The DataBase: Good fishin'

Heeeelllooooo,

So last time that I posted on here I had just entered the upper peninsula of Michigan. Well a lot has happened since then. For one, we are no longer in Michigan, yesterday we rolled into Wisconsin! The terrain before Wisconsin was very hilly, climbing out of a town called Crystal Falls MI was reminiscent of the first day of my trip tackling the Adirondacks. The weather remained cool for most of the our time in the UP, with a crisp breeze coming off Lake Michigan. The morning before we crossed over into Wisconsin we saw our most interesting weather yet. Harsh climbs made us sweat under our lycra sportwool poly blends, forcing us to de-layer at the top, then quickly reconsider as we descended into a cold head wind. Rain would come suddenly, followed quickly by bright blue skys. At one point we even saw a bit of hail. Though as we made our way across the border the skies cleared and we were immediately aware in the change in terrain. Northern Wisconsin is particularly woody. Most days we are surrounded by dense pine forests with the occasional lake thrown in the middle to break up the monotony. Not that these woods aren't nice to look at, its just nice to see something different every 30 miles at about 13 mph. The real excitement actually happened 3 miles into the todays ride, when Nick's chain exploded causing a link to fray. As the deformed hunk of metal made its way through Nick's front derailer it snagged, causing the derailer to be pulled into the crankset, destroying it completely. Luckily I was there. With my extensive knowledge of bikes, and added prowess as a mechanic, I was able to point and bark directions at Nick until I saw that his bike was fit to be ridden once again. Actually it wasn't that eventful, we took the broken derailer off. Took a link out of the chain to make it smaller, chose a decent gear in the front and we were off. This is a sure fire way to make it back to wherever you need to go, or the closest bike shop. We made it back to the town that we had just left and started inquiring how we might be able to get 30 miles away to the nearest bike shop in Boulder Junction. A kind old man named Louie told us that the big man up stairs told him it was the right thing to do, and gave us a ride. In Boulder Junction we found that the bike shop didn't carry any Shimano components, nor did they have the ability to help us out if they did. So after a few more lost puppy faces and hinting questions a nice fellow offered to drive us about 15 miles south to another bike shop that might be able to save us. Luckily they could! They swapped it out and cleaned it up and we were on the road again. Well actually we were back in the car and back to Boulder Junction, but THEN we were on the road again. 40 miles later we were in Mercer WI. All in all not too much riding was done today, though we still made about 65 miles progress in the right direction. Not bad if you ask me. Here are all the pictures that I promised you! If you wanna see them BIGGER, or more random ones click here