jpg

and into town.

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG26.jpg

and again, up a long steady climb, and back to the lake ...

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG27.jpg

Where I got distracted by some chicks hanging out their car window,
missed my turn and got lost. It's a good thing I know where I parked !

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG28.jpg

... and what about the Cicadas??

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/LG29.jpg

I missed them, most were dead. So I guess it looks like I'll have to head back to Kentucky next year
to see them again. (gee, twist my arm)

Brood maps (http://members.fortunecity.com/cicadaman1999/id47.htm)

Cidada Mania ! (http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/)

So it was a good side trip to break up the week and make it feel like a holiday afterall.

I'm glad I went !

I rode around Lake Geneva as part of a Sunday group ride with the Blackhawk Bicycle Club. I must say I usually ride out in the country but it was a fantastic place to ride. Some of the hills there are quite steep and plenty of twisty sections to make the way back down fun too. We were told to walk our bikes when we took a brief rest along that path on the waterfront park by a couple of police officers. We were only going ~5 mph looking for a rest stop. Still they were polite and they actually let us ride back up to the street. They probably felt sorry for us hobbling along with road shoes and cleats. :D

It was a great area to ride though.

PS: My house spent the last month surrounded by cicadas. In the park just down the road from us it was difficult to carry on a normal conversation they were so loud. I'm glad they gone now.

Good to see those weekender Badger State Wannabe F.I.B.'s in Lake Geneva didn't run you over!

Hip will be disappointed you didn't head a few miles north on US-12 to ride out of LaGrange. Then again, he's out of town anyway....

Thanks for another fun photo essay, jw.

Lots of big hills around Lake Geneva, that's for sure. What I want to know is, do you have your camera clamped to your bars, or do you stop a lot to take these pics? I'd like to start taking a camera with me on some rides - probably in a handlebar bag, but other options would be nice.

I use the Minolta Dimage S414 (http://www.megapixel.net/cgi-bin/fs_loader.pl?p=http%3A//www.megapixel.net/reviews/minolta-s414/s414-gen.html):

http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/minolta-s414/gfx/s414-frontleft.jpg

It's my first digital camera, I've had it about 4 years, it's been dropped way too many times ... the case is glued together in one place with JB Weld, but I like it.

For riding, it is a bit on the bulky side, but I sling it over one shoulder and around my neck, and it either hangs in front or rests on my back when I'm riding. Some times I stop, but I can work it with one hand and keep riding too.

I upgraded the flash memory card to 1mb. I've had over 400 pics in there and the counter still said 999 to go so I don't know how many it will hold. :D

A couple of things I don't like:

- It can eat batteries. On our spring road trip to Kentucky I was using regular AA batteries and I went through a ton of batteries. At home, I use rechargable AA's and they last much longer and I really don't have an issue then. I just that I wouldn't have had time to re-charge them while on the road, unless I could have done it while in the car (?).

- When shooting moving things, or when I'm riding fast, there is a delay between pushing the shutter button and when it snaps the pic. So sometimes I've got to trigger it ahead of time to try and time the shot correctly. No problem with stills.

- I wish I could take a longer exposure than 4 seconds for stars and such, but I can live with it.

I'd be interested in a small, point and shoot camera that I could velcro to the bike stem. That would be great for taking pics during group rides (hopefully next year I'll be in good enough shape for those again).

:)

I upload the pics to my PC and use IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/) to resize and edit the pics. (freebie!)

So that's my story and I'm sticking too it. ;)