It was raining when I woke up. Fortunately, I could avoid the rain by leaving slightly later after it cleared. Unfortunately, the recent rain combined with 16 miles of gravel path made for some mud. It wasn’t too slow going but the bike and paniers were dirty when I finished. A combination of gravel, wind and a late start, resulted in later finish than normal – but distance was also shorter since I wanted to get to the far side of Madison.

“Where are you going?” It is a common question I get asked and this morning, I asked the same of a large contingent of motor cyclists staying at the hotel. “Milwaukee” was the reply. “That’s not very far…” That must have made him defensive since he also quickly pointed out they had started in Washington State.

I have a similar response of giving a somewhat close capitol and in the last few days it has been “St Paul”. People also make their own observations such as a few days ago a passing cyclist remarked “you must be cycling to Canada”. Another asked where I was from, “Colorado” but then they wondered if I’d cycled from there. Not very long to give an answer and I’m still sorting it out…

The first six miles were on county roads. Smooth and with a shoulder. My Wisconsin bike map had this lower rated but it worked fine.

Wisconsin farm

Glacial Drumlin Trail. There were more puddles today. Either because the rain was very recent with no sun to dry things or because the surface was different from yesterday. No extreme mud but a little dirty and slower than normal.

Lake Mills, one of the hamlets along the way.

Main Street in Deerfield

The trail ended in Cottage Grove. From here city streets to the Northern reaches of Madison.

Murals on an old factory wall in Madison. The last few miles were along a path. There were community gardens, murals and similar distractions along the way.

All this brought me to the state capitol with photo above.

My route brought me through a street closed off as a festival street. Mostly shopping but I grabbed a root beer float along the way.

Downtown Madison is sandwiched between two lakes.

The university is on the south side of town. This detour I did need to ride around. This added perhaps a mile as it was confusing how to best proceed.

A mile of street construction and then I found my hotel. Not too difficult of a ride. Nice to get the next capitol. From here I will cross parts of the state that glaciers missed, so expect some more hills.