April 29, 2015 by Bruce Wynkoop
In mid-summer of 2013 my friend, Lee, and I rode the Swiss Cheese and Spotted Cows ride in Wisconsin (where else with a name like that) and had a great time. The ride is through southern Wisconsin, just into northern Illinois, and stays mostly on back roads. This is a small ride, in terms of riders–it is limited to 50. Because of this, there is a lot of individual attention. Many of the riders have been doing the ride for years and help out as if they were working it. The cost is $795 a rider (double-occupancy) which includes the cost of the small hotels, breakfast and dinner, and entertainment.
The organizer, Mary Derks, a member of the National Bicycle Tour Director’s Assn., runs the whole show and also rides the entire ride, so she knows what is needed. On one of the days, a thunderstorm moved in early in the morning and Mary had to scramble to get two school buses from a local bus company to haul the riders and their bikes to the overnight town. She got the buses and, with the help of almost all the riders, was able to get the bikes and riders loaded and transported. The loading was a sight to see–everyone helping and no one (as far as I could tell) complaining or whining a bit. We all got to the overnight destination and had a good time doing it. When Lee & I started the ride we felt as if we were the only riders there who did not know the other riders, but by the end of the ride we had been made to feel a part of the group. The riders were a friendly, fun-loving group who really made the ride enjoyable.
Each night there was a group dinner at a local restaurant that included lively discussion and sharing of various riders’ experiences on the day’s ride. One night included old-style Swiss entertainment in New Glarus, WI which included yodeling, Alpine horns, “bowl-singing” in which three men made large bowls “sing” by rolling large marbles or bearings around the inside rim of the bowls (it was much better than I just made it sound), and actual singing of Swiss songs. One of the overnights was Galena, IL, the well-known tourist town. In fact, we stayed two nights there and had an “off-day,” for which we were given several routes of various lengths that we could ride on our own. The riders all chose the route they wanted to ride (maps were furnished) and Lee & I chose a 35-mile route, which we ended up riding by ourselves. The day was sunny, hot, and humid.
About midway through the ride we found ourselves off the route and Lee declared that we were officially “lost.” As the reader of the route map, I had to respectfully disagree pointing out that, actually, we knew where we were on the map, we just didn’t know how we had gotten there so, technically, we weren’t actually “lost.” That rather “fine” distinction was lost on Lee and the argument as to whether or not we were “lost” continues to this day. Fortunately, the route map included roads other than the route itself so I was able to discern an alternate route back to Galena and we continued the ride. Unfortunately, the route map was not a contour map and so did not give us any warning as to hills on certain roads that looked, on the map,
to be perfectly flat. About 10 miles from Galena we found ourselves struggling up a pretty big, steep hill and were definitely not enjoying the effort. We did make the top (without walking) and enjoyed the equal and opposite downhill side of the hill. Two miles farther on, however, we came upon an even larger, steeper hill which really tasked our abilities to stay upright on the bikes and find words strong enough to describe the experience. Once again we managed to crest the hill without walking (Lee is stubborn that way), and stopped at the top to get off the bikes and stretch out in the shade of a large elm tree. We noticed the name of the road on which we had been riding was Meridian Road so we named the hill “Meridian Hill.” At dinner with the group that evening we asked Mary if she had ever heard of Meridian Hill and she immediately answered, “Don’t do it!” Too late. The daily rides were very enjoyable as, once again, Wisconsin proved itself to be a beautiful state through which to travel, especially by bicycle. The League of American Bicyclists named the Wisconsin back roads # 2 in the nation for riding enjoyment. After numerous bike trips through various areas of the state, and after having ridden many other areas of the country, I whole-heartedly agree.
We saw several good examples of barn quilts, lots of cows, spotted and otherwise, lots of wildlife, great scenery, and many local breweries (several of which we visited). Mary organized the ride very well, really took pains to ensure all the riders enjoyed themselves, and organized enjoyable activities throughout the ride. I highly recommend this ride for those who want to ride hard, yet be pampered when the riding is over for the day.
