Sprung From Cages South Of Highway 23

Ask Jeff Wren how tough Cedar Lane was on Friday!

This week really felt like springtime in Wisconsin: I was warm for 4 hours. That’s 4 hours more than I get in winter, and 4 hours less than I get in summer, so … springtime!

During those 4 hours—I should mention that they happened on Friday afternoon—I knocked out a challenging metric century in the northern Kettle Moraine that featured 3 gravel roads I wish I could include on the Cheesehead Roubaix route. Unfortunately, those roads are too far away. Including them would turn Cheesehead Roubaix into a 100-mile ride, and that’s too long for the last Sunday of April. There’s a fourth gravel road just south of Glenbeulah, but that’s really getting far from home and was not part of Friday’s adventure.

For what it’s worth, both Division Road near Dundee and Cedar Lane near Cascade would be 5-star sectors on Cheesehead Roubaix, every bit as tough as Lovers Lane but for different reasons. Division Road is hilly and features deep, loose gravel that is extremely difficult to navigate with road tires. Cedar Lane was recently resurfaced with limestone screenings so soft and loose that the effect is like riding through sand. I might return to Cedar Lane later this year to see whether the road has settled down, as limestone screenings will from the combination of traffic and rainfall. The surroundings are gorgeous, but right now the road itself is an energy-sapping buzzkill.

I spent 11.5 hours in the saddle this week, making it my busiest week of training so far this year. The week ahead doesn’t look especially good—lots of potential for rain—but I will try to keep my training volume high as I prepare for The Gravel Metric, May 29 near DeKalb IL.