Tour de Trek 100

So I rode to Waterloo Wisconsin this week to take part in the Trek 100 charity bike ride. I took 2 major trail systems the Robert McClory trail in Illinois and the Glacial Drumlin trail in Wisconsin.

I would have had a hard time with a touring bike on the Glacial Drumlin trail as it had far fewer sections of crushed stone and many sections of mostly dirt. Beware of the McClory trail as it has far fewer sources of water and food. I'm used to riding on roads and forgot that trails may not have water fountains, duh.

I wimped out and stayed in the Rainbow motel in Burlington Wisconsin Thursday night. I was lucky that there was a Mexican restaurant 1/2 block away. You can get really good coffee just about anywhere these days, I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the shop in Burlington.

Friday I felt good for some reason and made good time. I made it to the Trek factory (the start/finish for the Trek100) at 4 pm. I was invited to the century club dinner for those who raised $1000 or more for childhood cancer research. They were nice enough to let me use the shower and I had an all you can eat and drink dinner with Trek reps from around the world.

I was sitting next to a wildly dressed older gentleman, he had a lot of food stories. His name tag was backwards so I asked him his name, he said Gary Fisher. As a lifelong roadie I had no idea.

Gary Fisher is a great guy who really believes in what bikes can do in the coming years. He recently started making steel bikes again and hopes that commuting will keep growing. I can't say enough about the guy.

I went outlaw Friday night and camped behind the Trek factory, I felt like I got away with something.

I've been to this ride for the last 7-8 years and I've seen John Burke the president of Trek many times. He reminds me a lot of other CEO types in many ways. He's put his money behind bikes though. He put up the first $100k to lobby congress to allow bicycles to get part of the federal transportation money. He was not alone of course a congressman from Minnesota (whose name escapes me) was at that meeting and
worked tirelessly to promote bikes in America. OK, down off the soapbox.

Sorry for the long winded post but I'm toast today. I did the metric century yesterday and I thought I would fly without all the bags on the bike. I was sadly mistaken. I had a lot of fun though.

Thanks

Mark

Wisconsin puts out fantastic county bike maps here:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/countymaps.htm

Here is the link to the Trek 100
http://www.trek100.org/