All the Way Across Lake Mendota, Madison, WI

I was headed to the gym the other day, but I forgot my bike lock. So . . . . I did the next best thing and rode out on the lake again. Except this time, I had a different goal in mind. Originally, my plan was to ride to the "center" of the lake. The conditions this time were a little less bike friendly, with a crust of snow 1-2" thick, with occasional drifts (although shallow) of 3-4". The added resistance made for a nice 1-2% grade replication. Once I got to about the center of the lake, I thought turning back would be lame, so I forged onward, to the opposite side of the lake from Memorial Union.

Here is a shot just after turning around. The bike track points almost directly to the Capitol. 

I recently installed BikeTrack on my Android phone, so I tried it out. It's a really well-made app, actually. I can upload my track as a .gpx file, easy. The Google earth shot is provided below:

4 miles across the lake with this direction of travel.

Since this ride, the temperatures have warmed to above freezing, so the lake looks like a slush pond at the moment. If the temps dip below freezing for a few days conditions will be excellent to hit the lake again before Spring officially comes. Here's hoping.