all across the universe

we successfully combined physical activity and science education by riding our bikes from the sun to pluto. thanks to the university of wisconsin space place, bicyclists in south central wisconsin can visit our entire solar system by traveling along a scaled-down model erected beside madison's major bike trails. the model is scaled down by a factor of 200 million to one. that means the sun (located along the capitol city trail at monona terrace) is 24 feet in diameter, and pluto (located along the military ridge state trail in downtown mount horeb) is the size of a marble. happy international year of astronomy!

of course, the sizes are imaginary, as the planets are marked by uniform signs that provide the intergalactic tourist with information about these heavenly bodies. the signs are spaced along the trail to represent relative distance from the sun. saturn, uranus, neptune and pluto are shockingly remote.

david, don't look directly at the sun!
mercury
venus
earth. of note, on earth day, some folks hung a bunch of brightly colored balloons on this here earth signpost. several days later, the shriveled deflated balloons hung weather-beaten from the posts, reduced to mere litter. ironic? or just poor follow through?
mars
ceres, some asteroid. i'm not sure why this one made the cut, but i know very little about outer space.
jupiter
somewhere between jupiter and saturn, david got a flat tire.
saturn
uranus
neptune
pluto

david enjoys a well deserved sandwich and beer at the grumpy troll in mount horeb.
then we headed home, towards the sun, with the wind at our backs. it's a great ride. if you're into science, biking, and the beautiful splendor of rural wisconsin, check it out. here's the route.