Them Barre Hills

I thought I'd follow up yesterday's 67 mile long, 4,291 foot tall ride with another day of climbing. This one was closer to home, not like Saturday's that took us to Coon Valley and eventually into La Crosse from the south. Instead, I went up Bliss Road and down into the valley where the unincorporated community of Barre Mills is situated. There are a number of climbs from county roads OA and M back up to Highway 33. A good place to get in some vertical riding.

On this day, I climbed Bliss then dropped down on FO, reaching, by the way, 53.3 mph, only 0.3 mph short of my quickest descent. At the bottom, I went right back up OA to the highway, down OA again and around to County O then M. Just past the Hayfield cafe / pizza shop / convenience store / used to be gas station, I turned and went up County YY. Back down to M to follow it around until it rose to Highway 33 at St. Joseph. Then, you guessed it, back down M, past Hayfield to OA and eventually up FO. Whew.

After all of this, it was down Bliss Road to find I was short of another day of 4,000 feet of climbing. Can't get that close and not go for it, so, back up Bliss Road and back down again. I had my 4,000 feet now, but just for good measure, I climbed the 263 steep feet of Old Vineyard Road. Whew^2

The final tally? 54.7 miles and 4,341 feet of climbing. No land speed records, but a 121 mile, 8,600 foot weekend on the bike, thanks in large part to the hills of Barre Mills.