Stage 18 - Riveredge

Sprinkles at the start. The route was northwest to Jackson, north to West Bend, east to Newburg, southeast to Saukville, southwest to Grafton, Cedarburg and home.

How's this for a juxtaposition; a Harley-Davidson motorcycle hauling a large, mean-looking guy with a beard and a ponytail pulls up next to me at a stop sign. Over the thunderous roar of the mighty V-twin I can hear what he is listening to on his radio, Scottish Highland bagpipe music.

(If you click on the V-twin link you can scroll down to click and hear the Harley. Clicking the 'bagpipe music' link immediately opens up a bagpipe sound sample, so be careful if you're at work)

The music seemed out of place to me until I realized that the Harley rider was undoubtledly paying homage to James Doohan who had passed away last night. Doohan was the actor who played Montgomery "Scottie" Scott on TV's Star Trek series. He played a Scottish engineer who was famous for doing the impossible (repairing the good ship Enterprise just before the Klingons started firing, etc.). Of course, the character is best known for a line spoken to him by James T. Kirk, "Beam me up, Scotty."

Later along the route I passed the Riveredge Nature Center which I can highly recommend if you or your kids are into learning about nature and habitats.

About ten miles from home the heavy rain started. I was going to seek shelter from the storm under the last existing covered bridge in Wisconsin but when I got to the bridge the rain had let up. Unfortunately, five minutes after I passed the bridge the rain came down even harder than before. On top of that, a hard wind drove the rain and at times the rain hitting my arms and legs actually hurt.

No turning back, I raced as fast as I could under the conditions; slippery roads, brakes that weren't gripping well and it was hard to see because of the rain and darkness.

Even under these conditions you can get into a zone of sorts. Which is helpful because it's pretty miserable otherwise. Although by the time I got close to home the rain didn't bother me any more and it provided today's moment of beauty; instead of avoiding the deep water I started aiming for the rivers and puddles, splashing as much as I could. Just like a kid. Ah, to be young again.

46 miles today. I felt great on the bike. I've been sleeping good and I continue to watch what I eat and to make sure that I drink enough. I'm finally coming on form, I think.