Road to Roubaix
For the past several years, my friend Grant has been doing a ride from Madison to Wyalusing State Park and back for the Dairy Roubaix ride that starts in the park on Saturday. I joined him for the ride out last year, but this year I had the chance to do the whole thing. Preparation was a bit hectic as Nate’s bike arrived back from Black Magic paint the week before and I wanted to get it assembled so he could also do the ride. I managed to get the bike assembled, tested and photographed just in time to deliver it to Nate the day before the ride. I’ll be honest, I was a little surprised he was up for such a big first ride but I was excited to be along for it.
For the most part the ride was uneventful, just 3 perfect sunny spring days riding the hills and perfect roads of the driftless area of Southwest Wisconsin with friends. On the way back, just outside of Muscoda, my 1 1/2 year streak of riding without a flat came to an end with a bang followed by a cloud of tubeless sealant: I had managed to run over a lawnmower blade in hiding in the shoulder of the road. Looking at the 1 1/2″ long cut in the tire I was certain the ride was over for me as this was beyond anything a tire boot could fix. Fortunately Michael was along and happened to have a needle and some dental floss. He sewed up the cut and I added a tire boot followed by some Gorilla tape and the tire made it the final 40 miles of the ride!
Photos by Nate, Michael, Andy, and myself. Extra thanks to Andy for the video (turn on the sound, it’s great) and for shuttling some of our gear in his Gib’s Bike Shop mobile repair van.
