Coffeeneuring/S24O, 2nd ed.: Sjölinds Chocolate House in Mount Horeb

Last weekend offered another opportunity for a combined S24O/coffeeneuring adventure. Friends of mine had grand plans: Bike to Blue Mound State Park late on Friday, camp there, ride 200 kilometers the next day, camp again, and then ride back to Madison. My wrist and general fitness were definitely not up for the middle part, but another quick fall S24O camping trip sounded good. 

As per usual, I didn't manage to pack my stuff the night before and therefore only left Madison around 5pm. It was a beautiful fall evening, warm enough for 3/4 shorts and a short-sleeve jersey. I was riding Grando, with two Ortlieb Front Roller panniers and my handlebar bag. The sun was slowly setting, and by the time I rode through Mount Horeb, it was mostly dark. My friends, who had left Madison earlier, texted me that they were on the wait list for a table at Hooterville in Blue Mounds, famous for its Friday fish fry. After dinner and a couple beers, we headed to the state park and set up camp. I finally got a chance to try my new hammock, but of course it was pitch dark by now, my headlamp was low on battery, and one of my whoopie slings seemed to have some sort of malfunction. In the end I did get the hammock and tarp set up more or less properly and slept alright. More testing is required to see if I'm a hammock person or not...

Military Ridge Trail

Unexpected obstacle on the Military Ridge Trail

Tartar sauce explosion at Hooterville

 The others had set their departure to 6:30am, and since I was up early anyway, I quickly packed up my stuff and got on the road at the same time. While they turned west and then north, I headed back east into Mount Horeb. I was the first customer of the day at Sjölinds Chocolate House. While their main attraction certainly are the various kinds of chocolates, sweets, and quiches, they also have decent coffee. I hung out there for a while, reading a John Grisham novel I had picked up from the Little Free Library next to Sjölinds's bike parking, first drinking a cold brew and then a regular coffee.

7am at Sjolinds

I bought some fancy hot chocolate powder for the SO, and then headed back into Madison.

Double-track detour near the Quarry Park MTB trails

Souvenir

A strangely warm and breezy October day

Ride report: Hilly and windy Mount Horeb

Rolling-rolling-rolling hills

Just a quick ride report from my second long ride in my new home state Wisconsin. On recommendation from a local I headed out for a 100km ride to Mount Horeb and back. After following the Southwest Commuter and Military Ridge State trails out of Madison to Verona, the remainder of the ride was on mostly empty country roads. As I had requested, the route featured a lot of rolling hills. None of them was terribly long or steep, but due to the fact that I had gotten talked into doing weight training for the first time ever on the previous day, the climbing got to me after a while. One the way out the strong winds helped quite a bit, but after the mid-ride stop in Mount Horeb, I had to fight both hills and headwind. So far I'm really excited about the riding in the Madison area and am looking forward to further exploration once I will have finally moved there.

And not a car to be seen!

Mid-ride stop in Mount Horeb. Bought myself some jeans from the Duluth Trading Company store.

Short reprieve from the hills but not the wind