MONTICELLO - Michael Gengler has planned and participated in bicycle rides all over the world, and he could have planned his next one anywhere his club would have allowed - he chose to start it in southwest Wisconsin.
On Sunday, Gengler, 66, an attorney with the non-profit organization Legal Action, Madison, will set out with 17 other members of the San Diego, Calif.-based Adventure Bicycle Club and head through Green County on their way to Iowa on Gengler's "My Heartland" Tour.
The club is a little different than most local bike shop or community clubs, it boasts members from all over the world, and with each ride or "tour" the club plans and executes, it tries to support a local charity or organization. In Monticello for Gengler's tour, that group will be the local FFA Alumni chapter.
"We would like to help out a local charity," he said.
The group of global bikers - half the club's 40 or so rides each year are overseas - will be rooming with seven FFA member families and one family that helps out with the FFA in the Monticello area, according to Marlis Silver, a member of the Monticello FFA Alumni. The families include seven dairy farms and one elk farm, which is located west of Highway 69, south of Monticello.
"We are just giving them a place to stay and the experience," she said of living on a farm. "It was quite a neat opportunity."
The riders will be paying them the "going rate" of a luxury hotel and the cost of two meals, Gengler said.
However, the money will be accepted as a payment to the FFA Alumni group, which will be used as to help the local FFA, Silver said.
There is more to the choice of Green County as a launching pad for his latest tour, Gengler said. Since moving to Monticello in 1995, Gengler has learned a lot about his community, he said. Part of Gengler's education came after he joined the Mount Pleasant town board. Last fall Gengler discussed the idea of the bike ride with Silver, who is also a Mount Pleasant board member.
Included in his time in Monticello was learning that Green County has been blessed with world-class cycling conditions, Gengler said, which compares favorably to cycling Meccas like Boulder, Col., and Castro Valley, Calif.
"Anybody can do a trip in the Canadian Rockies, but I like to do a trip were people haven't been," he said.
There is one other aspect of the trip, Gengler said. His compatriots in the club needed to experience in Green County before they continued to venture south.
"Green County has world-class cycling roads, and it has New Glarus," he said.
The village has a feel that, Gengler said, is similar to the European cities many in the group have ridden through.
"They get to sample things they wouldn't get to sample in many American cities - and we will be there for Polkafest," he said.
Bikers from the roughly 1,500-member club will arrive Saturday in Madison by plane from as far away as Virginia and California and spend the night. Then, the group will set out south to New Glarus and eventually Gengler's home in Monticello. From there, the host families will pick the riders up and bring them to a cookout in Monticello, and back home with them afterward.
On Monday, the group hops back on their bikes and heads south to Galena, Ill., then Tuesday, the pack will venture to Dubuque, Iowa. Next, the riders will pedal to Prairie du Chien, Wednesday, and Decorah, Iowa, Thursday. Stops along the rest of the tour include La Crosse, Hillsboro and Baraboo before returning to Madison Tuesday, June 22.
The riders will be accompanied by a van carrying their luggage and items for any emergency needs.
Gengler has been riding with the club since his first trip in the 1970s in Austria, and while his work schedule has always dictated his riding schedule Gengler still found the time to stay active in the club's events and governance. But, with his My Heartland Tour, Gengler wanted to achieve something unique, he said.
"The purpose of this trip ... was to see if I could put together a trip that would be favorable to any trip we had done," Gengler said.
On Sunday, Gengler, 66, an attorney with the non-profit organization Legal Action, Madison, will set out with 17 other members of the San Diego, Calif.-based Adventure Bicycle Club and head through Green County on their way to Iowa on Gengler's "My Heartland" Tour.
The club is a little different than most local bike shop or community clubs, it boasts members from all over the world, and with each ride or "tour" the club plans and executes, it tries to support a local charity or organization. In Monticello for Gengler's tour, that group will be the local FFA Alumni chapter.
"We would like to help out a local charity," he said.
The group of global bikers - half the club's 40 or so rides each year are overseas - will be rooming with seven FFA member families and one family that helps out with the FFA in the Monticello area, according to Marlis Silver, a member of the Monticello FFA Alumni. The families include seven dairy farms and one elk farm, which is located west of Highway 69, south of Monticello.
"We are just giving them a place to stay and the experience," she said of living on a farm. "It was quite a neat opportunity."
The riders will be paying them the "going rate" of a luxury hotel and the cost of two meals, Gengler said.
However, the money will be accepted as a payment to the FFA Alumni group, which will be used as to help the local FFA, Silver said.
There is more to the choice of Green County as a launching pad for his latest tour, Gengler said. Since moving to Monticello in 1995, Gengler has learned a lot about his community, he said. Part of Gengler's education came after he joined the Mount Pleasant town board. Last fall Gengler discussed the idea of the bike ride with Silver, who is also a Mount Pleasant board member.
Included in his time in Monticello was learning that Green County has been blessed with world-class cycling conditions, Gengler said, which compares favorably to cycling Meccas like Boulder, Col., and Castro Valley, Calif.
"Anybody can do a trip in the Canadian Rockies, but I like to do a trip were people haven't been," he said.
There is one other aspect of the trip, Gengler said. His compatriots in the club needed to experience in Green County before they continued to venture south.
"Green County has world-class cycling roads, and it has New Glarus," he said.
The village has a feel that, Gengler said, is similar to the European cities many in the group have ridden through.
"They get to sample things they wouldn't get to sample in many American cities - and we will be there for Polkafest," he said.
Bikers from the roughly 1,500-member club will arrive Saturday in Madison by plane from as far away as Virginia and California and spend the night. Then, the group will set out south to New Glarus and eventually Gengler's home in Monticello. From there, the host families will pick the riders up and bring them to a cookout in Monticello, and back home with them afterward.
On Monday, the group hops back on their bikes and heads south to Galena, Ill., then Tuesday, the pack will venture to Dubuque, Iowa. Next, the riders will pedal to Prairie du Chien, Wednesday, and Decorah, Iowa, Thursday. Stops along the rest of the tour include La Crosse, Hillsboro and Baraboo before returning to Madison Tuesday, June 22.
The riders will be accompanied by a van carrying their luggage and items for any emergency needs.
Gengler has been riding with the club since his first trip in the 1970s in Austria, and while his work schedule has always dictated his riding schedule Gengler still found the time to stay active in the club's events and governance. But, with his My Heartland Tour, Gengler wanted to achieve something unique, he said.
"The purpose of this trip ... was to see if I could put together a trip that would be favorable to any trip we had done," Gengler said.