Driftless dream ride
 

I am on my last week before my bike tour of the Driftless Region, SW WI, SE MN, NE IA, NW IL. My goal is to make it to The Field of Dreams outside of Dubuque, IA. I have wanted to see that since forever! I'll be riding with another cyclist. Planning to launch from the La Crosse, WI - La Crescent, MN area. I hope I have enough work put in, with weather not turning favorable until so late this year. I have been riding in the drift less area, mainly Trempealeau County, WI frequently the past few years. The riding is unbelievable there. Adventure Cyclist and Bicycling Magazines have both done nice articles on the riding. Now I'll be exploring a little more of the region!

Been a few years since I loaded up self-contained, I forgot what all I'll need and how to pack! Seems I have become a "roadie" the past couple years. Anyway, the maps are printed out, pdf versions on the tablet. Gear is all laid out. I'll be riding that Surly Long Haul Trucker this week to make sure the thing is set up and then heading out on Saturday morning! Planning on a lot of pics and a write-up when I get back.

I love riding the driftless area. It has scenery, well-paved roads with low traffic, few traffic lights or even stop signs, and challenging hills. I haven't explored it as much as I would like, but I ride some, including club rides leaving out of River Falls.

I hope you have a great ride.

You must be on the edge of giddy about now. Sure sounds like a blast. Hope you have a safe and healthy trip.

(Have not heard of this Driftless area until now)

The two articles I mentioned above:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/defa...u_Teasdale.pdf

Bicycling.com: Trempealeau County, Wisconsin | Bicycling Magazine

I could never ride the driftless area of wisconsin. I would be wanting to be chasing the trout all the time.

Back home after 5 days of riding covering over 300 miles! I must say, it's one thing to ride hills, quite another on a loaded touring bike! Mostly great weather, although Sunday afternoon was all rain, over 4 hours of it! Here is the link to my photos of the ride: https://www.flickr.com/photos/555533...7644954937399/
Finally after nearly 25 years, I made it to The Field of Dreams!

Hey - they built it, you were expected?
now give us the back story to your 25 yr desire.

Awesome, looking forward to your write up! Perhaps I can show it to my riding partner, who seems to think we 're gonna do a 5 day entirely in Kettle Morraine State Forest South (30 miles tip to tip) cause "there's a lot of trails". How long was your daily ride, and where'd ya stop for the night?

The roads were, for the most part, low traffic. But many of the roads lack paved shoulders (even state highways!), not much of a problem since I was given a wide berth by traffic. Some county highways are gravel, and nearly ALL other rural roads are gravel. I have ridden the Driftless Area in WI, scenery is similar, but IA is even more rural! The hills on a loaded touring bike can be quite hard, as they are steep and sometimes go on for over 2 miles! Work! I had a trekking crank (26-36-48) and that worked for me, others may find a MTB crank (22-32-44) to be a better option for the hills. I planned on 60-70 miles per day, and had a one day buffer built in to my schedule, so if weather or harder riding was experienced, I'd be fine. That distance over this terrain meant I was pedaling over 6 hours a day. I stopped for breaks about every 20 miles, and averaged about 10 - 11 mph. Had a Warmshowers host lined up the first night in Decorah. Second night wound up camping under a shelter in the town park in Arlington, after riding all afternoon in the rain. After reaching The Field of Dreams, I continued to New Vienna and camped in the county park, had the place to myself. I stopped in town before reaching the park to find I missed my turn, a local woman gave me directions from town without back tracking, if I didn't mind a little gravel. And what was really cool is she and her husband drove through the park later to make sure I made it there OK! Which I found throughout the trip, very friendly locals! Everyone waved, never was buzzed or had a horn blared at me. As I said, drivers gave a wide berth always, even on the state highways with no shoulder!
From Dyersville, I followed the ACA Northern Tier Section 7 map back to my start. While stopped in Colesburg, a local man familiar with the map, told me he could knock 35 - 40 miles off, that the map hadn't changed in 30 years. He didn't understand that "The journey IS the destination." I continued following the maps and was rewarded with more greast rural scenery and nice small towns.
I had a great ride, I will probably go back at some point in the future!

That sounds great! Those 2 mile hills sound brutal, nothing even close in our area. The only way we can even touch that is by stringing hills along a route in a row! Did you have to get permission to camp in the county parks? I was under impression that the police would have impetus to bug you if you camped anywhere but the designated camping areas in state parks?

There were a lot more short hills than long ones, but I did seem to have 1 or 2 LONG ones a day. 6%-8% grades, tough riding loaded, but doable. The county park I stayed in I was in the campground. I was the only one so I left my bike in the shower house over night. The town park on that rainy Sunday we just set up under a picnic shelter. Very small town, no one bothered us. Most state and county parks have campgrounds and running water/showers, I paid $11 for the night.