a spontaneous ride

On the Memorial Day holiday, Ryan and I went bike riding on the trail that runs through town. It was a glorious warm day, and we were enjoying feeling the wind in our faces. In a moment of spontaneity, we (meaning I) decided to seize the opportunity for a mini-adventure. So, we veered off our usual trail route and decided to zip downhill into the back-entrance trail to Governor Dodge state park. This would also give me the opportunity to finally attempt a personal challenge to me from two years ago and make the dreaded Governor Dodge uphill climb that I kept saying I wasn't ready for.

The day was perfect and the ride was exhilarating. The trail into the park was mostly downhill. It led straight into the spillover of Cox Hollow Lake, right in the middle of the state park. The trail spit us out into the wide open space around the lake, and we stopped and de-biked for a couple of minutes to just enjoy the breathtaking scenery. Caught up in the thrill of the moment, we promptly made plans to bring our bathing suits the next time we decided to bike to the lake, and then got back on our bikes to make our way out of the park. The plan was to exit through the park's main entrance and take highway 23 south back to Dodgeville.

Of course, the only way to get out of the park was to go up. And, I had not anticipated the brutal climb uphill. A wretched ten minutes later and not even a quarter of the way up, muscles on fire, we stopped to rehydrate. Another thirty minutes later we were finally done with the torturous climb and back on level ground...out of the park and onto the highway.

It was a lovely trip, in all. I'm not sure if it was the trip I enjoyed more, or the fact that I finally conquered the route I had been pushing off for two years. Yay!