Steve Tilford

Yesterday was a whirlwind. I decided, kind of last minute, to drive up to Viroqua, Wisconsin to ride for a few days with Kent And Katie Eriksen. It was Kent’s birthday and the invitation was too nice to pass up.

So, Trudi was flying back from the Tour of California and the plan was to pick her up at the Kansas City airport and do the 600 mile drive.

The problem was her flight was late, so we didn’t get moving until 6. That means we didn’t get here until close to 2 am.

This area has to be unbelievable to ride. I used to go up to La Crosse, when I was a junior, and train and race. A team mate, Mark Frise lived there, and his father was very involved in junior development back then. So, Greg LeMond started going there to hang with Mark and Greg Demgen and met his wife, Kathy, whose dad was a allergy doctor I went to see a few years later. Anyway, the riding was crazy good.

Big rolling climbs and zillions of roads. I think this will be the same after driving here last night.

I’m thinking of heading back down to Iowa for the Memorial Day races. There is a longish road race on Friday, then Snake Alley on Saturday, Muscatine on Sunday, then Davenport Monday. This is the one year anniversary of breaking my hip. I did it in Davenport last year, in the rain.

That’s the problem, or at least one of the problems. But It is supposed to rain in there most of the days. I’m not sure I’m ready for that. We’ll see.

Okay, these guys are getting dressed, so I better go.

Riding around Viroqua Wisconsin yesterday was a total surprise. A nice surprise. I was surprised since I’d really never heard of the area and since I’ve been around so long, especially here in the midwest, you’d think that I would of at least heard of riding around here.

The riding here reminds me of riding around Europe, or maybe more like riding around Eastern Pennsylvania or New York. Tons and tons of roads. Way more than you could possibly use. Plus a ton of climbing. It is a constant maze of little mounds of trees, with nice streams threading through them.

The gang from Steamboat was going to ride about 4 hours. Kent offered to put Trudi on the back of his tandem, which was super nice. And perfect. They were going pretty good. Climbing on a tandem leaves much to be desired, but other than that, it worked out well.

I’m not sure where we went. I’d have to look at my Strava. We ended up in Viroqua at Blue Dog Cycles, after about 40 miles. It is a super cool bike shop with a coffee shop included. A coffee shop with cinnamon rolls, which is better. Pete Taylor, the owner was really interesting and one of those guys that sport couldn’t survive without. He is an avid trail creator and is now getting in to NICA, high school racing. We had a great conversation.

Last night we ate at Driftless Cafe. It is a farm to market restaurant that was pretty incredible. It’s a must if you make this a destination, which should be for anyone that is the least bit interested in bike riding in beautiful places.

I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing today. Kent and these guys are changing sleeping arrangements. They tried to keep the place they were staying, but it was already booked up for a wedding. I’m going to head down to Davenport, to stay with Jeff Bradley, in the Quad Cities. I’m going to play this next weekend by ear. I can’t say I’m super confident in my abilities right now.