West Union 400K

A very nice loop through the Driftless areas of Eastern Iowa and Western Wisconsin.

We leave West Union on US-18 but are quickly on IA-B64 (Golden Rd) headed toward Elgin and the Turkey River valley. From there we head over to St Olaf and then begin the generally uphill trek toward the first control at Monona before heading toward the Mississippi River crossing at Lansing. The steel grated bridge crossing at Lansing gives good grip to the tires even in the wet but it’s a fairly narrow bridge so it’s best to wait until there aren’t any vehicles coming up behind you.

Safely across, we come to the second control at De Soto before the long climb out of the river valley. The stretch between Lansing and Viroqua are full of little ups and downs so pace yourself and then refresh at the Kwik Trip in Viroqua then a nice generally downhill run through Avalanche and along the Kickapoo River valley followed by a testing climb up CR-I then a stretch on the ridge tops before descending down to Sylvan. Another climb up Patch Hill followed by another stretch on the ridgetops and a photo control.

Then a long (40 miles), mostly flat run toward Boscobel and another Kwik Trip control before a beautiful section along the Wisconsin River making our way back toward the Mississippi. We cross the river at Prairie du Chien, pass through McGregor then the inevitable climb out of the river valley headed toward Elkader. From there rolling hills take us back to West Union.

Important note: the bridge across the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien is currently under construction and is a single metered lane. We’ll be crossing late in the evening so traffic should be light. Again, it’s best to let whatever traffic there is go through then follow. It’s a fairly long light so there shouldn’t be any trouble making it through before it changes.

Ridewithgps route here.

To register for this event complete the registration form below. You’ll receive a confirmation email which will contain a link to complete a waiver electronically and a PayPal link to pay for the ride. Note that there will be no day of ride registration – advance registration is mandatory!

Your registration is not complete until your completed waiver and PayPal payment is received.

Note that we are implementing brevet protocols to allow us to ride safely during the Covid-19 pandemic. You will receive a link to these when you register for any of our events but you are strongly encouraged to read them in advance as they contain important information about riding with others, behavior at controls, proof of passage, etc.

Important note: If you register and don’t receive an email confirmation check your spam folder! If you find the confirmation there, right click on it in your mail program and select “not spam” (your mailer might use different words but you get the idea) which will move it to your inbox. To insure you receive these plus ride announcements in the future, add rba@qcrandonneurs to your contacts.