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Rustic
Roads 2008
I had been looking for a
tune-up ride for me and the bike. The Jacksonville trip was
cancelled because Mother Nature wanted me to stay home. Then,
along comes a challenge from Adventure Riders
(http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312974) to
see who could ride 100 of Wisconsin's Rustic Roads. Freezing
temperature, riding to bonus locations through night, the challenge of
sand and ice on the roads... where do I sign up? Anyone can ride
when it's 70F and the roads are clear and dry, but where's the
Adventure in that?
"What about the scenery?
You miss all that when riding at night." people ask me. After
about 30 Rustic Roads, a person pretty much has seen the width and
depth of the roads. After 95, I had to find a different
challenge. So, I took the ADVrider challenge as the opportunity
for a spring tune-up, tested out my night time photo skills (my
Polaroid shots are terrible), tested out some new farkles for '08, and
got out of the house while my wife was doing craft projects with her
friends.
I headed out at 4pm March 28,
2008 and was back home at 1030pm March 29, including a "rest bonus" of
6 hours. Through that timeframe I was able to visit 9 of the 12
roads added since I last traveled the Roads in 2002. Plus, I got
to ride a few of the roads, and update my photos of those, which were
poorly signed back then. That puts the total roads I have ridden
at 104. I did not have time for RR99 or RR96, so they were taken
out of the line-up. I actually got to RR105 and rode a little of
it. Below is the photo of a recognizable intersection; but the
combination of 18F, midnight, ice patches in the dark, and gravel was
enough for me to turn around after a short distance. I can
revisit these later in the year.
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Rustic Roads at Midnight
Wisconsin
When the temperature dropped to 18F and it was midnight, my
brain got a little foggy. My Gerbings couldn't quite keep
up. That's when I decided to get a room.
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Early
Spring on the Roads
Near Coloma,
Wisconsin
Rustic Road 102
had a portion of its use as a snowmobile trail during the winter.
Some areas could almost still be in use.
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Early Spring on the Roads
Near Meridean, Wisconsin
RR107 would be a beautiful Rustic Road... any other time of
the year. The shaded parts of this road were solid ice.
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Rustic Road 98
Near Danbury, Wisconsin
Here's the Wing and Water, with wings in the
background. The bike is in full battle mode too.
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Rustic Road 97
Middle Inlet, Wisconsin
Here I am in full battle gear. This was the first of
the RRs ridden this weekend. The blue sky distracts from the fact
the temperature was 39F and falling.
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Rustic Road
98
Near Danbury,
Wisconsin
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Rustic Road 100
Mercer, Wisconsin
This road was seriously twisty and in poor condition.
Add to that it was covered with spring-thaw sand. The stars in
the sky add a nice touch, don't you think?
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Rustic Road
101
Dresser, Wisconsin
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Rustic Road 102
Near Coloma, Wisconsin
This road did not have the Rustic Road signs up yet.
So, I tried to document my location as best I could within one
photo. The landmarks were so far apart it makes it difficult to
verify by photo.
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Rustic Road
102
Coloma, Wisconsin
Fortunately,
there was an intersection sign part of the way through the Road.
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Rustic Road 103
Near East Farmington, Wisconsin
This would be a very scenic road in the summer.
Unfortunately, my eyes were focused on the slick sand a mile after this
photo. Hard packed gravel can actually be a little greasy when
wet.
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Rustic Road 104
Near Dalton, Wisconsin
Another RR that did not have signage. This challenged
my nighttime photography skills. Since Team Strange uses Polaroid
photos, I tried and tried to make it work, but could only come up with
marginally acceptable photos.
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Rustic Road 105
Middle of Nowhere, Northern Wisconsin
The nearest cities are 15 miles west and 20 miles east.
There are no official signs to indicate this is the place. Only
intuition found it in the middle of the night. In this one you
can catch a glimpse of the poor mans fuel cell in my saddlebag and my
floodlight perched on the back seat. This shot used a 10 second
exposure with a street light nearby.
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Rustic Road 106
Horicon Marsh Area, Wisconsin
The City of Fond du Lac made an eerie glow in the background
of this photo. No official signage so I found a recognizable
intersection on the RR. I used a shutter speed of 20 seconds for
this one. In hindsight I should have shut off the truck/saddle
bag light too.
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Rustic Road
107
Meridean,
Wisconsin
No RR signage,
but a very convenient intersection signpost to document the north end
of the ride.
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Rustic Road
79
Near Danbury,
Wisconsin
RR79 to RR95 are
re-rides from 2002. The only reason I rode this one was because
it is across the street from RR98.
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Rustic Road
91
Near Galesville,
Wisconsin
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Rustic Road
92
River Falls,
Wisconsin
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Rustic Road 93
Luck, Wisconsin
This one takes a little luck to find when approaching from
the city side.
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Rustic Road 95
Middle of Nowhere, Northern Wisconsin
The stars were out magnificently at this stop, but I was too
cold to be creative and kept moving along. The lowest temp I had
along the way was 16F, and was the lowest temperature I have ridden in
to date.
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Certificate of Completion
Since the IBA and Team Strange don't just "take your word for
it", I'd be remiss if I did not show the documentation. For this
weekends ride, I also kept a fuel log just to stay in practice.
And, I treated my RR maps like rally sheets, again just for practice.
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This site was last updated08/30/10
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