Notice the flooding coming up on the sidewalk

I rode to work and then back home in warm weather.  The afternoon sky smelled of rain, but I never felt a drop.  The 7.7 mile round-trip was my normal route.

After I got home and took care of the dogs I rode out to Baxter Jack’s to watch Robin play volleyball.  It started raining on the way.  Once I locked up and got to the covered deck the skies opened up.  It was really raining.

Once the storm passed, the volleyball games began.  I watched her team lose (ouch).  She had things to do, so we went our separate ways.  I didn’t want to come straight home.  It was raining, but not the torrential downpour we had earlier.  I was still dressed for work, business casual, not the ideal wet weather gear, but I didn’t care.

I continued to Cumberland where I stopped for a beer and burger.  I took the long way home from there, adding another 7.8 miles for the day, and completing my 30 Days of Biking project.

My mileage total for the month was 300.3.  That’s not a great month for me, but considering how poorly this year has gone with my neck issues, it is an improvement.  Here are the miles numbers for the year so far:

I forced myself to ride every day of the month, even if it were a very short ride, to get back in the habit of riding everywhere.  Earlier in the year I took a bus, cab, or hitched a ride too often.  I think I’m back on the bike for good now.  I won’t be posting about every day’s ride, and I may not ride if I’m not going anywhere.

We did a couple of warm-up climbs on Eastern Parkway, and in Cherokee Park.  I fell behind because I’m out of shape, and I was riding a single-speed, but I did as I expected and just kept going.

When we made a turn on to Peterson Ave, I then understood the challenge.  It’s a steep, if short climb.  No problem there.  The problem is the surface.  It’s a very bumpy brick road.  I made it about 1/3 of the way up before dismounting and walking.  Asher rode to the top.  Walking on cleats on a brick road was not my favorite way to do this.

We eventually worked our way to River Road and stopped at The Black Spring, a very unique bike shop.  After looking at cruiser bikes (just for fun), we ate some BBQ from a new business that shares space with the shop.

Once fueled again, we headed toward downtown, where we passed a lost-looking guy on a hybrid bike.  We passed him at a good clip, then I noticed he caught up with us easily and stayed right behind me.  Asher and I chatted with him a bit.  Ed was here on business and rented a bike after arriving in town.  He’s a serious cyclist.  He used to be a full-time commuter in San Diego, and currently is a part-time commuter in Salt Lake City.

We gave him a tour of Portland, the West End, and part of the Riverwalk before he headed back to his hotel.  He mentioned how flat the area was.  Although Louisville is flat compared to where he’s from, he missed the hills we were on earlier.

I ended the day with 35.6 miles and still had time to get a bunch of yardword done then wander around the neighborhood with Robin for the Schnitzelburg Beer Walk until a thunderstorm with hail chased us to shelter.

Just after sunset

Another short mileage day, at 7.7 miles.

After work, Robin and I went to the Bacon Ball put on by the LVAA.  This time of year, with the Derby related stuff, is bad for my health.  I ate a lot of small samples and had two beers before spending some time with Robin.

The picture was taken behind the event along the Ohio River.

On my way home from work

Yes, Thursday was my birthday.  I rode my normal 7.7 mile commute.  After I got home, Robin treated me to dinner at Za’s Pizza.  We were joined by my daughter and her boyfriend, and Robin’s daughter.

I drank beer and ate too much pizza, just like most days.

Not much else to say.  I had a good time, but I didn’t “ride my age” or anything like that.

Tow Bike

Riding the bike like this was fine.  It handled better than expected.  Moving it around while not riding it was problematic.  When I got to work, I had to leave it in the hallway.  I also couldn’t turn it around, so at the end of the day I went out a different set of doors.

I rode this contraption to On Your Left Cycles and unhooked the bikes.  I dropped off the Dummy and rode the single-speed to Popalino’s Pizza for Car-Free Happy Hour.

There was a chance of strong storms around 5:00pm, but they never materialized.  We just had light rain.  That seems to have scared off some of the CFHH crew, as there were only about ten of us there this time.

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I have plans to spend time with Robin and my daughter.  Robin surprised me by having a cake at Popalino’s when I got there. She had other plans for the evening and couldn’t be there.  The cake was a really nice touch.

Cake!

After things wrapped up, I headed home, but had to stop at the gas station… for a picture.

$3.99

I met up with Tim for a Coffee ride.  We started at Heine’s, had an urban ride around town, and ended at Quill’s.  I then walked across the street to Vic’s Classic Bikes and looked around.

At Vic’s I met Emily.  She moved to Louisville recently from Minneapolis.  Louisville’s bike scene doesn’t compare with Minneapolis, but I told her about car-free happy hour.  She won’t make this month’s event (Wednesday), but maybe next month.

Quill's is good!

Monday – Day 23

Monday was my normal 7.7 mile round-trip commute.  I then rode in a car with Robin to a Maker’s Mark event where we learned about the Mint Julep.

Maker's Mark

After this event, I went with Robin where she played volleyball.  I drank beer and had a burger.  I was stuffed and feeling a bit ill by the time I got home, but not enough to keep me from playing with my new Kindle that arrived.

Kindle Touch

My old Kindle was the model with the keyboard.  It was damaged when the Big Dummy fell over while unloading groceries.  I replaced it with the Kindle Touch.  I’m not sure if I like the touch screen more than the old keyboard or not.  I did get a leather case for it this time to protect it from my stupidity.

Tuesday – Day 24

I had trouble getting up after consuming too much on Monday and staying up too late reading, but I did manage to drag myself to work on the the bike.  Again, the 7.7 mile commute.

Once I was home, I wanted to fix the flat tire on the Big Dummy.  It took me a while to find the tiny piece of glass in the tire that has repeatedly punctured the tube, but I feel more confident about the tires now.

I also discovered that the Big Dummy will sit happily on the kickstand without a rear wheel in place.

Hover Dummy?

I’m not getting a ton of miles in, but I am riding every day.  That feels good.  The first three months of the year have been hellish with my neck issues.  The problems aren’t gone, but things have improved enough that I feel like myself again.

Haulin'

I needed to buy dog food, so I rode the Big Dummy to work.  After work, I rode to Feeder’s Supply.  After my last fiasco hauling dog food (bike fell over breaking a brake lever and my Kindle), I loaded the dog food on top the deck instead of in the freeloader bag.

I got in 8.5 miles for the day before going out for pizza and beer with Robin.  It was a fine way to end the week.

I took the same way to work today, but had an appointment to donate blood after work.  My normal route is not necessarily the most direct.  Going by the Red Cross is actually more direct, and I ended the day with 7.3 miles.  Going “out of my way’ saved me 0.4 miles.

It was cool again this morning, but I skipped the jacket, and just wore the hat and gloves.  I still managed to take a few pictures while riding.

On Sunday, day 15, I goofed around the house a while.  I had intended to take off on a long ride on the recumbent.  I couldn’t seem to force myself out the door.  After several hours of working on PHP, HTML, and CSS, I decided I needed a bike ride.

Another bike pose

I scaled back my plans and took off for an urban ride on the single-speed.  It was warm, about 80 degrees, but quite windy.  I meandered through neighborhoods and eventually made it to Mellwood Ave.  I took that out to Mockingbird Valley, down to the trail along River Rd.  There were many people out a Carrie Gaulbert Cox Park.  Some were cooking on the grill.  Some were putting boats on the river.  A few were flying kites.

Ohio River through the trees

I then started climbing through the Indian Hills neighborhood.  Eventually crossing Brownsboro Rd at Country Ln and riding through the parking lot and bike path at Chenoweth Elementary School.

Pretty climb

Being a Sunday, the bike rack was empty.  I’d like to see how many kids use it during a nice day.

Empty bike rack

The path is a very short path that goes from Sprite Rd to the school.  It allows the kids to get from the quiet neighborhood streets of Brownsboro Village to the school without having to travel on the busy Brownsboro Rd.  This may be the only utilitarian bike path in town.

Bike path

I then wound around through St Matthews.  Normally the next part would be through Seneca Park, but i wanted something different, so I hopped on Lexington Rd where I managed a brisk 20mph into a headwind (but going downhill).  I turned off on the Beargrass Creek Trail and stopped to rest and take a picture of the signage.

Slippery when wet

The warning is no joke.  It was dry for this ride, but I’ve ridden the trail when it’s wet.  There are several bridges over the creek, and they are especially hazardous.

Around this time, I heard from Tim.  He wanted to get out and burn off some of the food he had consumed.

I finished the trail, and worked my way to Baxter Ave then Bardstown Rd where I met up with Tim.

He was on his QuickBeam, so we both enjoyed the simple-ness of a single-speed.

He led us through Cherokee and Seneca Parks.  It was getting to be evening and the bugs were out in force.  When I wasn’t inhaling them, they were bouncing off my glasses.

I followed him off-road twice.  It was an interesting ride.  Both of us have to be back to work today (Monday), so we eventually parted ways.  I headed straight down Eastern Parkway, taking advantage of a tailwind and a hill to spin out at 35mph for a bit.

I had 30.7 miles for the day.  I’ll take it.

Ready for the commute

I had hoped to ride at least ten miles today.  I only rode 7.7.  Taking the long way to work would have done it.  Taking the long way home would have too.  I could run an errand and hit the goal too, but I have no motivation.  I rode to work and back that’s enough.

The ride to work was uneventful.  The trip home was interesting.  There must be some convention downtown.  Police were working the intersections and letting huge groups of pedestrians through while holding back traffic.  I sat in traffic as did the other bicyclist in this photo.

Downtown

I’ve been feeling fat and lazy.  I’m running low on cash, so at least I’m eating less.

I miss my LHT.  I no longer have a decent bike for hilly gravel rides.  There are two awesome rides this weekend.  Both are possible on the ‘bent, but neither is ideal.

BRIGHT Headlight

I got up at 4:30am, had coffee and and oatmeal and prepared for an early ride with Tim.  He sent me a message that he wasn’t well, and wouldn’t be at the ride.

I was going to ride anyway.  My (abbreviated) ride took me through Smoketown, Downtown, across the river to Indiana, then back through Old Louisville and home.

I didn’t spend any money, as it’s Easter, and nothing was open.

Commute through Old Louisville

I had an uneventful ride to work this morning.  It had rained overnight, but skies had cleared before time for work.

At 5:00pm the rain was coming down hard, but I worked late and it was barely raining by 6:20pm when I headed home.

I invited Robin out to dinner at Cafe Amici in Old Louisville.  I ate a bit too much, but limited myself to one beer.

Bike Pose

My DiNotte lights that I bought back in 2008 show signs of wear.  The cables were fraying.  The batteries don’t last as long.  DiNotte has a reputation for good service.  I have them a call yesterday to see what my options are.

The headlight I have, the 600L, is no longer made.  They’re selling me a new XML-3 which is substantially brighter and throwing in a free refurbish on my 140L taillight.  Works for me.

So, this morning I rode to the post office on the way to work to mail the old stuff to them.  Now it’s time for “the wait”.  Nobody likes the “the wait”.

After work I took a meandering ride home.  There was a risk of rain today, but it hasn’t materialized yet.  Overall a nice day.

Flooding in Cherokee Park

That’s right.  I’m back to my old self.  My neck still hurts, but I can ride again.   I can even ride a drop-bar road bike.  It’s a shame I sold my LHT, but I needed the money.

April is 30 days of biking.  I have to be on the bike every day of the month.  It doesn’t matter if I’m riding 100 miles or 1 block, but I have to ride.

I’ve been back on the bike for commuting the past two weeks.  Things have improved.  I’ve mostly rode the single-speed, but took the Big Dummy shopping on Thursday.

Today, April 1st started with rain and thunderstorms.  I assumed I’d be riding around the block.  I had tentative plans to ride with Tim and Timothy, but woke up to crappy weather.  Robin had stayed with me, and she reminded me I had to ride.

The weather cleared out, and I took off to meet in St. Matthews.  Tim never showed.  He had a bad day.  Timothy was there, and we rode 20-ish miles.  We helped an older gentleman on a recumbent trike fix a flat tire.  It ended up being a beautiful day and there were many cyclists out.  My total miles for the day were 30.8.  I’ll take it.  I did it all on the single-speed, even over the hills of Cherokee Park.

Later in the day I went with Robin to pick up her new TV, her first HDTV.  I programmed her UVerse box to work with it, and then took hours to figure out the remote programming.  She rewarded me with apple pie and ice cream.

Tomorrow I ride to work.  This is easy.  Iv’e been back at it for two weeks.

After work, I’ll be at Robin’s to watch UK win the NCAA basketball championship on her new TV.

Life is good.

Heavy skies

This might have been the first week this year that I rode to work and back a full five days. Most of those were on the single-speed.  I think I’m getting better.

Some of the improvement is mental.  Deciding to just deal with the pain has made things easier.  I’m still stretching and taking Aleve, but that’s pretty much it.

The nicer weather is a bonus.  Most of the country is having an early spring.  I’ve been leaving my bedroom window open for over a week now.  That was a bad idea during the day yesterday.  We had a storm, with tornado, blow through while I was at work.  There was no damage in my part of town, but the wind blew the rain in my open window getting my bed wet and splattering my laptop with droplets.  The laptop just needed a wipe-down. It still works fine.

After work I spent time with Robin and watched basketball.

I plan to participate in the 30 days of biking for the month of April.  That basically means I’m on the bike at least a little every day of the month.  I usually have days that I don’t go anywhere, or only walk, so I’ll have to take a little extra time for a spin around the neighborhood.

Our navigation and fitness left a bit to be desired.  After riding off-course for a while, we took the direct way back to the cars, and only got about 37 miles in for the day.

It was beautiful weather.  It was good fun.  I need to do it again.

Tim’s write-up.

Asher’s take on the day.

Saturday, Timothy and Asher competed in the Sub9 Death March.  They planned to stop at Charlestown Pizza for a victory beer after the race.  I’m in no shape to race, but I hopped on my recumbent for a ride to Charlestown to meet up with them.

Charlestown Pizza used to be one of my regular hang-outs when I lived in Charlestown.  I now live 20 miles away, so I don’t get there often.  A 40-mile round-trip means I can consume a few calories.

The 'bent near a funny sign

I actually had a rough ride on the way northward.  It’s a slight uphill the whole way.  Drivers were rude and I wasn’t feeling well.  To think I used to ride the route often to get to work was amazing.  I also realized just how out of shape I’ve gotten.

The weather was stunning.  It was sunny, clear, and in the mid-50s.  I arrived at Charlestown Pizza to see they are having a fundraiser for tornado-affected areas.  They were busy, but there was only about a 20-minute wait for a table for three.

After hearing about Timothy and Asher’s struggle on the Death March (and the DNF they got), we enjoyed food and beer.

It was dark by the time it was time to leave.  I was well-lit, yet I took a different route with less traffic but more hills.  I felt strong.  I felt good.

While southbound, Venus and Jupiter were to my right.  Mars was to my left.  Orion was nearly overhead.  I easily saw these things because it’s easy to look up into the sky while riding the recumbent.  The bike has it’s drawbacks, but the view is not one of them.

After riding home I felt incredibly alive.  Unlike my camping trip last month, I didn’t hurt from the ride.  Even the Big Dummy, with it’s upright position, hurts.  The ‘bent doesn’t.

Now I’m in a quandary.  I’m considering selling the LHT.  It’s designed for long trips.  I can’t ride an upright bike for long distances.  My single-speed works great around town for short trips.  The Big Dummy works for hauling dog food and other supplies short distances, but the ‘bent has to be my “distance bike”.

In any case, it was great to get out again.  I’m going to start getting out on my solo rides.

I had today off work, as I had a doctor visit in the middle of the day.  After 75F and tornadoes on Friday we had a cooler weekend.  This morning I woke to three inches of snow.  By the time I was up and moving the roads were completely clear.

Snowy Scene

I took a meandering route through neighborhoods.  I noticed that my fitness level has really diminished recently.  Every small hill was a challenge.

My last physical therapy appointment was Friday.  I’ve put my massage therapy and chiropractor visits on hold.  These things haven’t been working for me.  Today was the day for me to talk to my doctor about surgery.

Beargrass Creek

I approached Seneca Park and stopped to take the pictures in this post.  There wasn’t any snow falling from the sky, but the trees were dropping quite a bit as it melted.  I was pelted in the face by a piece of ice.

Snow-filled trees

I eventually made it to the office.  Not finding a bike rack, I had to lock to a sign.

The 'bent

As expected, the doctor has said that non-surgical methods are not working.  I’m hoping for one of the “easier” surgeries, as if any of them are easy.

That’s not to be.  He is suggesting anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.  That involves cutting through the front of the neck, removing the ruptured disc (C6-C7), grinding down the bone a bit, and sticking a piece of cadaver bone in to fuse the two vertebrae.  There would also be metal plates and screws put in place to hold it all together.

I would be unable to drive(ha!) or work for at least two weeks.  I’d be off the bike for several months.  It can take a full year for full fusion to take place.

There are risks.  The bones may not fuse, which would require another surgery.  I could die.  It may not provide as much relief as I hope.  I could end up paralyzed.  It’s a terribly invasive surgery.

He isn’t rushing me to make a decision.  At this point, I can’t see going through with the surgery.  I see two options that don’t involve surgery, both involve dealing with it.

Option One:  Give up.  Buy a car and sell the bikes.  Suffer with the pain and continue to deteriorate.  Someday I’ll die and the pain will stop.  That’s a lousy option, but seems slightly better than surgery (at this point).

Option Two:  Attack this thing my way.  I’ve done some research on exercise, stretching, diet, and other things that may help a little.  So, do those things and deal with the pain.  It won’t fix a ruptured disc, but it may provide enough relief for me to keep plugging along.  This keeps me healthy, and still leaves open the option for surgery later if necessary.

I did ask the doctor if the pressure on the nerve would be damage it long-term.  He didn’t seem concerned.  I asked him about the bikes again.  I don’t want to be limited to the recumbent.  He gave me the all-clear to ride what I want, with the warning that I may be quite sore from it.

I plan on riding the single-speed to work tomorrow.  I’ll consider replacing the handlebars with something a bit higher.

Later in the week I’ll get the LHT out and ready to ride.  I’ll look into other handlebar options for that too.

My preliminary decision is Option Two.  Option One is really bad.  Surgery doesn’t sound good.  Option One is the direction I’ll head for now.  I reserve the right to change my mind later.

Wednesday was stormy, yet I rode anyway.  We ended up with tornadoes to the south, but not in Louisville.

Yesterday, Friday, I rode again.  I had a physical therapy appointment before work and rode there under cloudy skies.  After PT I rode to work with a few raindrops.  There were all kinds of weather warnings popping up around the region, but it had actually started looking nice out.

A nasty storm system was approaching Louisville, and most businesses were letting people go home early.  About 2:15 I was given the go-ahead to leave.  I rode through strong winds and the temperature had climbed to 75F.  That’s definitely a sign of a spring storm.  I was in my back yard before I even felt a drop of rain.

Tornado in Southern Indiana

I watched weather information on my computer for a while and watched as nasty reports came in from Southern Indiana.  A friend of mine who lives near Borden Indiana, forwarded me a picture of a tornado.

Eventually a tornado warning was issued for Louisville, and I headed to the basement.  My power never went out.  No trees came down in my neighborhood.  We just had some scary winds for a few minutes, then it was over.

The reports are still coming in today.  More than two-dozen people killed in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  Henryville High School is pretty much destroyed.  Borden High School damaged.  I’ve read there were over 80 tornadoes associated with this storm.  Some of them were pretty large.

The areas in Southern Indiana that were hit hardest are some of the areas I used to ride a lot in.  I won’t attempt to go there for another week or so to allow clean-up efforts to continue.  It’s a beautiful area with great low-traffic roads.  I feel for those who lost homes, family members, pets, etc.  That’s got to be hard.  I don’t wish that on anybody.

Patrick eating by headlamp - Saturday night

Read part one if you haven’t already.

I woke sore, stiff, and cold on Sunday morning.  I rolled out of the tent glad to be off of the ground.  It was about 6:30am.  The other guys started stirring about the same time.

The original plan was for me to make coffee and breakfast.  Breakfast required Asher to get the fire going again.  I was convinced by the others to skip making breakfast and concentrate on coffee.

I used Patrick’s stove and a percolator I borrowed from a co-worker to make passable (but hot!) coffee.

With everything packed, we rolled out of the campsite.  We waved at the younger group on our way out.  They were up, awake, and making breakfast.

The 33-degree temperatures were chilling on the fast descent down Holsclaw Hill Rd with no warm-up time.  Then it was a steady slog into and through town.

We decided to eat at a buffet near my house.  I fell behind everyone (except Asher who rode with my sorry slow ass).  Shortly after turning on Eastern Parkway the bike started feeling “squishy”.  Yep, the rear tire was going flat again.

Repairing a flat means unloading the bike.  Not a big deal at the campsite, but a real pain on the side of the road.  We were probably less than two miles from the restaurant, so I pumped the tire back up and continued.

After a less-than-satisfying breakfast, Patrick loaned me a CO2 cartridge that I used to re-inflate my tire and ride another mile to get home.  The bike is still sitting in the living room with a flat tire.

Building a bench - Saturday

I completely enjoyed the adventure, even with the cold, the neck issues, and the flats.  I’ll eventually buy better camping equipment.  I’m still not sure what direction bike changes will take.  I may be limited to riding the recumbent permanently.  This ride was painful.  I can add an under seat rack for more carrying capacity on the ‘bent.  I don’t want to do so until I know if I need to.

For now, I ride what I have and enjoy what I can.

So Saturday afternoon, Tim, Timothy, Patrick, Asher, and I all headed for Jefferson Memorial Forest.  Asher went on ahead to deal with firewood and paperwork, while the rest of us rode together after a meet-up for coffee and snacks.

I’m not supposed to be riding my bikes, other than the recumbent, per doctor’s orders.  The ‘bent isn’t set up for hauling a touring load.  Riding a drop-bar bike is out of the question.  The only choice I was left with was to ride the Big Dummy.  It has a more upright position which is easier on the neck.  It can also easily deal with hauling a load.

Loaded Dummy

I don’t have winter camping gear.  My sleeping bag was bought at WalMart 13 years ago.  I have an even cheaper sleeping bag I brought along as a second pad to supplement my foam pad.  My tent is an old but serviceable dome tent.  I also brought my regular pillow from home to help with my neck.

We wandered through town hitting a few extra hills to warm up (Tim claims it was just one extra hill, but I’m not convinced.)

We eventually made our way out to Mitchell Hill Rd then to Holsclaw Hill Rd.  Somewhere along there we got to enjoy a backyard firing range, 80s heavy metal blaring from a stereo, and an aggressive driver in a Mustang.

My fitness level is way down.  My weight is up.  I was riding a heavily-loaded cargo bike.  I fell behind the group on Holsclaw Hill Rd, well, because it goes up a hill!  I actually got off the bike and walked… for about ten feet.  The loaded bike was too heavy to push.  I got back on and continued pedaling.

I didn’t bring my camera on this trip.  I brought my iPhone to use as a camera.  I have mixed feelings about it, which I’ll write more about later.  I didn’t take a lot of photos.

While approaching the entrance to the campground, the  gang was at the top of the hill waiting for me.  I attempted a steep uphill climb off-road as a shortcut, and fell in the mud.  Oops.

We rolled into the campsite.  Before I could even unload the bike, someone pointed out I had a flat tire.  Sure enough, the rear tire was completely flat.  I unloaded the bike and changed the tube.

We all set up our tents.  Asher got a fire going.  Asher, Tim, and Patrick built a bench from a log and two rocks.  (I brought a camp chair).  Patrick prepared an awesome meal of pasta and sauce.  There were also prepared meat balls that just needed to be roasted over the fire to warm them up.  Beer was shared.

Timothy's "Beast"

Another group of five who were mostly U of L students were also bike camping a short distance away.  They invited us on an after-dark hike on a trail to a cemetery.  I was feeling the effects of the alcohol, and joined them.  The others in my group declined.  I enjoyed the hike.  The peaceful darkness was nice.  Flashlights were kept off unless needed.  The hiking warmed me up in a way the fire couldn’t.

Photogenic Tim

Once it got late, we eventually crawled into our tents to sleep.  I stayed completely dressed including hat and jacket.  I only removed my boots.  Even cocooned in my sleeping bag I was cold.  I slept poorly and was glad when I woke to sunlight.  That meant I could get up and move.

Patrick's Fargo

I’ll finish the story later in the week.  I need to get to sleep.

Hot coffee after a cold ride

I disappeared from here for a while.  I saw a neurosurgeon on the 6th.  He has referred me for physical therapy.  I’ve been to one session so far and have been doing some stretches as “homework”.  With luck things will improve enough that I won’t need surgery.

The doctor has told me to avoid the bikes, other than the recumbent, so the single-speed and LHT are parked.  I’ll still use the Big Dummy when appropriate for hauling loads.  It’s not too bad to ride it, as it a more upright position than the “road” bikes.

My eating is not doing well, but I am tracking everything I eat… and surpassing my limits each day.  I’ve not been getting on the scale every day.  Sometimes it’s because the scale is here at my house, and I’m at Robin’s house.  Other times it’s because I woke up late, and forgot the scale in my rush to get to work.

I’m beginning to tire of “tracking things”.  I’m going to bump my bike mileage tracking to monthly instead of weekly.  I’m still tracking my commute method each day (cab to work today, carpool home), but I’m not sure I’m going to continue doing it.  It’s actually a bit depressing.  I haven’t been on the bike enough.

I did ride my ‘bent for about 17 miles on Saturday.  I met Tim for a morning coffee ride.  I felt fat and slow.  The small hills around town are bigger than any of them on my commute, and I struggled.

The magical blue pony that gets me around Louisville

Several of us are doing a bike camping trip this Saturday into Sunday.  I’ll be riding the Big Dummy for the hauling capacity.  I’m in charge of breakfast and coffee for all of us.  It’ll be fun, and we’re just riding to Jefferson Forest, so it’s not far.  The more challenging part may be staying warm and dry while camping in February.  We’ll see.

I have another physical therapy appointment in the morning.  Wish me luck.

The holidays are over.  The new year is here.  Most of us are back at work.  Even with the cold weather we’ve had this week (until this afternoon) I’ve seen quite a few bicycle commuters.  I’ve also had interactions with rude and clueless drivers.

I’ve had at least one near-miss every day this week.  It normally takes months to get that many.  I’m wearing a lime-green reflective vest, I’m well lit, and I take the lane.  What gives?

This afternoon two cars cut me off within five minutes of each other.  Both times I was downtown on one-way streets with multiple lanes.  The second time, the car braked directly in front of me because another car was stopped at a red light.  I had to brake hard to avoid running into him.  I rolled along side of his car and rapped on his window.  I didn’t expect him to roll it down, but he did.

He was a clean-cut middle-aged man with a foreign accent (Indian?).  He was actually quite apologetic.  He actually SAW ME, he had changed lanes and went around me long enough to swerve back in front of me while braking.  After our (polite) words were exchanged, I rolled in front of him and waited for the light.  I think he got the message.

I rode my LHT in it’s “winter trim” yesterday and today.  We didn’t have any snow or ice, but I knew there was the possibility yesterday.  Pondero wanted some pictures, so I took the camera to work with me and grabbed a few pictures in front of the building.

Long Haul Trucker - Winter trim

The new front wheel has a dynohub, but haven’t bought a light for it yet.  I will soon.

Shimano Alfine Dynohub

The new Tektro CR720 wide-profile cantilever brakes feel better and are quieter, but they don’t seem much stronger.  Maybe some adjustments can fix that.

The Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires I bought almost two years ago will keep me upright on icy roads.

Tires and Brakes

I’ve run the shift cables along the bars, allowing me to install the BarMitts.  I’ll eventually buy some more bar tape and re-wrap the bars.

Bars and Mitts

I haven’t ridden the recumbent this week, but I probably should.  My neck hurts, my shoulder hurts, my upper back hurts, and my right hand is tingly.

It is nice to have all the bikes functional again.  No more worries about bad weather without the appropriate bike.

Dummy on the road

Friday
On Friday I rode the Big Dummy over 50 miles.  I rode out to Prospect to look at a used laptop.  I didn’t buy it.  I then headed out to Bluegrass Bicycle in Crestwood to pick up my new wheels for the LHT.  I took some really hilly roads on the way there and back.  I made a day out of it and stopped for food in Crestwood and coffee in Prospect.

Both Sleepy Hollow Rd and Covered Bridge Rd were very nice.  US42 wasn’t.

Saturday

Saturday was Christmas Eve.  I met up with others (I think it was Tim, Patrick, and Asher, but my memory is shot) early in the morning.  After riding around town for a while, I went to OYLC and hung out until noon, then went home.

Christmas
I didn’t leave home on Christmas.  I had a splitting headache most of the day.  I hoped my daughter would drop by but she never did.  I talked to friends and family on the phone.  I worked on my LHT, installing the new wheels and brakes.  I moved the bar-end shifters to the downtube, and re-cabled everything.

Monday
I still wasn’t feeling well, but I rode the updated LHT for a quick coffee ride with Tim.  I immediately hated the downtube shifting.  I’ll be switching back to bar-ends soon.  Sooner is better than later, as that’s the only bike the studded tires will fit, and I don’t think I’ll get much more good weather.

My neck and shoulder issue also flared up on Monday as has been getting worse ever since.

Since then…
I was back at work yesterday.  I rode the Big Dummy so I could haul dog food after work.  I rode the single-speed today and my neck was at it’s worst this morning.  It hurt bad enough that I got off the bike and walked about a mile.  This afternoon was better.  I’m hoping it’s easing up again.  I’ll know more in the morning.

Today was also the Car-Free Happy Hour.  We had a good turnout at Irish Rover on Frankfort Ave.  I think the 25 or so of us that showed up overwhelmed them a bit.  Although it obviously stressed out the server, she handled it well.

Holiday Season?
This is  generally a stressful time of year for everyone.  I was lonely on Christmas.  It was probably best that I was alone with the horrid headache I had.  Thanksgiving was better.  Patrick had invited me over, and I got to know his family.  I’m now invited to Andy’s house for New Year’s Day brunch.  I’m glad I have a few friends in the area.

As we left the metro area the temperature dropped from about 22F to 17F.  Brrrr.  It had warmed to about 19F by the time we arrived in Holland.

I have some history with riding in the winter out of Holland.  Last time, we had a planned store stop in Winslow, just as we did this time.  Last time, we cut that part of the ride out and I stopped and refused to ride farther because the snow was too much for me to ride in.  I ended up sitting on a bench in the town of Stendal waiting for a ride back home.

Today was cold, but there was no snow.  About 7 miles in, we come across our first problem.  The route was taking us on a private road with big KEEP OUT signs.  We routed around and kept going.

I had switched back to clipless pedals recently, and had tried my best to keep my feet warm in the vented shoes.  I wore two pair of wool socks with plastic bags between them to block wind and keep warmth in.  It really wasn’t working.  My feet were getting painfully cold.  The rest of me was comfortable.

Although he wasn’t complaining about it at the time, Patrick was suffering cold feet also.  He was running his normal clipless pedals and shoes with toe covers.  Tim was the smart one.  He swapped out his pedals for some platforms and wore warm shoes.

I had made comments before the ride that “at least were routing around Stendal” – the town I sat on a bench in the cold back in January.  Our detour to avoid the private roads took us through Stendal.  The bench is still there in front of the defunct Stendal Store.

At about mile 17 Tim decided he needed to head back.  He was feeling weak and ill.  He tried to convince us to continue the ride, since I had my GPS.  Patrick and I both had painfully cold feet and we just figured that left us more time to eat.

We headed back a mostly direct route to Holland, passing through Stendal once again.  Nearly back to Holland we turned south on S 825 W.  This road surface was incredibly bad.  Luckily it was frozen enough that we didn’t bog down in mud.

S 825 W

We rolled back to Tim’s car.  Tim was glad to be off the bike, and could barely walk.  Patrick and I were griping about our frozen toes.  We loaded the bikes and stopped at Waffle House for a completely unhealthy, yet totally satisfying meal.

The planned 55-mile ride turned out to be only 27.5 miles.  It was still a much more enjoyable day than hanging around the house, or even riding around town.

Click for route

Old Camaro

My poor LHT sat in the kitchen with the wheels off for a couple of weeks, like a Camaro next to a double-wide.

As I mentioned yesterday, I worked on it last night, and it’s rideable again.  I’m having issues with the transmission.  On a car that spells an expensive fix.  Technically, you can get a very expensive bicycle transmission, but I’ll leave that to others.

My transmission issues center around my front derailleur.  Normally it’s a simple thing to shift to one of the three front chain rings.  Lately, I haven’t been able to get it to shift into the smallest, leaving me without my “steep hill climbing gears”.  Even racing Gravel Grovel, I had some issues, but was usually able to get the shift to happen after several attempts.

Usually this issue can be fixed with some simple adjustments.  That wasn’t the case this time.  The derailleur wouldn’t move far enough inward, even when disconnecting the cable and the limit screw made no difference.  Pushing the derailleur inward with my finger will make it go far enough.

Problematic derailleur and worn chain rings

I assumed this was just mud, muck, and other crud mucking up the works.  I cleaned everything the best I could and re-lubed.  It made no difference.  I stopped at OYLC on the way home from work today confident that they could fix it.  Even after soaking the derailleur in a cleaner it didn’t function properly.  Okay, the new one is on order and I’ll have it next week.

I have a gravel ride coming up on Sunday.  I guess if I really need the “climbing gears” I’ll be stopping and pushing the derailleur with my finger again.  It’s either that or scavenging parts off of one of my other bikes.

I went grocery shopping on Saturday.  I bought quite a bit of stuff (including beer!).  I hauled it all on the Big Dummy from several miles away.  I often go to Kroger which is less than a mile away, but I prefer the ValuMarket at Mid-City Mall.  I escaped the madness just as a beer festival that I didn’t know about was beginning.  I bought more than I intended and load it all so that nothing fell off was a challenge, but I like challenges.

Candy is checking out my groceries

I made it home without losing the load.  In addition to the six-pack strapped to the deck, there’s another (Schlafly Coffee Stout) in the bag.

I could have hauled more if I had used the wideloaders, but that’s all I needed this time around.

Yesterday was the Gravel Grovel, a 60-mile bicycle race over all kinds of terrain.

Tim picked me up early and we stopped at Sunergos for coffee.  Patrick was supposed to ride with us, but had come down with something the night before, and had to cancel.  That was a pity, he had just set up a new Salsa Fargo for this kind of riding.

Timothy drove separately and met us there.  Michael was supposed to drive over from Bloomington, the shortest drive of all of us, but had mechanical issues with his bike and cancelled also.

Beautiful sky on the morning drive

We stopped again in Seymour IN for a bathroom break, again I enjoyed the morning sky.

Departing clouds?

It was also fun to compare the very different bikes Tim and I were riding.

My Surly LHT and Tim's Cannondale 29er

We arrived at Maumee Boy Scout camp plenty early and found a parking spot.  We took the time to sign-in, prepare the bikes and our clothes.  Timothy met us.

Timothy and Tim

The race began at 10:00am.  I did not bring the camera on the race as I knew it would slow me down.  This was a race, not a tour.  Tim, did take his camera and managed some good pictures, and still finished 10 minutes ahead of me.  His thoughts and pictures can be found here.

As the pack of several hundred bicyclists rolled out of the camp behind the SRAM lead car we turned on a paved road.  I noticed one of the orange turn markers pointing down a gravel road, but the lead car, and several hundred cyclists went straight, so I assumed they knew the route.

After a climb and descent, I noticed the lead car and several hundred cyclists turned around and facing back toward us.  Everyone had missed the turn.

After climbing and descending that hill again, we turned on the gravel road.  Looking at the GPS track, it seems that mistake added 5.6 miles or so.

Using a GPS for navigation is not allowed on this race.  You can use it for tracking your route as I did.  We were provided with a cue sheet and a map.  I’m not great with cue sheets, and the map was hard to read.  Luckily, there were also orange signs placed around the course for turns.  This worked well.  There were no further routing mishaps.

I knew I had to keep moving.  That’s why I left my camera in the car.  I also know I tend to not eat often enough unless I stop.  I did my best to eat while riding, often times choking on food due to breathing too hard.

There were a couple of stops to refill water bottles and have a snack.  I took advantage of these, but didn’t dawdle.  One of the stops had cans of beer.  If I had been touring, I would have enjoyed one.  I declined the beer this time.

The route was mostly as I expected.  There was a lot of gravel.  There was a closed bridge with a barrier you had to lift your bike over.  You traveled many of the roads twice, going the other direction the second time around.  Good signage made this easy to do without getting lost.

One part of the route did surprise me.  Combs Rd was mostly what I call a “not road”.  It was in no way passable by an automobile.  It was singletrack for about two miles (I’m guessing).  It was fairly technical with logs, mud pits, bricks(!?), stream crossings, etc.  It also had a large climb.  The beauty of it?  We got to do it again in the other direction.

My LHT did perfectly fine on the ride, other than Combs Rd.  I didn’t have much traction on mud.  I managed to fall once.  I walked up the steepest bit of it, and around the fallen trees and logs.

I wasn’t the only one with problems on it.  I watched one guy go over the bars.  I stopped and talked to him.  He was unhurt, just embarrassed and tired.  Another guy managed to snap his derailleur completely off.  He was working to convert his bike to a single-speed to continue the ride.  I saw him later, he had managed to do so.

We had originally planned this as five of us riding together as a group.  With two cancels, it would have been three of us, but we were unable to stay together.  Tim later described it as riding “in his own personal pain bubble”.  I think that’s accurate.  We did ride together a bit.  We regrouped at stops, but when it came down to it, each of us had to climb the next hill at our own pace.

My goal was to finish in less than 6h:30m.  I succeeded there.  Although Tim and Timothy both finished before me (by ten minutes or so), I finished in 6h:13m.  The official results haven’t been posted, but I’m sure it’ll only be a minute or two different from that.  I met my goal.

In the aftermath of it, I’m left with an extremely stiff neck, a skinned up knee, and a very dirty bike.  I did have fun and I’m tentatively planning on racing it again next year with a goal of less than six hours.

Tim managed to get a picture of me zooming past the finish line.  That brown spot on my trunk bag is mud from where I fell on Combs Rd.

Finished!

Here’s my GPS track for the race.

Click for full route

For a feeling of what the roads and terrain were like, look at this video from last year’s event.  Although they took a different course, it was mostly the same roads, including Combs Rd.

After the race, we gathered in the hall for food (rice, meats, sauces, pie) and giving away trophies to the winners of each category (big hunks of engraved rock).  There were raffle prizes, mostly little things, but there was an expensive wheelset given away.  I won a SRAM hat, which I gave to Tim as I don’t care for hats.

Even after the meal I was hungry, and I intended to cook when I got home.  I was too tired.  I took a hot bath and massaged the kinks out of my legs.  Then I laid down and read a book.  After that I slept.  I didn’t bother to set an alarm.  Yep, a good time.

Edit:
The official results were posted.  I tied Timothy for 126th place (overall) at a time of 6h:05m.  Even better than I expected.  Maybe I’ll shoot for sub-5h:30m next year.

The weather started out in the mid-50s, a tad warmer than expected with heavy overcast skies.  It had rained overnight and the roads were wet.

Patrick was riding his new Salsa Fargo, Timothy his new Origin8 29er, Tim was riding his Cross Check, and I was riding my LHT.  So, two disc-brake mountain bikes, and two “road” bikes with cantilever brakes.

We headed northwest out of New Washington on lightly traveled roads.  It was quite nice.  We did stop to adjust clothing early in the ride as we had overdressed.

On Concord Rd was this interesting concrete railroad bridge.  There are no longer tracks on it.  It was built as part of the Marble Hill Nuclear Plant project to bring construction material in by rail.

Shortly after the bridge, we turned on Arbuckle Rd, a nice stretch of gravel.  I wasn’t feeling strong and my speed dropped in the gravel.

After a while, Timothy and I were riding together while Patrick and Tim were further ahead.  As we neared a left turn on the route, Tim and Patrick continued straight.  We yelled for them, but they couldn’t hear us.  We waited a bit but they disappeared from sight.  The “left turn” took us through a gate on to two-track and I thought this was the “mud pit” road I had ridden with Tim in August of last year.

Timothy and I rode down the two-track, figuring we’d meet up with the other two later.  We passed a parked Jeep and continued.  The two-track opened up into a cornfield.  The corn had been harvested leaving 3-inch stalk sticking out of the ground.  We made our way in the general direction of the “road” according to the GPS, but it was veering out of the field into thick underbrush.  We eventually decided that this was not the “mud pit” road and turned around and went back.

While exiting back on to the road, a hunter with a large rifle approached us and asked what we were doing.  He was worried we were messing with his Jeep.  He was actually friendly once he figured out we were not messing with anything.

I talked to Patrick on the phone, and he said they’d meet us at Hutch Rd.  We detoured around the “not road” marked by Google and my GPS as S 900 W.

We made our way to W 500 S and the GPS track for Hutch Rd had us turning left… into a driveway.  Tim and Patrick were not there.  I checked my phone, and there was a text saying they would meet us at the north end of Hutch Rd.  Timothy did not seem eager to ride on private property after the encounter with the hunter.  We detoured around Hutch Rd, but did not see Tim or Patrick where Hutch Rd intersected with S 850 W either.

We continued on for several miles.  Eventually I noticed Tim and Patrick behind us.  They apparently had been chasing us for some distance after seeing my tail light from a distance.  I also found out from Tim that Hutch Rd was the “mud pit” road from last year.  We missed out on that.

We meandered north toward roads Timothy had found while planning the route for the Charlestown Populaire.  Once getting north of Deputy Pike, these were some of the best gravel roads of the day.

I was forcing myself to eat and drink at this point.  I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, but I knew I’d bonk if I didn’t get things down.  I still felt okay though.

It was shortly after this picture was taken, at about mile 28 or 29 that the rain started.  It was a light misting rain.  It persisted for the rest of the ride and made balancing temperature more difficult.

This area was near a small branch of the Muscatatuck River.  We’ve ridden near/over this river many times, just not near here.

We meanders southeast for a while, eventually coming to the town of Hanover, our lunch stop.  We hadn’t researched where to eat, but Hanover has a few places.  Between the GPS devices and smartphones we had, we quickly found Jendy’s Pizza that was only a quarter mile away from where we pulled over to discuss options.  We continued to Jendy’s and walked in quite soggy.

I had a small pizza, a 12″, I think.  Comments were made about my ability to eat large amounts on a ride.  Yes, I’m a pro, don’t try this at home.

The bad part about a lunch break on a cold, wet ride is that you get colder.  Getting back on the bike was hard.  I really wanted someplace warm to curl up and sleep.

We left Hanover descending a steep downhill toward the river.  It was raining a bit harder now.  Tim and I, with out cantilever breaks, were riding the brakes down the hill to keep them dry enough to function.  Timothy and Patrick were enjoying their disc brakes.  All of us were freezing.  A fast downhill without a chance to warm up first made things quite uncomfortable.

We were heading for River Bottom Rd.  The northern part of the road near Hanover is gravel, yet I’ve never ridden that section.  Eventually a sign marked “Road Closed – Travel at your own risk” and the pavement ended.  That was different!

This gravel was large chunky stuff.  It was tough going.  Hit a rock wrong and the bars would try to twist out of your grip.  There were also large black rocks stacked off the side of the road that looked like coal.  I didn’t stop to inspect it, I wanted to keep moving to stay warm.

As we were now down in the river valley, the river was to our left, and hills to our right.  Low clouds were rolling in just over our heads, obscuring some of the hills.  It was surreal, like something out of a movie.

This picture doesn’t do it justice.

Eventually the pavement began again and before long we were on a steep climb on a smoothly paved road – W Prospect Rd.  I was glad for my low gears as I slowly spun up the climb.

We were all very tired by this point.  There was still much gravel.  I can’t remember which roads were gravel, and which weren’t but we still had plenty of gravel.

There was one small loop off of paved road that I had originally planned to ride, as it was extra gravel on those three roads.  We all decided to skip it and moved on.  There was still more gravel.

Somewhere around Taflinger Rd the gravel ended and we were on the home stretch.  We rolled New Washington – Bethlehem Rd into town and back to the cars.

Tim drove me home, but we stopped for coffee on the way.  Once I was home I hopped in the bathtub full of hot water.  I was chilled to the bone, and that seemed the best remedy.  I stayed in the tub for a while reading, until the water started to cool.

Next Saturday is the Gravel Grovel, and I’m about as ready as I’m going to be for it.  I’m fairly certain, barring calamity, that we can make the eight-hour cutoff.  I’m optimistic that we can finish in six and half hours, allowing us to see the awards ceremony.

I’m also fairly certain that my mileage for the month will be quite nice!

Today was Tim’s birthday.  He broke from tradition and decided he wanted to do a century, and no, he is not 100 years old.  He mentioned something about it to me on Sunday evening, so I took the day off work.

This meant scrambling last night to get the fenders installed on the LHT, as the weather forecast was calling for rain ALL…. DAY…. LONG….

This morning the weather was as predicted.  I rode in the rain to Breadworks for coffee and snacks before heading out.  Temperatures held steady in the low to mid 50s all day, which made clothing decisions a little easier.

"Castle" on Fisherville Rd

"Castle" gate - Oz Manor

Wet bikes in Shelbyville

Brunch of Champions!

We headed north out of Shelbyville, then turned north west toward Crestwood.  Mt Zion Rd seemed much longer than it should have.  The rollers were never-ending.  We were wet.  Did I mention it was raining?

Rainy November on Orphan Lane - It just sounds sad

I'm wet and hungry

Tim was feeling sassy

I had one beer, a glass of water, fried ravioli, and a burger.  I didn’t pay attention to Tim’s food, other than the fact he didn’t eat it all.  Unlike him, I can put down a large amount of food and keep on riding.

I am not a nutritional role model

The rest of the ride was a bit of a slog.  I felt good about my time to the lunch stop, but it went downhill from there.  I was quite cold when leaving Crestwood.  I did warm up after a climb, but I didn’t have the same energy level.  I’ve done a lot of 50-70 mile rides this year, but few centuries.

I was also starting to have saddle issues by mile 80 or so.  I think it was poor position on the bike due to fatigue, but I’m not certain.

There were two stretches of US-42 to travel, which was less than pleasant.  Once we got to River Rd in Louisville, it was rush hour, and we were just in heads-down-get-through-this mode.

We turned into Indian Hills which relieved the traffic situation, but there were well, uh, hills.  They aren’t big hills, but we were tired.

We rolled back in front of Breadworks after nine and a half hours on the bike which is slow, but a good time for me on a century.  Tim rode home to celebrate with his family.  After I rode home, I had about 108 miles.

Issues:  GPS craziness, rain, cold, everything getting wet, sore bits toward the end of the ride

Good things: Felt great when I got home, 100K time was good, food was good, stayed hydrated

It rained about 80% of the ride.  The “miserable” part near the end is where we actually didn’t have rain for a while.  The temperatures started around 50, climbed to about 55, and dropped back to the low-50s by the end of the ride.  I never had to add or shed layers.  That was convenient.

I don’t want to wait until a birthday to do the next century.  I’d like to get one in per month!

Click for full route

* “I am not a nutritional role mode” quote shamelessly stolen from Kent Peterson.

Overlook and LHT

Yesterday’s populaire left me exhausted.  I went to bed early and had plans of getting up early to ride around town with Tim.

I slept through the alarm.  Once I did wake up I noticed a text message from Tim.  He had gone on without me.  Good, I’m glad he didn’t wait.  He watched Dale race at the cyclocross event.

I eventually got enough coffee into me to ride down to Sunergos to drink more coffee and meet up with Tim.  After finish my “breakfast of champions” (scone and brownie), we headed out through UofL and south down through Beechmont and South Third St.

We were fighting quite the headwind in this direction.  The wind was stronger today than what I suffered through yesterday.

We turned on Kenwood Dr to go to Iroquois Park, but Tim decided to check out Kenwood Hill Rd.  We quickly turned around and started our climb.  It seems an interesting part of town, and home of the Little Loomhouse.

Kenwood Hill Rd loops around and dumps you back on Kenwood Dr.  Then we headed to Iroquois Park again.  The day was warming up and there were quite a few walkers and joggers.  The leaves were crunching underneath the tires.  It was quite a peaceful ride, climbing the hill at a relaxed pace.

I stopped at a scenic overlook for pictures.  We continued to the top and rode through a walking path cut through the tall grass.

We left Iroquois Park and headed northeast on Southern Parkway.  Tailwind!  We cruised along at 17-21 mph with very little effort.  It was nice.  This lasted (only slowing or stopping for lights) all the way through UofL and eventually turned southeast on Bradley Ave.

Our route took us through Joe Creason Park and eventually Dundee Rd.  We split up there.  Tim headed for home, I turned north and went to breadworks for more carbs and coffee.

I took the direct route home giving me 27.5 miles for the day (27.9 according to the GPS).

I think Tim had about 10 miles more than me, due to his riding while I slept.

Click for full route

I rode another one in September.  My neck was healed about as much as it ever will.  Timothy advertised it as fixie-friendly, perhaps for a stronger rider, and I rode my single-speed.  I walked a few hills, but I enjoyed the ride.  I also rode alone most of the time.

Yesterday was the November populaire.  It was billed as a “distillery tour”.  It left from Buffalo Trace in Frankfort.  Strangely that was the one distillery that I didn’t get to visit.

I managed to get a ride from Timothy to the ride start.  I was well stocked on food as I had no intention of stopping to eat during the ride.  I was riding the LHT with trunk bag for clothing and handlebar bag for everything else.

Buffalo Trace from the parking lot

There were a total of five of us gathered for the ride.  The other four were much stronger riders than I.

We headed out on Wilkinson Blvd and made our way to Bridge St, where an metal-grate bridge goes over the Kentucky River.  My fat tires on the LHT mean that  I couldn’t really even feel a difference in the road surface, but the fact I could look down and see the water below was a bit weird.

At this point, Timothy and David King had pulled out into the lead.  I was in the middle and the two other riders back behind a bit.  I had hoped to stay near other riders as I’m not good at reading cue sheets and GPS data was not provided for the ride.  I did have my GPS tracking my route though.

Eventually we turned left on Devil’s Hollow, our first real climb.  It’s a little over a mile long and varies between 6% and 10%.  It was a workout, but I never felt the need to drop into the granny gear.  I am slow on climbs though, and it was in this stretch that the other two riders passed me.  I was now riding alone, less than four miles into the ride, and would remain riding alone for the remainder.

I was looking for my left turn at Pebblebrook Way followed by another on Pea Ridge.  I was riding along and noticed that I sailed right past Pea Ridge.  I turned around and went down Pea Ridge, assuming that Devil’s Hollow had turned into Pebblebrook Way.  It wasn’t until reviewing my GPS track and maps today that I realized I missed the turn.  My error didn’t save any mileage, so hopefully RUSA won’t care.  :)  Actually, they probably would care if I were trying to get Brevets in to qualify for PBP, but I’m not.

Anyway, at this point I was unsure I was going the right way.  I’m lousy with cuesheets and I was beginning to wonder if this whole thing was a bad idea.  Maybe I should have stayed in bed.  Adding to the morose attitude were these remains on the side of Pea Ridge Rd.

It used to be a deer

I was frustrated with riding alone on a group ride.  I was frustrated about not knowing where I was at.  The cue sheet seemed a thin thread to keep me going.  I was frustrated with the headwind I’d been fighting my whole time on Pea Ridge Rd.  I came to KY-1665 and headed south.  This gave me confidence that I was indeed headed the right direction.  It also took me directly into the wind.  It was at this point I remembered I had to eat on the bike.  I grabbed a pop-tart out of the handlebar bag and started chewing it while sucking wind.  Not a good combination.  I almost choked.  A few swigs of water later I was better.

I followed KY-1665 along until S Benson veered away, then I followed that.  This brought me to KY-151.  I didn’t recognize it at the time, but I’ve driven KY-151 many times.  It was part of the route I would drive to Harrodsburg when Kristy lived there.

If the route would have taken KY-151 all the way to the 127 bypass, I would have realized where I was, but the route made a quick jog west on KY-512 then south on Puckett Rd.

Puckett Rd was narrow and scenic, but the first half mile had a number of houses and a bit of traffic.  Once I got beyond that area, traffic thinned out.  I stopped to eat and drink (about three minutes) so I didn’t choke on my food, and continued on.  This eventually led to Hammonds Creek Rd, which is busier than the maps would lead you to believe.  I was passed by several large diesels blowing fumes at me.

My mood at this point in the ride was dark, but I was still determined to follow the cue sheet and had no further issues with it since the Pebblebrook Way thing at mile 3.8.  I also knew that I’d eventually be going the other direction and this damn headwind would be a tailwind.

A short jog on KY-44 and turn south on Powell Taylor Rd.  The terrain around Powell Taylor was wide open.  There was no shelter from the wind.  There were often short stone walls that were falling apart.  That’s part of Kentucky I enjoy, but something a little taller to block the wind would have been nice.  The first half of Powell Taylor Rd was a slight climb, followed by a gentle descent.  A group of cows in a field scattered as I rode by.  I nearly choked on my snack again as I tried eating and riding.  At least getting a drink of water was easier.

There was a quick jog on US-62 before I turned southeast on Mill Creek Pike, or KY-513.  It looked much like Powell Taylor Rd, but had a yellow line down the middle.  It was fairly low-traffic.

Rock wall along Mill Creek Pike

Four Roses warehouse for aging the bourbon

Four Roses distillery

There are rosebushes decorating the grounds around the building.  Quite fitting for “Four Roses”.  I was surprised to see some semblance of roses on them in November.

More than four roses...

KY-513 continued eastward to US-127 (or is it the bypass, I don’t know).  I had to make a left here, and did so without incident.  I saw the “By-Pass Motors” sign that I’ve seen dozens of times on trips to Harrodsburg.  I knew I was south of Lawrenceburg (Larryville?)  What I didn’t realize is that the route was taking me in a big loop around Lawrenceburg without ever going into town.

I also didn’t realize that my right turn at Harrodsburg Rd was the old 127, so I went past it briefly before figuring it out, and doing a U-turn on the bypass.

I headed north on Harrodsburg Rd.  There was surprisingly little traffic considering it’s the former US-127.  I guess the bypass is really working.  I was approaching the town of Lawrenecburg, but I would turn east on Wildcat Rd before reaching town.

Wildcat was pleasant.  It was slightly rolling, but eventually began diving into the creek valley.  At this point the pavement ended and the route followed the one section of gravel.

Wildcat Road

Once reach the lowest elevation it’s going to, Wildcat bends sharply left, the pavement begins again, and a rather eye-catching house greets your entrance to Tyrone KY.  Tyrone is a (former) town along the Kentucky River.  I’m guessing it floods often enough to be unsustainable.  There are more former houses there than occupied ones.

Welcome to Tyrone

Then there was a nice climb up to the Wild Turkey Distillery.  I was hoping to run in, get my card stamped, and leave quickly. Unfortunately, there was a good crowd in there and a long line at the counter.

Wild Turkey

I was able to by-pass the line for a quick stamping of the card, then I was on my way.

Visible from here was the US-62 bridge over the Kentucky River.  It’s quite a distance over the water due to the terrain on the other side.   Also visible is a railroad bridge that’s even taller and substantially older.  I don’t know if it’s still used, as it looks pretty worn out.  I’ve been told it’s called high-bridge.  I did not get a picture.

I continued on Tyrone Rd and turned right on US-62.  From where I turned to the bridge was downhill.  I managed to hit a good speed and took the lane.  There was one car behind me, but he didn’t seem impatient.  After the bridge is a sharp right then the road slopes upward.  I was heading southeast again and had some wind in my face, so my speed suffered.

Visibility on this stretch of road was bad.  Even though I was now hanging to the right it wasn’t safe for cars to pass, and they weren’t passing.  Once a good line of them had built up, I pulled off the road too let them pass.  I took the few moments to eat and drink some more also.

The route eventually turned off of US-62 to Milner Rd, then to Steel Rd, which I followed for quite a few miles.

Steel Rd started out in typical “rough-rural” form.  A few farms, some ramshackle homes.  Eventually it looked more like what rural Kentucky is known for, horse farms and well-manicured estates.  I think I prefer the ramshackle look.

Also I was now heading north.  I had a tailwind!  My mood had improved dramatically.  I hadn’t been lost in many miles and I knew I’d easily make the cutoff time.

The cue sheet had an upcoming left turn for New Cut/McCracken.  There was a right turn for KY-1659/McCracken Pike shortly after that.  I came to a stop sign and the cross road was McCracken Pike.  It was still to early to the first turn.  I zoomed out on the GPS and saw that New Cut would loop around and meet up with McCracken Pike.  Timothy had added this little bit to get the mileage right.  So, I continued straight and later turned left on New Cut.  New Cut was typical horse farm country.

Horse farms on New Cut Rd

I met back up with McCracken Pike and it was a short ride to the Woodford Reserve distillery.

Woodford Reserve

I will say this.  Their setup for giftshop and tours is better than the others.  It’s larger, well-staffed, and I was greeted and had freebies pushed at me as soon as I walked in the door.  I really just wanted my card stamped.

They stamped my card and ate a free bourbon ball and was given a shot glass.  I may have to buy a bottle of Woodford just for the service I got as a non-customer.

I continued north on McCracken Pike.  It runs parallel to Glenns Creek for a while.  I went through the tiny town of Millville, which has no other streets.  It’s just McCracken Pike with the creek on one side, and a clump of houses on the other.

I eventually pass the now-defunct “The Old Taylor Distillery Company”.  It looked vaguely familiar.

The Old Taylor Distillery Company

Possibly related building across the street

As the route enters the Franfort area again, I turn left on Coffee Tree Rd. I saw no coffee.  I could have used a cup.  I did see the State Police Training Academy.

Kentucky State Police Training Academy

State Capitol

One more climb then a left turn at US-60/Main St with a nice downhill run into town.

From there it was a stroll down Wilkinson Blvd and back to Buffalo Trace.  Buffalo Trace was now closed, but Timothy was waiting at the end to mark my card.  I finished the ride in 5:55, my best 100K ride yet.

What is the indecision?  I’m not sure if I want to do more populaires, or worse yet a brevet.  My riding style is more relaxed, slower, and with stops for food and pictures.  On the other hand an occasional populaire/brevet is good for making me faster without resorting to dedicated training.

I also like group rides to, you know, ride as a group.  I spent nearly all of the ride alone.  I don’t mind solo rides, but those start solo, and won’t have anyone waiting for me at the end.

I don’t know.  I’m still undecided about the future of doing these rides.

The early part of the ride I really wanted to give up the populaire and head for Louisville.  I would have sent Timothy a text message to let him know I wasn’t going to need a ride home.  I then could have ridden any pace I wanted, guilt-free.

Later in the ride I was completely enjoying myself.  I didn’t take as many pictures as I normally do during a ride, but that means few to post here (which is a bit of a pain).

So, I remain undecided, yet overall pleased with the ride yesterday.

Click for full route

My LHT ready for gravel

Tim cooked up an awesome route to train for the upcoming Gravel Grovel without having to drive too far.  We discussed with Timothy and Patrick.  Both were interested, but Patrick couldn’t dedicate that much time.  It’s a good thing he didn’t try to “squeeze it in”, we were out for many hours.

The Morning

I got up early and cooked eggs.  I wanted a substantial breakfast before a ride like this.  I should have had more carbs.  This became important later.  I had also planned to grab some snack food at the local gas station to carry with me, but the station was closed.

I drove Tim and I out to pick up Timothy, or so we thought.  We met Timothy as Heine Brothers Coffee where we each had a cup and a scone.  I grabbed another scone for during the ride.  We thought Timothy needed a ride, but instead he followed us.  This is the last drive in my truck.  I’ll have more about that in another post.

Okay, so the Timothy transportation snafu was just a communication error.  That’s what happens when all of our planning is done via email.

Timothy pumping up the tires on "Beast"

The ride started in New Castle KY in Henry County, northeast of Louisville.  It’s just far enough away to be quite rural.

Tim is getting ready to ride

The Ride

We were on the road before 9:00am.  It was cold, probably just a bit above freezing.  We headed north east.  Tim let me know that his GPS was not working as expected, so he told me to navigate.  I had loaded the route on my GPS as a track the night before.

I wasn’t feeling strong.  I was cold.  I fell behind.  Tim and Timothy were riding ahead of me, far enough that they couldn’t hear me yell at them when they missed a turn.  We were less than a mile into the ride.  Not a great start.  I have chase  and eventually got their attention.  We all turned around and went back to our turn on Flat Rock Rd, our first gravel of the day.

Tim enjoying Flat Rock Rd

Frozen foam?

Blocked?

Flat Rock Rd was a pleasant downhill run into a creek valley, but at 5.5 miles into the ride we came a a creek crossing with two problems.  1) The creek was deep enough that riding through or walking was not possible without getting wet.  2)  We couldn’t see where it crossed to.  We figured that once across somehow, that we’d pick up the road somewhere.

Morning sun over creek

We walked up and down the bank looking for a good location for crossing.  It didn’t exist.  Tim and Timothy began throwing stones in a shallow but fast-moving section to try to build a bridge.  It would have taken a lot of stones and time to make it where we could simply walk across and stay dry.

Timothy looking for a creek crossing

It quickly became apparent we’d just need to walk through the water.  With the cold temperatures, it was best to do this barefoot.  Timothy went first.

Cold feet

Timothy left his bike behind, know we could pass it to him.  I wanted mine with me to hold on to if I started to slip.  I didn’t slip, but I did submerge by bike deeper than planned.  It’ll need a new bottom bracket and the hubs re-packed soon.

Yes, the water was cold, and my right pant leg slipped down

Okay, Now Where?

Once we again had our footwear on, we started looking around for the “road”.  This “road” is marked as such by the county maps that Tim uses for these excursions, and normal web-based maps aren’t accurate enough.

Where's that confounded road?

There's the "road"

Funny, he doesn't look happy

Before long we were on paved roads again.  I was trying to keep up, but I had no energy and kept falling behind.  I was really beginning to hate the ride.  I was questioning my ability to ride it, and the Gravel Grovel.  I was in a foul mood, and I really wanted to just take the most direct route back to my truck.

This turned into self-loathing because I know that part of the problem is my recent weight gain.  Part of it is that I don’t do long rides as often as I used to.  Most of my mileage is around town these days.

The third cause was the real one.  I hadn’t eaten enough.  On was on the verge of “bonking”.  I stopped to eat my extra scone and drank some water.  I still needed more.

We turned on Joe’s Branch Rd, a rather pleasant downhill gravel stretch.  My speed was limited due to sketchy roads conditions but it was fun.  Tim struggled more here with his narrower tires.  There were several mostly dry creek crossings, but they paved those short stretches.

Tim and the paved, dry, creek crossing

Lockport

Sixmile Creek Rd goes into Lockport, a tiny little town on the Kentucky River.

It's peaceful in Lockport

Dueling churches

The next town would be Gratz.  I had hopes for food here, as I had done a little research ahead of time.

Heading out of Lockport on 389

Tim putting his camera away

The stopping for pictures helped me feel better, but I was still dragging.

Kentucky River

As we approached Gratz, we realized that Hwy 22 has been re-routed to a new bridge over the Kentucky River into town.  The store stop I researched (but never called) doesn’t seem to exist anymore.  There was a restaurant, but they’re closed on Sundays and Wednesdays.  No food in Gratz.

Monterey

Monterey is the farthest point of the ride.  Surely there is food there!

The trip to Monterey was on Hwy 355 for much of the way.  I fell behind (again) and came to a turn we supposed to make at Severn Creek Rd, a nice gravel road.  I was pretty sure that Tim and Timothy had not gone that way, but I wasn’t positive.  I stopped and waited a few.  I tried calling Tim.  I sent him a text message.  Nothing.

I continued on Hwy 355, ignoring the turn.  That was the right choice, they were both heading back toward me on 355, wondering where I had went.

I mentioned the turn, and it turns out that they had discovered last night that that road does not go through, and modified the route to stay on 355.  Unfortunately, that was after I loaded the route into my GPS.

We continued to Monterey, and there was nothing in town.  We stopped and asked a guy who was outside, and he gave a directions to “the store”.    It was south-east of town on Hwy 127.  Nice wide shoulders made this busy road easy to ride on.  There was indeed a gas station/convenience store that sold burgers, hot dogs, and pizza, along with the usual fair.

We took our time.  I had Gatorade, a burger, chips, and bought several oatmeal creme pies for later.

We went back into Monterey, and started looking for Old Landing Rd, that promised to be gravel.

Old Landing Rd

We found some two-track off of High St that looked like it was going the right direction.  It was rutted dirt, mud, and sometimes grass.  We kept following it even as we could see on the GPS that we were deviating from our desired direction.  Eventually our “path” came to a dead-end at the Kentucky River.

We turned around, I was at the tail-end of the group.  I saw the soupy mud up ahead, and I decided to charge through it rather than risk bogging down.  Instead I fell.  I banged my shoulder and tweaked my neck, but luckily mud is soft.  I did get rather dirty.

While making our way back, Tim noticed and old roadbed and the remnants of an old bridge over another creek.  Was this our road?

Rock wall next to roadbed

More rock wall

Woods and brush on the other side of the creek

Tim thinking on which way to go

Tim walking back to his bike

This is the muddy area where I fell

Our dead-end jaunt while looking for the road was actually very close to it.  We didn’t see it because it was up higher than we were.

Old Landing Rd was a gravel road that runs along farmland and the Kentucky River.  It was a really nice ride.

Luggage

Along this point I started feeling much better.  The food was doing it’s magic.  The temperature was warming substantially too and I needed to lose a couple of layers.

Old Landing Rd

I’m used to riding a bike with a rear rack and usually have at least a trunk bag, and sometimes a pannier or two.  I didn’t really have a place to put clothes that I removed since I was only carrying the handlebar bag.

Timothy found a bungie cord along the side of the road.  I put my jacket and sweater on top the handlebar bag and used the bungie to hold everything in place.  It worked well enough.

Mechanical Issues

Now that my food issue was solved, Timothy started having bike issues.  His bike wasn’t shifting properly, and he had to replace a bent link in the chain.  He had a low rear tire, gave it a quick pump, and as we rolled into Lockport on the return trip, he stopped to replace the tube.

This worked well, as the store that had been closed was now open.  I went in for more Gatorade and oatmeal creme pies (yeah, I know, bad food).

It was an interesting store.  There were at least three friendly dogs in the store.  They seemed well behaved.

Return

After leaving Lockport, we got to ride the wonderful stretch of Sixmile Creek Rd again.  Very nice.  We also took another section of it south that was also quite nice to get down to Hwy 573 then directly back to New Castle.  No more hiking through the woods for the day.

Timothy on the home stretch

Tim was in the lead, until almost at the ride finish, when Timothy poured on the speed.  I didn’t try to catch up.  Tim managed to pull ahead again, leaving Timothy behind.  Timothy and I arrived in New Castle together with Tim waiting for us.

What I Learned

This is training for a race.  Today’s time would have been a disqualification.  Then again, the race is not likely going to require me to take off my shoes or hike through woods without as much as a trail.

According to our bike computers and GPSs, we spent almost three hours STOPPED.  Keeping moving is important.

I need another bag on the bike.  I’ll probably just throw the rear rack back on and use the truck bag.  I don’t want to spend the money for a large saddlebag.

I’m not convinced I’ll do anything like this next year.  I like stopping for pictures, food, or just to take a break.  I don’t know that the GO GO GO type riding is really my style.  I’ll do it for this training, and the race itself, but after that, I’ll have to put some real thought into it.

The Route

Click for full view

The Big Dummy is the only bike I own without fenders, so it was time to fix that.  We’ve had rain recently.  I rode in light rain today for the commute.  The rain wasn’t bad, but the wet roads made for a sloppy mess on the bike and on my lower legs and feet.

I was also stretched out a bit too much, so the shorter stem will hopefully fix that.

After getting home, I pulled up a chair to the Big Dummy and got busy.  removing the old stem and replacing it with the new one was easy.  A torque wrench is recommended, but I don’t own one yet, and I can get it good enough by feel.  I did notice that the steer tube was cut poorly.  I may have to do something about that someday.

Headless Dummy

After getting the rest of the required tools, including the required bike-themed beer I attempted to install the Surly front rack that used to be on my LHT.  I couldn’t figure out how to mount it without interfering with the brake caliper, so I decided to hold off on the rack.

Boulder Beer - Singletrack Copper Ale

I did find that the KickBack kickstand would keep the front forks off the floor with the front wheel removed, if I used the front wheel as extra weight in the rear.

KickBack

I installed the front fender (mudguard), but I think I cut the stays a little short.  It has a rather lousy fender line.

Front Fender

I had planned on putting the rear fender on tonight also.  I also planned to strip my LHT for gravel training.  However, I’m tired and grumpy and not happy with how this came out.  I’ll save the rest for tomorrow.

I can’t say I enjoy working on bikes.  I do enjoy the end result, even if it takes me several attempts.  I’ll probably buy a replacement hardware set for the fenders and re-do the stays on the front.

What’s next for the Dummy?  I need a new saddle.  I want a sprung Brooks saddle.  This bike is supposed to have a rather upright riding position.  I haven’t ridden it since installing the new stem, but I assume I’ll be nice and upright.

The LHT?  I’m removing the fenders and rear rack.  I’m installing some wider tires that probably won’t fit with the fenders.  I’ll also move the small saddle bag and handlebar bag over from the single-speed for tools and snacks.  This is in preparation for the Gravel Grovel, which I still intend to ride.

Nothing unusual about that, except we were both riding cargo bikes.  I was on my Big Dummy, and Tim on his Kona Ute.  Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a camera, but Tim grabbed a picture of me with his phone.

Cargo 'Cross

I had a light breakfast of a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk.  That’s mostly because I overslept and didn’t have time to cook bacon and eggs.

Work

I had a productive day at work.  Although my official duties are database related, I get pulled into various IT projects.  Today, I finished up a small Windows application to make deployment easier for one of our line-of-business applications.  Just a little thing, but it was nice to write software again, even on a small scale.

New Bike

I heard from Ian today.  We agreed upon a price and payment plan.  The Big Dummy is mine.  I’m getting the KickBack kickstand and wide loaders in the deal.  Now I truly have a pedal-powered pickup truck!

Cyclocross

After work I rode out to the park to meet with Tim.  We did a couple of easy laps around the course, then he started a faster lap.  I fell back, stopped and took a breather.  I really wasn’t feeling strong.  We then did a lap with me in the lead – running at my pace. It wasn’t much faster than an easy lap.

I’ve made up my mind that cyclocross is not for me.  I’ll continue to do these practices for fitness and fun, but I don’t want to race.

Tim gave me a ride part of the way back home.  I rode home from the Highlands.  I still rode 12.5 miles of commuting/errands and 12 miles of ‘cross practice.

Dinner

I go out to eat entirely too much.  I still haven’t been grocery shopping, but I had enough stuff to cook spaghetti, so that’s what I did.  I have no beer, but I need to avoid it for a while.  I had a filling meal, and have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Late Errand

My daughter works at a local drug store.  She called me to ask me to bring her something.  I hopped on the single-speed, went to the ATM, then the drug store, dropped off something for her, and bought some stuff for me.  The round-trip was only 2.5 miles.

What did I learn on my errand?  I learned my Acorn handlebar bag will fit two large bottles of supplements (glucosamine) and a 14oz tub of Haagen-Dazs ice cream.  So, dessert too!

More Saturday

I got an email from Michael, who I rode with on Saturday.  He passed along a couple of pictures of me.

The first is just me riding through the woods on my single-speed road bike.  Not the ideal bike for the terrain.

Action shot

The second picture is hilarious.  We were at the nearly impassable stretch of the Riverwalk behind the golf course.  I had no idea he was taking pictures, but I needed to lift my bike to get through.

Upward and onward?

Exercise & Stretching

I’m doing my dumbbell exercises.  Even the 5lb stuff hurts after enough repetitions.  I have no upper body strength.

I’ve also noticed over the last few months that I hurt more.  My legs were so tight last night that any movement was painful.  I realized that somewhere over the last six or so months I quit stretching.

So, I spent about 30 minutes stretching my legs, back, and torso yesterday.  I’ll do it again tonight.  Hopefully I’ll notice a difference soon.

The Truck

The gasoline-powered cargo hauler (as opposed to the pedal-powered cargo hauler) is going up for sale this week.  I’m done using it now, I just need to find a buyer.  Then I’ll be officially car-free.

This Weekend

Tim, Michael, and I are heading to Red River Gorge (in Tim’s SUV) for two days of riding, and one night of camping.  It’ll be cool during the day, and cold at night.  I’ll be wearing as much wool as possible at night.  I hope there aren’t any burn-bans in effect this weekend.  We’ll really need a fire.

Either way, it’ll be a blast.  Much like the Big South Fork trip was last year.

Fountain at Waterfront Park

He suggested in an email that we meet for a Riverwalk/Louisville Loop this morning.  He lives in my part of town, so he suggested meeting at Sunergos at 9:00am.

I left home a little early to run by the ATM, then arrived at Sunergos to get a cup of coffee (and a bacon donut from Nords).  I was riding the single-speed and not carrying panniers.

Michael arrived as I was drinking my coffee.  He was riding a nice looking Jamis Aurora.  After finishing we headed north to downtown and on to the Riverwalk.

Once we neared Shawnee Golf course, but were still on the open portion of the Riverwalk, we detoured off of the path and followed a overgrown trail into the woods.  The woods we were in is listed as Portland Wharf Park.

This route quickly became mountain-bike-like with fallen trees, leaves, mud, and rough spots.  Riding road bikes made this interesting, but the view was quite nice.

Morning Light

Michael and his Jamis Aurora

The Single-Speed and I

Peeking around the tree

There was enough mud to clog up between tire and fender.  Several times I had to stop and use a stick to clear the mud.  Michael had less of an issue as he didn’t have a front fender.

Fallen civilization?

We eventually made it through the worst of it, and out the other side, back to an open section of Riverwalk, where I cleaned the mud out again.

Dangerous!

I do find it odd that the best separated cycling facilities in town are in the west end.  Too bad they’re all designed for recreation rather than transportation.

Louisville Loop path

We deviated from our course and rode through the now cleaned up site.  It is open to the public and has a trail into the woods.  We rode until we were near the river and the going got a bit tough.  We were able to see the casino in Indiana peeking through the trees.

From a trail near Lee's Lane

Late morning sunlight

Resting bikes & Michael

So, we got back on the Louisville Loop heading south.  This was a nice stretch with guard rails!?

Guard rails seem like overkill

Bridge over Mill Creek

Mill Creek

Turning coal into electricity and pollution

Coal ash hill in front of coal ash mountain

View of the Ohio River from Farnsley-Moremen Landing

The place is a very “country” restaurant as you would expect.  I didn’t expect fake palm trees outside though.

Colorful but tacky

We arrived back in Germantown, and went our separate ways.  I had 52.5 miles.

The idea for this ride was Michael’s.  I wish I could take credit.  It was a great ride.  It had enough bizarre terrain to be challenging.  We seldom had to ride in traffic, and when we did it was pleasant.  We weren’t in a hurry, but still rode over 50 miles.  We took little side-trips down unknown paths.  It was the kind of ride that RCCS was formed for, but yet it wasn’t an RCCS ride.  It was just two guys riding around.

Click for details

Hauling Pet Supplies

Ian contacted me about his BD.  I went to his house on Friday and picked up the bike.  The idea is a week-long test-ride while he’s on vacation.

After getting the bike back home, I adjusted the saddle and went for a ride.  I went out to Za’s for pizza and parked the bike “motorcycle-style” in the road.

Today, I went out to Feeder’s Supply for dog food and cat litter.  I put 55lbs of pet supplies in the rear bags of the BD and stopped at three different bars on the way home for food and beer.

There is a tiny bit of flex in the frame with that amount of weight.  I’ve already decided I want the bike.  I now just need to come up with the money.

Parked outside of Za's

Almost home - Zeppelin Cafe

]]> http://fatguy.org/2011/10/08/big-dummy/feed/ 6 http://fatguy.org/2011/09/28/car-free-and-planning/ http://fatguy.org/2011/09/28/car-free-and-planning/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:00:00 +0000 David Crowell http://fatguy.org/?p=3494 Continue reading →]]> Living without a car requires extra planning.  I know I still have my truck, but I haven’t driven it in quite a while.

I needed to get pet supplies today.  That means towing the trailer to work and stopping by Feeder’s Supply on the way home.  I don’t generally tow the trailer with the single-speed, but the LHT was partially disassembled last night.  I hadn’t planned.

I put the LHT back together last night, and did a rush job of getting the trailer ready this morning.  The morning commute was uneventful.  Parking the bike & trailer at work is a little troublesome.  It still goes in my office, but I have to step over the trailer when getting up or down.  I may disconnect it and put it somewhere else next time.

After work I bought a 38.5lb back of dog food, two 20lb bags of cat litter, and a 10lb bag of cat food.  That totals 88.5lbs of stuff.  With the weight of the trailer, I was towing over 100lbs.  That doesn’t count the commuting load in the pannier and trunk bag.

The ride home was slow and easy on side roads.  Even the slightest hill meant using a low gear and going slow.

Buying this cheap, used trailer has greatly increased my carrying capacity.  I don’t think it’s ideal, as I’d rather use a Big Dummy, but this was much cheaper.

I have neutralized the enemy (squished him and flushed him down the toilet).  He was about three inches from tip of front legs to end of rear legs.  Gah!

Pink is like red, so that’s what I chose.  It’s a cork-gel tape, not cloth, so no shellac.  It’ll be just pink.  I’m man enough to ride with pink tape, at least until it becomes grungy-pink, then I’ll replace it with something different.

Before putting the new bar tape on, I re-positioned the brake levers and replaced the cables and cable housing.

It’s a far better job than I did last time, but it’s not perfect.  I also like this bar-tape better than what I used before… I don’t actually remember the brand of the last stuff, but this is Planet Bike bar tape.  Not only was it easier to wrap, but it was several dollars cheaper.

Around 10:30, Tim picked me up and we went to Waverly HIlls Park for some mountain bike riding.  I don’t own a mountain bike, so Tim loaned me one of his, a Redline Monocog.  It’s a single-speed mountain bike.  I’ve ridden it before.  We tooled around on the trails for about an hour.  One hour of mountain biking is a lot more exercise than one hour of road riding.

I had moved the dyno-powered lights from my LHT to the single-speed some time ago.  I had also bought new bar tape for the bike, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  So, I wrapped the bars.  This is my first time wrapping bars, and it shows.  It’ll work, but I’ll need more practice.

I used red electrical tape at the ends of the bar tape.  I didn’t do a very good job, but it’ll be fine comfort-wise.  It just doesn’t look good.

I did yard work, lubed the chains on the bikes.  I’ve got a little housework to do.  I’m fighting the urge to go out for dinner (which will mean drinking beer).

No matter what I do the rest of the day, I can call today a good day.

Tomorrow will begin with a 6:00am bike ride.  I’d better not stay up late.  :)

Today’s ride was advertised as flat enough to be fixie-friendly.  So I prepared my single-speed.

The ride started and ended at Charlestown Pizza Company.  I drove to Charlestown and parked at my old house to ease the parking situation.  I then rode my bike to the ride start.

The weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms, but at this point we just had overcast skies.

I think there were nine of us, all LBC members.  Two of the nine had recently returned from Paris-Brest-Paris.  What was I getting myself into?

We headed out of town with probably a 17mph average.  I was spinning like a hamster, but staying near the front.  Many of the other riders weren’t breaking a sweat.

We had been heading north on Hwy 3.  As we turned unto Hwy 203, it got a bit hillier and my speed began to vary with the terrain.  I began to wish for more gears.  I started getting passed by the other riders.

We continue through Lexington IN, unto Hwy 356, and eventually turn north again on CR 900/Pine Hill Rd.  Somewhere near there I got left behind.  I don’t remember where.

I followed the cue sheet (I wasn’t provided a GPS track ahead of time) along Horner Rd, Getty Rd, CR 1233, Polk Rd, CR 1250, Blake Rd, and eventually back to Hwy 3, but still heading north.

I hoped to catch back up to the group on the relatively flat highway, but I didn’t see them.

Eventually there was a turn on CR 850 that took us to our first control – Spring Hill Farm Twigs & Sprigs Tea Room.  It’s actually a farm, and a winery, and a restaurant, and, of course,  a tea room.

The rest of the group was there enjoying lunch.  They had arrived about 30 minutes before I did.  Wow, I’m slow.

I ordered a sandwich (very good) some iced tea (quite good) and had the waitress sign my card and refill my water bottle.  I headed out with the group again.

It had started to rain while we were eating.  It wasn’t a downpour, just rain.  There were no storms either.

Someone complained how cold the rain was.  I just thought about the sweat that had been running into my eyes an hour before.  This was much better.

It turns out this ride was an out-and-back.  It would require me looking at the cue sheet less.

As we turned unto Hwy 3 heading south, and got right up behind someone else’s wheel, and intended to stay there.  I did, until the first hill.  I fell back badly.  My legs were in need of rest, and without a lower gear to shift to, I just couldn’t put any more power into it.

Before long I was riding alone again.  The wet roads and foliage did make for some nice scenery.

I retraced my steps back toward Charlestown.  The rain varied between a light drizzle and a steady rain.  I was happy that I had installed the new fenders on the single-speed, but a bit discouraged for riding alone on a group ride.

Then it hit me.  I wasn’t going to make the time limit anyway, so it didn’t matter.  I took my time.  I walked the hills that I had to.  I enjoyed myself.

I did stick to the course.  As I entered Charlestown, I considered not even going to the ride end, but just to my truck to drive home.  Charlestown Pizza was closed.  I figured it would be best to finish the ride just to say I did.

So I rolled up and Timothy was still there.  Everyone else had gone.  I had made the time limit with 14 minutes to spare!

Timothy informed me that we were meeting up at Patrick O’Sheas for food and drink.  So I rode back to my truck, and drove back to Louisville for food and beer.

While sitting around an outdoor table, I got to listen in on conversation of uphill time trials, Octoberfest, Paris-Brest-Paris, Mad Dog rides, and where the steepest hills are.  I had a good time.

I guess I need to get faster to spend more time with these people.  :)

This is the out-and-back route:

My sleep at the campground wasn’t bad.  I normally sleep poorly in a tent, but I was tired from the ride.  My bladder woke me at about 8:00am.  I was also quite cold, which was quite a change from when I first tried to sleep the night before.

I changed into fresh shorts and jersey and headed for the pit toilet.  I’m not squeamish about gross bathrooms when camping, but the bugs in this one were quite bad.

I went back to my campsite and struggled to get everything packed up.  I’m lousy at getting a tent rolled up to the proper size, which is quite important when bicycle camping.

When I was married to my first wife, she insisted that she would pack the tent so that I wouldn’t make a mess out of it.  :)

Once I had the bike packed, I rolled on out, at about 8:30.  I had an immediate need for coffee and a slightly less pressing need for food.  I’m going to have a fire and be able to cook and make coffee for any future camping trips.

I began the ride by backtracking my way down Hwy 62 and 462.  I deviated from my route by taking Feller Rd to Old Forest Rd.  Feller Rd was very scenic and that’s where I stopped to take my first pictures of the day.

The weather forecast didn’t call for rain, but with the cooler temperatures and darkening skies, I wondered if that was going to change.

Also along Feller Rd was this old, yet well taken care of cemetery.

I was really enjoying Feller Rd.  I think I only saw one car the whole time I was on this road.  I had been doing very well both days on enjoying the trip instead of focusing on making the next destination.

The mounting headache and hunger reminded me not to dawdle.  Beginning right before my turn on to Old Forest Rd, the road pitched upward.  I had quite the climb to handle, with grades exceeding 15% in spots.  This was on a loaded touring bike, before I had my morning coffee.  This was the first time I considered heading home on a more direct course.

After making the climb, things were just rolling hills.  It was an enjoyable ride with a little traffic into Corydon.

I found the local hotspot for breakfast, Frederick’s Cafe.  It was busy, loud, and cheap.  The coffee was harsh, but had caffeine.  I ate a huge pancake and some eggs.  The food was much better than the coffee.  I did have a picture of the pancake, but due to a technical mishap (I’m an idiot) it’s been lost.

The square in downtown Corydon is quite nice.

After heading out of Corydon on Corydon Ridge Rd again, I continued until Pfrimmer Chapel Rd.  I took this north and crossed over I-64.

I continued north until Crandall-Lanesville Rd, where I turned east.  The skies had cleared up by now.  It never did rain.

Eventually I ended up on Angel Run Rd.  More rolling hills, and some really cool red dirt made this a neat area.  Is this what a terra-formed Mars would look like?

While taking pictures of red dirt, I heard a train approaching.  So I backtracked to the railroad tracks to get a picture.

I rode through Georgetown.  I didn’t even see a store worth stopping at.  IN-64 was a mess to ride on, even for a few blocks through town.

I eventually found my way north on Kepley Rd.  Although I saw this sign, I never saw the cattle.

Kepley Rd became Carter Rd.  There were no serious climbs, but just rolling hills in a peaceful area.

Carter Rd ended at a T on John Pectol Rd.  The road was closed to the left, which was my intended route.

I’m not one to let a simple barricade stop me, so I went around the pile-o-rocks and continued.  Apparently the road has been closed for some time.  Nature was attempting to reclaim the land.  It was peaceful in an eerie kind of way.

I eventually came to a bridge over Big Indiana Creek.  The bridge is closed with barriers.  I wasn’t going to lift my loaded bike over the barriers, but I was able to lay it down and slide it under.  I got across to the other side, where I car was parked – someone fishing I assume – and grabbed another picture.  The road becomes Buttontown Rd at this point.  There’s a bit more traffic here also.

There’s a cemetery at the intersection of Buttontown Rd and Old Vincennes Rd.  There was a large shade tree near the road, so I stopped for a rest.  I simply laid down in the grass for about 15 minutes before continuing north to Greenville.

Greenville has a small city park.  They had restrooms with running water.  I was thankful for that, but things were dirty enough that I wasn’t going to fill my water bottles.

I headed north out of Greenville on Pekin Rd.  It’s a small climb out of town.  A kid on a BMX bike told me to be careful going up the hill.  I found that hilarious at the time.

I realized I was running low on water and hadn’t really had a good place to get any.  While riding through a rather suburban part of Pekin Rd, a woman was outside in her driveway washing rocks in a wheelbarrow.  I asked to refill my water bottles, and she cheerfully handed over the hose.  I thanked her and moved on.

I don’t think her neighbor is quite as friendly.

I eventually headed toward Voyles Rd.  I’m entering an area I know, a friend of mine lives nearby outside of Borden.  I think that some of my friend’s wife’s ancestors are buried here.

The town of Borden sits down in a valley, but I was still riding the ridge tops.

Louisville has the big bat.  I found the big paper towel tube.  (Yes, I know it’s a water tower).

I rode past my friend’s house, but he wasn’t home.  I had a nice downhill into the town of Borden.  While there I bought some more snacks at a gas station and refilled my water bottles again.  I took my time and enjoyed the break.  I spoke with several people who were coming and going.

Then came the next big climb.  I was leaving to the north-east on Jackson Rd.  I am familiar with this climb, but had never done it with a touring load.  It shoots up to about a 19% grade before falling back a little to about 13%.  I was prepared and already in my little chain ring.

Here’s a view looking back the way I came.  You can’t really see down in the valley where Borden is, but you can see the hills (knobs as they call them here) on the other side.

Shortly after finishing the climb my chain came apart and spooled unto the ground.  This was the second time I wished I’d headed straight home.

I was carrying a chain tool and spare master link, but they weren’t even necessary, as the chain came apart at the existing master link.  I don’t know why, it’s a new chain.  I spent about ten minutes getting it back together and continued on my way.  Riding along the ridge was rather pleasant.

After a couple of twists and turns, Jackson Rd becomes Bartle Knob Rd.  There was an older house to my left, and the view they must have – that was to my right – from their front door is breathtaking.

Before long, I’ve crossed over “the knobs” and it’s a fast downhill on Bartle Knob Rd.  Toward the end, I slowed enough to get a picture of this neat church.

I continued to Blue Lick Rd which took me past the truck stop, under the freeway, and into Memphis.  There was another old church there.

I was getting close to Charlestown now.  I’m familiar with most of these roads.  I had never seen this end of Fox Rd before.  They apparently are saving sign material for roads with short names.  Waste not, want not.

I rolled into Charlestown.  I stopped at my old house to check on it.  I talked to a former neighbor.  Then I headed toward Charlestown Pizza where I enjoyed a small pizza and some beer.

I headed out of town on High Jackson Rd.  The sun was getting lower in the sky.  I’m glad I had the dyno-powered lights on the bike.

That meant I was casting a long shadow.

I rode to Bethany Rd then crossed Hwy 62 – into the grass as Bethany Rd doesn’t continue.  I rode a few dozen feet to Patrol Rd, then down to Waterline Rd, which is all part of the old ammunition plant, but that section has recently been opened to the public as another way to get to Utica.

There are still many signs of what this land once was.  It may be a lightly-traveled road with forest, but it’s got trains, signs, and fences.

I eventually got to Upper River Rd.  This runs right between the Ohio River and some cliffs that used to be a quarry, and have since been turned into a housing development.

I continued through Utica.  My normal route from here would involve Utica Pike all the way through Jeffersonville, but I turned off through some neighborhoods and made my way to Middle Rd.  This was fortunate as there was a Dairy Queen on Middle Rd.

By the time I left Dairy Queen, it was completely dark.  My last stretch of the ride was flat, urban, and dark.  I got across the river and into Louisville late enough to miss most of the Ironman stuff going on.  I did notice that 3rd street appeared to be blocked from downtown to Old Louisville.  I went down 1st instead.  I arrived home about 10:30pm.

Saturday ended up at 43.9 miles.  I had a much more interesting 87.7 miles on Sunday that brought me up to 131.6 miles for the two-day trip.

I did get tired, but I stopped for rest when that happened.  Some of the steep climbs caused knee pain, even in my lowest gear.  I was able to go as slow as necessary because I had no real deadline.  I never imagined I’d be out until 10:30 on a Sunday night after leaving for the ride on a Saturday morning, but I had allowed the entire day, both days.  That allowed a lot of flexibility.  I hate riding fast to make a deadline.

I packed light for a camping trip, but I have lousy camping equipment.  I’d like to be able to carry cooking supplies and not carry any more weight.  I can probably do that if I replace my tent and sleeping bag.  Those are at least 10 years old.

I’ve learned that putting most of the weight on the rear of the bike, and the big, fluffy, light things on the front works best.  I also need a good way to carry more water.  I wasn’t even in the middle of nowhere like on the Big South Fork trip last year, and I still ran out of water.

I totally enjoyed my weekend.  I wish I could do it every weekend, but weekends are when I usually mow the lawn and take care of other household duties.

This was my route for Sunday:

I talked to my wife and daughter to make sure the dogs would be taken care of, and I headed out about 10:30 Saturday morning.

The weather was gorgeous.  Clear blue skies, mild temperatures, and a light breeze.  I rode through town, over the Second Street Bridge, and said goodbye to Louisville.

The old Colgate clock in Clarksville is neat, even if it’s now abandoned and doesn’t keep proper time.

Some people have compared my Surly LHT to a tank.  I beg to differ.

I headed northwest out of New Albany towards Edwardsville.  I knew the infamous Edwardsville Hill was coming up, but first I waited for a train to pass.  Notice the graffiti.  I’d be gasping later.

Then I began climbing Edwardsville hill in earnest.  It didn’t seem too bad even with my camping load on the bike, but I was still fresh.  I do have to say the the switchbacks are much more fun going downhill though.

The view from the top was definitely worth the climb.

I eventually made my way to Corydon Ridge Rd.  I’d never ridden this road, and I imagined it being very rural and beautiful.  In reality much of it was very suburban.  Some of the road names do evoke the old rural feel it must have had once.

While I took pictures of odd signs, my bike took a nap.

As I continued on Corydon Ridge Rd, it did get more rural.  There were gently rolling hills.

There were neat old barns.

I continued on and eventually made it to Corydon.  I stopped for a late lunch, early dinner at Magdalena’s.  It was good, but with dessert, I spent more than I intended, and they didn’t even have beer.  I did see Butt Drugs nearby though.

There was a guy with a fish net walking through Indian Creek.

I then headed out of town on Old Forest Rd.  The hills to the west became more prominent.

I’m not sure why hay (straw?) needs a “garage”.  You can tell I’m not a farm boy.

After a bunch of climbing, where I was too busy breathing to take pictures, I was running along the top of a ridge.  There were nice views for quite a distance… and yet I had good cell phone reception.

I saw an ass.

While still on Old Forest Rd, I eventually entered Harrison-Crawford State Forest.  It’s fairly obvious when you enter it, as the open fields and farms end, and you truly are in a forest.  It was cooler, shadier, and beautiful.

I stopped to un-hydrate in the woods a bit, and while I was away, my bike fell asleep again.  I can’t say I’m surprised.  It was a peaceful spot.

Old Forest Rd then becomes IN-462 and enters O’Bannon Woods State Park.  The primitive camping isn’t actually in the park, so I turned north on IN-462, and had a wicked-fast downhill to IN-62, where I soon reached the campground.

There was another downhill (on gravel) in the campground taking me down to the Blue River.  I paid just over $8 for a shady, grassy spot and set up the tent.

The ride there was just under 44 miles.  I still had hours until sundown.  I didn’t bring cooking supplies, just snacks that could be eaten as-is.  I brought my Kindle to have something to do.

The campground was far from quiet.  There were rowdy campers not far from me.  Once it got late and they settled down, I could here the distant traffic on I-64.  Overall it was a much better night than doing the same old thing at home.

My route there is shown below.

I had a longer day planned for Sunday.  You’ll have to wait until my next post to see how that went.

Strangely, this was initially planned as a “fast” road ride.  I’m the one without a fast bike (or a fast engine for that matter), so I was resigned to falling behind while riding my LHT.

As the event loomed, further research showed that there would probably would be gravel.  Tim opted to ride his gravel-ready Lightspeed Blueridge.  Michael chose his LHT.  Patrick chose his most excellent double-top-tubed Bombadil.  Timothy chose a modified Trek mountain bike with a Surly fork that he calls “Beast”.

I felt much better at the beginning of the ride, when we all had sturdy, hardy bikes.  Maybe I wouldn’t be the slowest after all.  That was wishful thinking.

The ride started out pretty typical – paved country roads.

We didn’t let the gravel and hills get in the way of our fun…

… or camaraderie

We certainly weren’t going to give due to a simple obstacle…

…because we would have missed views like this…

… and this.

Tim got a picture showing some of the “chunkier” gravel…

…and the chunky guy.

Michael got this awesome picture of me being chased by two friendly dogs.

The weather was warmer than expected.  We did have a brief sprinkle, but not enough to cool us down.  It was a great ride.

Michael’s has a good write-up.  Tim has two write-ups.

It’s a Giant Cypress ST. Donkeybox attached to rear rack. equipped with fenders, B&M headlight and Shimano dynohub. Schwalbe tires on Velocity Dyad rims.

I don’t have any good recent pictures of it, but here’s a rear-view. It has a different tail-light now.

Tim, Patrick, and I had planned a 50-mile road ride in Shelby and Oldham counties for Sunday morning, but we weren’t sure how passable the roads were in rural areas so soon after the storm.

I normally embed a route map form RideWithGPS, but I can’t seem to get my GPS route to upload, but this Google Map shows the basic idea of where we rode.

Tim and I met near Bardstown Rd.  We headed toward St. Matthews to meet Patrick.

Storm damage

Beautiful morning in the parks

Tree down on Rock Creek Rd

Damaged house on Dayton Ave

Once Patrick arrived, we talked bikes for a while before heading out.

Tim and Patrick

Crunch!

We ran a paceline of three down River Rd at 19-21 mph.  That’s fast for me, and it was my first real paceline with rotating leader.  I still wouldn’t want to ride like that on a regular basis.

We wound our way back toward the parks again.

Traffic light outages were quite common during the ride.

No power - no traffic lights

Poor tree

When we rolled back into the park, there were a lot of people there.

Nice day at the park

Hogan's Fountain

Tim shows how much he wanted his picture taken

Another tree

Yet another tree

People enjoying the park

Tree and power lines

It was far short of the 70-mile day I originally imagined.  It was to be a 50-mile road ride, plus 20-miles round-trip to get to the ride and back.  Instead it was an urban ramble of 38 miles.  I can’t say I was disappointed.

After riding the recumbent for 70 miles the day before, I decided to ride the LHT.  I’m glad I did, as Tim took us through the somewhat hilly Indian Hills area.  Then we were on a flat stretch of River Rd doing 15mph into a headwind.  Tim was riding strong, but I was beat.  I eventually fell behind, but Tim waited for me.

At that point I was cooked.  When back on Baxter Ave, we parted ways.  Tim to do another loop in the parks.  Me to stop at O’Shea’s for food and drink.

O’Shea’s has a nice shady outdoor dining area.  I was able to bring my bike up near the table.  I hadn’t brought a lock with me, so that worked well.

Saddle eye view - saddles don't have eyes!

I ordered a beer (Southern Tier 2xipa), water, and a chicken wrap.  After finishing the first beer, I ordered an Avery IPA.  Both of these beers were new to me, and quite good.  I like a hoppy beer on a hot day.

Mmm... Beer!

After a while, I took the neighborhood streets home.

Part of the point of my vacation is to get some stuff done around the house.  I mowed the lawn, washed dishes, and started re-organizing my computer/office/bike storage room.

I’ve thought about creating a “beer” category for my blog posts, but then it’ll just point out how often I drink it.

I ended up with over 20 miles for the day, and rather enjoyed it.

I spent Friday running errands and doing housework.  I was determined to get a good ride in on Saturday.

I didn’t get up early on Saturday.  Once I was up, I spent a lot of time nursing a cup of coffee.  I finally decided to ride the LBC ride out of Crestwood at 3:30.  It’s a hilly 25-mile ride.  The challenge?  It’s over 20 miles away, and I didn’t want to drive.  If I’m going to live without a car, I should get used to it now.

There was a chance of rain, and the sky often looked as if it would rain.  The LBC will often cancel for rain.  I decided to ride to Crestwood, and risk having the ride cancelled, as I would still have the round-trip to Crestwood either way.  It never did rain.

I decided to take a rather direct route.  I headed out Brownsboro Rd until I was “outside” the Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265).  I then cut down Chamberlain Ln to Westport Rd.  Next time I’ll take Westport directly.  The 4.5 miles of Brownsboro between the Watterson (I-264) and the Snyder was quite unpleasant.

Closed restaurant along Brownsboro Rd

Westport Rd wasn’t bad.  It eventually took me to Rollington Rd, which is a peaceful low-traffic road.

A break along Rollington Rd

Rollington Rd dumped me back out onto Ballardsville Rd, or Hwy 22.  This was the worst stretch of road I’ve ridden yet.  Many cars passed way too closely.

After a few miles, I came into Crestwood and to Bluegrass Bicycle where the ride starts.  I arrived early, so I spent some time looking around the shop.

Tom was there, but wasn’t riding.  That meant I would be the only recumbent rider.  I met James, who would be the ride captain.  That means James gets to stay back with the slowest rider.  I’m often the slowest rider on this ride, but sometimes a rider will show up who is even slower.  That didn’t happen this time.

The ride starts with a nice downhill, so I had a strong start.  Once I had to fight gravity, I fell toward the back of the pack.  James took my lack of climbing ability with good grace.  He’d pull ahead on the climbs, waiting for me on the long climbs.  I’d race him on the descents, sometimes winning.  Then we’d attack another hill at 30mph, but my speed would drop off much quicker than his once we really started up the hill.

When I first fell back toward the back of the pack, there was a woman keeping about the same pace.  She seemed quite fit, and was a runner.  She was struggling to keep up.  James noticed her tires were low.  We pulled over and inflated them to the proper pressure (with my pump – no need to waste co2).  She left us behind once she wasn’t held back by squishy tires.

I struggled on, and as I neared the end of the ride, I was really going slow uphill.  At the final climb, I finally had to get off and walk.  That was embarrassing.  I’ve ridden that hill before.

We arrived back at Bluegrass Bicycle and I contemplated my options.

• Ride back to Louisville and find food
• Get food in Crestwood
• Call my wife for a ride home

I was quite tempted to call my wife, but I really wanted to continue riding.  I had a different route planned to get home, so at least I wouldn’t have to face the same stretch of Hwy 22 again.

I opted for the Mexican restaurant there in Crestwood.  I had one glass of beer (Dos Equis XX), four or five glasses of water, and a large burrito.  I felt much more prepared for the ride back to Louisville, if a bit sloshy from too much liquid in my stomach.

I headed north on Hwy 146, then north-east on Glenarm Rd.  Glenarm Rd was a quiet rural road.

Glenarm Rd crossing I-71

Then I ran across a rather odd collection of animals.

Young goats

They were guarded by dogs.

Dogs, goats, and a llama?

I took Glenarm Rd to Old Zaring Rd, then to Covered Bridge Rd, which I had ridden on during the 100k populaire.  It seemed to have more traffic this time.

Calm stretch of Covered Bridge Rd

By this time, it was getting to be evening.

Evening clouds

This is the obligitory timed shot with the camera sitting on a fence post.

Ugh - I don't like pictures of myself

Covered Bridge Rd took me to US 42.  It’s 4-lane highway, so I took the right lane.  I didn’t have any close passes, but several drivers let me know of their displeasure that I was on their road.  Luckily, I was on US 42 for less than a mile before turning on River Rd.

Almost sunset

River Rd is another somewhat-busy two-lane road.  I tried to keep to the right.  I didn’t have nearly the problem with drivers as I had earlier in the day on Hwy 22.

Almost home

I continued downtown and had another beer (Bluegrass Brewing Company APA) and several more glasses of water.  Then it was a short ride in the dark (I have lights) home.  I slept well.

I called her, and we agreed to ride my old 11-mile loop in Charlestown.  She is concerned about traffic, and this seemed a great low-traffic route, even more so on a Sunday morning.

I had some time to kill and I hadn’t had my daily caffeine fix, so I rode to Sunergos and had some coffee.  I then rode home, and threw the bike in the back of the truck to meet Traci across the river.

I was riding my LHT, and Traci rode an old Schwinn mountain bike.  Here is the route we took:

Traci did the ride just fine.  She was concerned she’d be too slow (I’m slow), or that her bike wasn’t nice enough (it did the job).  The ride is moderately hilly and she didn’t need to walk any hills.

I don’t think I’ll make a bicycle commuter out of Traci anytime soon, but it would be nice to see her on two wheels now and again.

After we parted ways, I rode to a frozen yogurt shop, then to Java Brewing for more coffee.  This was a perfectly acceptable way to spend a Sunday.