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.

The ride started at 9:00 am.  I left home early to get coffee at Quill’s which was just a few blocks from the ride start location.  I intended to meet Tim and Michael there.  Michael had to drive from Bloomington and was running late, so I didn’t see the two of them until the ride.

While drinking my coffee, Ward Wilson arrived.  I had met him on a RCCS ride back in February.  We drank coffee and talked bikes for a while before heading over to the ride start location.

I don’t know how many people were riding.  If I had to guess, I would say 40.  There were two tandem bikes.  I was riding the only recumbent.  I was riding one of two bikes with fenders.  Michael, Tim, Asher, and many others were there.

Our route had us going out River Rd.  Within about five miles, Asher’s left crank arm came off.  Luckily he hadn’t lost the bolt, so we were able to re-attach it.

We continued out to US 42 then Covered Bridge (I never saw a covered bridge on the route), then Old Zaring Rd.  I really liked Old Zaring Rd.  We continued through Buckner and finally to our first control and lunch stop at Red Pepper Deli in LaGrange.

Tim, Michael, Asher, and I were near the end of the pack during this time.  Anne (who I had just met) rode with us part of this time.  Anne sat at the table with us at the lunch stop.  That is the point of a populaire – to be socialable.

We turned around and went back through areas I’m not terribly familiar with.  We came to Norton Commons and the next control stop, Gilberto Gelato.  The heat and hilly ride made my stomach less than receptive to ice cream, so I ate only a small amount.

I started to get some leg cramping at this point.  I had been having trouble drinking enough water.  My stomach was not happy with me, and my current water bottles don’t make it easy to drink without pulling over.  The pace we were riding did not allow me time to stop much for water or for taking pictures.  Also along this stretch, Tim, Michael, and Anne pulled away out of site.  Asher hung back with me.  We also had a couple of tandems that we kept leap-frogging.

After a confusing route just trying to stay on Wolf Pen Branch Rd (I hate cue sheets), we were back on River Road and on the home stretch.  Turning onto Frankfort Ave, Michael, Tim, and Anne were pulled over while Michael changed a flat tire.  From there it was a quick ride to the final stop – Flanagans.

We arrived with a mere six minutes remaining before the cutoff.   I knew I was a slow rider, but I’ve always heard that the time limits for a brevet, randonneur, or populaire were quite forgiving.  If I can barely make the time constraints of a 100K then I have serious doubts about a 200K.

I didn’t have my GPS during the ride, but I did manually re-create the route based on the cue sheet.  See here.

How was my neck?  It was fine 99% of the time during the ride.  If I had been on an upright bike I wouldn’t have been able to finish the ride.  I did have one moment when I dodged right to avoid a large flying insect and I hurt myself.  I not only steered to the right, but I twisted and leaned that direction.  I successfully moved enough for the insect to bounce off the side of my helmet rather than hit me in the face, but it did cause neck pain for a while.

On many LBC rides, I end up riding alone.  There were enough people that I know personally on this ride, that I didn’t have to ride alone.  Although the “club ride” is not my favorite type of ride, I’m going to try to squeeze more of them in.  Although I had trouble with the pace on this one, it’ll get better if I keep pushing myself.

I had a lot of fun, and being back on the bike will keep my sane.  What more could I ask for?

The 'bent with new brakes

I still hurt, but things have improved.  I’m back to riding my bike, even if I have to limit myself to the recumbent.  I had been taking a medication that did little good, but made me zombie-like.  I have discontinued the medication.

Yesterday was one of my most “normal” days since this all started.  ”Normal” is a very relative thing.

I took the ‘bent to Bluegrass Bicycle to upgrade the disc brakes to the much better Avid BB7 set.  First impressions are good but not mind-blowing.  Maybe my mind is gone, therefore cannot be blown.

This neck issue has really been a problem for over a month now.  It has seriously affected my bike riding.  Here’s hoping I’m coming out of that, even if it requires another bike.

Longer-term relief is (hopefully) in the works, then maybe I’ll be able to ride my other bikes.

Ohio River

This was not an advertised ride.  We planned it at the last minute via email.  Tim devised a route that meant climbing up Edwardsville Hill, going into Floyd’s Knobs, stopping for coffee, then coasting downhill into New Albany.

It was fun to watch Ian ride his Big Dummy that he normally uses to deliver soup with.  He had no issue keeping up with us, even on the long climb.  I was the one that fell back.

I was sunburned from my Danville trip the day before.  I failed to put on sunblock yet again, so I added to the sunburn.

I didn’t take many pictures.  I didn’t take any of us or our bikes.

Through the Trees

I had intended to leave by 4:00am.  I wanted to leave myself plenty of time to get there.  I’m notoriously bad at getting up in the morning, so I didn’t roll out until 6:30.

I was wearing unpadded baggy cycling shorts and a short sleeve jersey.  It was a bit chilly heading out the door.

When planning a group ride, I avoid busy roads as much as possible.  I enjoy riding along side other riders, and I can’t do that on the shoulder of a busy highway.  This was a solo ride, so although I prefer quiet roads, I chose the busier roads when they saved distance.

Leaving Louisville was pretty tame due to the early hour on a Saturday.  Once out on Rehl Rd, I saw a peacock on top of a house.  I had no idea we had peacocks around this area.

It was a bit hazy in the morning, but it made for enchanting scenery.

I joined back up with Taylorsville Rd near Fisherville, and noticed this amusing sign.

I turned south on State Road 2278, which was a beautiful green tunnel.

It inspired me to attempt some nature shots.

I had to fit the bike into a shot as well.

I continued to Wilsonville where this derelict building caught my eye.

I kept reminding myself not to dawdle.  I wasn’t feeling strong, and wasn’t making good time.  I didn’t want to hurry, I wanted to just enjoy the ride, but I also didn’t want tension with my wife for not being on time.

I was now over three hours into the ride.  I stopped to move a turtle out of the road.  I saw two more turtles later.

Again, I was running behind, but the Kentucky countryside wanted to be photographed.  This was Elk Creek Rd, which just was stunning overall.  I didn’t take as many pictures there as I should have.

I stopped in Taylorsville to refill water and get more snacks.  I quickly left town and was enjoying the countryside again.

When I first spotted this road, I thought I’d need to remember it for a future mixed-terrain ride.  I love the gravelly, hilly, twisty road.  Unfortunately, it’s a dead-end.

This cow was unconcerned with my presence.

There was a store stop in the tiny town of Willisburg.  I guess it’s relatively well known by some cyclists.  I’d never heard of it.  I spotted five bikes parked along the side.

I had never heard of Kirk bicycles, but they appear to be a custom framebuilder.  Check out the curvy seat stays.

This bike was an odd one.  It’s a Rivendell Rambouillet.  The bladed spokes and threaded to threadless stem adapter look very out of place on this bike.

The owners of these bikes were inside eating.  I was in a hurry, and I’m an introvert, so I didn’t try to talk to them.  I’m sure they saw me through the window taking pictures.

I grabbed more liquids and a snack and headed back out.  I was definitely going to be late at this point.

Just outside of Willisburg, I ran into Perry.  He’s touring the Trans-America from Virginia to Oregon.  I didn’t get a picture, and I was quickly on my way again.

One of the better roads on the route was White Hall Rd.  It was a wonderfully rural stretch.

I planned my route ahead of time and put it in the GPS as a series of tracks.  Then it was simple to follow the line on the screen.  I used RideWithGPS to plan the route.  The mapping data comes from Google maps, which like all maps isn’t always correct.

I was approaching a left turn, but there was no road to turn unto.  I was almost to Danville, but not having this turn meant I would be turning away from Danville, and I’d have to backtrack.  It would add several miles to the ride.

At this point I called my wife to let her know I was going to be late.  I was surprised to learn she hadn’t left Louisville yet, so I could still beat here there.

I continued southwest on US68 toward Perryville.  This detour worked well.  There was a corner store/gas station.  I was feeling weak and needed food.  I intended to buy more junk food, but they had real food there, made to order.  It almost like a restaurant.

I took some time to eat and drink before heading east on US150.  The last stretch of road to Danville was not the most pleasant, but at that point I just wanted to arrive.  I was exhausted.

I rode 94 miles for the day.  It was a good day, but I was glad I could drive the truck home later.

The full route I rode is here.

Three Amigos

Early Morning Meeting

I was up at 3:30am.  I had time to do some bike maintenance, yet I put it off again.  I had an early appointment before work.

I headed out while it was still dark.  I was riding the single-speed.  About half way to work, the chain came off.  Rather than loosen the rear wheel to fix it properly, I managed to get the chain back on.

I got to work, and changed clothes.  I then grabbed the folding bike that I hauled to work yesterday and carried it across the street to Java Brewing Company.  I was meeting Chris aka Pondero and Tim.

Chris lives in Texas, and I’ve only known him via his blog.  He has a couple of really nice bikes, and some wonderful Texas Prairie roads to ride them on.

He is in town for a conference.  We arranged to meet up.  I thought it would be a good idea to let him borrow my folding bike to check out town.  I don’t know if he’ll have much time to ride, but I’d hate for him to have the time and not be able to take advantage of it.

The visit was brief, but it was nice to chat and drink coffee.  Chris pedaled off to get back to work.  Tim and I sat around and talked bikes a bit longer before I went back to work.

The picture above was shamelessly stolen from Chris’s blog.  There are a few more there.

Should Have Fixed it Right

After work, I had an appointment to donate blood.  I headed out and quickly regretted not fixing my bike properly.  I dropped the chain again while riding 20mph in traffic.  I managed to safely move over and fix it.  While pulled over on the sidewalk, Asher rode by, then turned around to check on me.  I talked briefly to him.  One of his co-workers was hit by a car.  I don’t know the guy, but I guess his injuries are minimal.

Oops

After donating blood, I was on a less-familiar road trying to get home.  I ended up hitting a concrete median and going down.  Yes, it was stupid.  I was looking behind me at traffic instead of where I was going.  Nothing was damaged, and I wasn’t hurt.  Mostly I just pulled a muscle while trying to (unsuccessfully) prevent myself from falling.

Food!

Once home, my wife wanted to go out to eat.  Part of me said “Yay! Beer!”.  Another part said “and I was doing so good today”.  We went somewhere without beer.  I had a small salad and a piece of fish.  I still did okay.

Time to Fix The Bike

After dinner, I properly fixed my single-speed.  Drew at On Your Left Cycles had mentioned that the chain probably needed a link removed.  I didn’t want to spend the time or the money, so I passed.  So, I have a chain tool.  I removed the chain and cleaned it thoroughly.  I shortened it, and reinstalled everything, then re-lubed the chain.  It should be good for a while longer now.

I’m having issues with the freewheel on the single-speed.  It works okay, but it’s now noisy and the chain tension varies.  The right answer is a new, better quality freewheel.  Drew has some nice looking ones from White Industries, but I’ll ride this one until it’s non-functional.  If it happens on a ride, well, I’m running a flip-flop hub, so I can flip the wheel over and run fixed until I get a new freewheel.

A Good Day

Even with the minor wreck and mechanical issues, I had a good day.  There was good company in the morning.  I enjoyed spending time with my wife and eating healthy at a restaurant.

I sent a text to Tim, and he rode his Ute up to join me.

We talked bikes.  We watched the people walking up and down Bardstown Rd.  We couldn’t stay long, we both had to work in the morning.  I had a few more beers than he did.

Waking today was rough.  The fact that I showered, rode to work, and made it on time despite the hangover is a testament to it being a great day.

The beautiful Spring weather is here, possibly temporarily.  It was sunny and in the mid-60s when I left this morning.  I was wearing my work clothes and didn’t immediately notice that I forgot my helmet.  I didn’t bother turning around for it when I did realize it.

Human power?

The commute home was pleasant.  It was clear and warm.  People were friendly.  When I was nearly home I saw my daughter riding her bike the other way.  We stopped and talked.  She was riding to the library to check out some books.  She invited me to come along, but I had things to do at home.

There is rain in the forecast, so I wanted to get the lawn mowed.  I needed more gasoline for the lawnmower.  I grabbed the gas can and walked a couple of blocks to the gas station.  At $3.89 per gallon it cost me about $10.50 to fill up the can.

There was a rumor at the gas station that the price would be $4.01 by tomorrow morning.

$10.50?

I’m glad I rarely buy gas.

My daughter called me from the library.  She was approached by David Morse, from CART (and he helps Bicycling For Louisville).  He’s photographing bicyclists in town.  He grabbed a couple of photos for his project.  He did share them with me later.

Dawn - still new at this cycling thing

Later when Dawn got back from the library, the two of us took the dogs for a walk down to Sunergos.  It was really too late (and a bit warm) for me to want coffee, but I did have an iced drink.

My dogs are overweight and out of shape.  The last stretch on the way home really did them in.  They’ll sleep well tonight.

Overall it was a good day.  It was better than many and great for a Monday.

Tomorrow will be a different adventure.  There is a 50% chance of thunderstorms.  I actually enjoy riding in a storm as long there’s no hail and the temperature is warm enough.

Wandering possum in someone's front yard

A local bike shop had the idea to ride to Churchill Down early on Saturday.  Tim let me know, and I joined him.  Apparently one of the bike shop owners had too much to drink on Oaks day and wasn’t prepared to get up for a 6:00am ride.  So the ride was just Tim and I.

The bars were open until 6:00am, so riding down Bardstown Rd at 5:30 was interesting.  I nearly hit a pedestrian who probably had tunnel vision.  The people-watching was fun.

Tim and I headed out to Churchill Downs.  There was quite the crowd trying to get in the gate.  Traffic wasn’t too bad yet, but we knew it would get worse, and didn’t want to hang around.

Sunrise over Churchill Downs

I managed to stick the front of my camera through the fence and get a shot of a horse.  I don’t follow horse racing, and have no idea which horse it was, but he was not happy.

Unhappy horse

We continued on with a thought of climbing the hill at Iroquois Park, but decided against it.  Tim wasn’t feeling well, and I needed coffee.  We eventually ended up at Sunergos for coffee and carbohydrates.

After a little more riding we ended up at Breadworks, which is better know for their baked goods, but have reasonable coffee also.  At this point Tim headed home and I did a little more wandering.

Tim managed to take better pictures.

Today, Sunday, I slept a little later.  I eventually rode to Quill’s Coffee for some excellent coffee and a muffin.  I’ve since found out Quill’s has a few bicycle connections.

Tim met up with me at Quill’s and we headed out for a leisurely ride through Cherokee Park.  He later complained about my route choice.  :)

The weather was beautiful and the park was full of young women jogging.  It doesn’t get much better.

I did end with a flat on my single-speed.  A small, really small, absolutely tiny, piece of glass found it’s way through the tire and punctured the tube.  I’ve been running the Panaracer Pasela tires on this bike.  They’re not flat-resistant like the Schwalbe Marathon tires on my LHT.  The Paselas do ride nicer though.

My Paselas have seen some miles.  The rubber at the tread had gotten rather thin, therefore easy to puncture.  I have had several flats in the last month, so it’s time to do something about it.

After changing the flat, I rode up to Vic’s, because I figured he might have the TourGuard version of the Pasela in stock.  He did, and I rode out with two new tires.

These new tires are cheaper than the Marathon.  They ride nicer than a Marathon.  They still aren’t as tough as a Marathon, but should be an improvement.  I have the old Paselas in my basement now to use if needed.

After leaving Vic’s I wandered home.

Now it’s evening, and I’m planning another in-town ramble.  I’m going solo, but I just feel the need to stretch the legs and let the stress loose.

At some point I’ll add tougher tires and dyno-hub powered lighting.

I did some work on the bike a few days ago.  Yesterday I cleaned the bike again and adjusted everything.  I thought it was a good opportunity for a photo.  I’ll clean the wheels next time.  :)

Heading out through Cherokee Park

Tim on Old Floydsburg Rd

Chapel with well manicured lawn

Blues and greens

Just a little gravel

Brashears Creek Rd was pleasant

Cockpit view

Brashears Creek?

Tim getting passed

Blue, Brown, and Green

Tim shows us how he really feels

Moving self-portrait (don't try this at home)

Traffic on Taylorsville Lake Rd

Once we were near his house, Tim peeled off to go home.  I went out for a beer.  I was tired, sunburned, and covered in salt, but I felt good.

This wasn’t the hardest ride I’ve ever done.  It was interesting to do a century with almost no planning.  I rode 109 miles.  That’s my 2nd highest mileage day yet.

Tim’s write-up
The route
All the pictures

I had errands to run after work, and my wife had plans for after that.

While at work, 40 balloons were delivered to my office.  Also came a vase of flowers – some of them daisies.  I was told it’s because I’m getting ready to “push up daisies”.  That seemed a bid morbid.  :)

I was expected to bring the balloons home.  I rode my bike to work, so yes, I rode through town with 40 balloons trailing behind me.  I got a lot of strange looks, a couple of honks, and one person yelled “happy birthday”.

I met up with my wife and daughter at Tony BoomBozz for pizza and beer.  I had a good day, but didn’t ride anywhere near 40 miles.

I took the plunge and ordered a new set of lights from On Your Left Cycles.  What was ordered?

• B&M IQ CYO N Plus headlight
• Toplight Flat S Plus tail light
• SON28 dynohub (36 hole)
• Velocity A23 rim
• 36 spokes

The shop built the new wheel once the parts arrived and called me to let me know it was time to bring my LHT in.  This was on Friday.

I didn’t want to drive my truck to haul the bike.  I also didn’t want to walk the two miles from the bike shop to work.  So I rode the LHT towing the tailer with the folding bike in it.

Once I dropped off the LHT, I rode the folding bike and pulled the trailer to work with me.  After work, I reversed the procedure to get the LHT and go home.

The headlight is mounted to the front rack and has an integrated reflector.  This also freed some space on my handlebars.

Although the polished SON hub looks really nice, it doesn’t match the matte finish of the rear hub.  That’s okay, this bike is about utility, not looking pretty.

The tail light looks almost as if it were meant to be on the rear rack.

I’ve taken the bike out twice after dark now.  Both were short urban rides, but I’m starting to get a feel for what I do and don’t like.

The focused beam on the headlight puts plenty of light where you usually need it.  It doesn’t light up street signs as well my Dinotte, as it throws very little light upward.  I also felt a little blind while descending fast on a curve.  The light is bright enough, but the road goes off a different direction.  Maybe I should fly through Cherokee Park at night.  :)

The standlight lasts plenty long.  I can sit at a long traffic light, and the lights are still lit, although a bit dimmer.

Strangely, the tail light gives up first when the standlight gets close to being discharged.  Also, the tail light isn’t really very bright.  It does spread the light across a wider area than a Dinotte or a SuperFlash, but it’s just not bright.  It does have an integrated reflector like the headlight.

The hub just works.  I can sometimes feel a vibration at 16-17mph, but faster or slower than that and it goes away.  You don’t really notice the hub when riding.

If I were doing it over again, I would research a different tail light.  I may do this anyway, as they are inexpensive.  I would also consider a different rim.  The rim is probably fine, but as this bike is for loaded touring, a Dyad may have been a better choice.

I put the Dinotte lights on the single-speed.  I want another dynohub system for that bike, but I have to wait until I can afford it.  I may also move the new LHT wheel to the single-speed, and have a Dyad-based wheel built for the LHT.

Too many choices, but at least I don’t have to charge batteries.

Before work this morning I went to the post office to pick up a package that they would not leave at my door.  Then I stopped by the bank before continuing on to work.

After work, I had a massage appointment, then picked up dinner before heading home.  Those new panniers came in quite handy for hauling things today.

Salsa Vaya

What was the package I picked up this morning?  It was an Acorn Handlebar Bag.

With this, I’ll have easy access to a few things while riding the bike.  I’ve been envious of others pulling out their cameras on rides.  I had to stop and fumble around in my trunk bag.  That shouldn’t be an issue now.

Acorn Handlebar Bag

I have another bike project in the works for the LHT.  Stay tuned, I’ll be posting about it next week.

Wildlife on the road

Tim billed this as a gravel ride, but it’s hard to determine where the gravel will be before you get there.  After the first 8 miles of mostly smooth pavement, I began to think Tim had planned poorly.  I wasn’t complaining.  Gravel is adventurous, but smooth pavement is pleasant also.

We had a nice tailwind from the southwest when we started.  It wasn’t overly strong, but allowed for a good pace.  We knew we’d have to ride into the wind later.

Our route continued generally northeast.  We came across gravel here and there.  The tailwind made it quite the pleasant ride.  There were some rolling hills, but never any long climbs.

Blueridge and LHT

We eventually made it to some wonderful gravel roads once we were fairly far north-east of North Vernon.  We still had a nice tailwind and the sun was warming us up.

Tim leading the way

Both Tim and I have acquired new GPS devices for our bikes.  I believe this is the first ride where we both used them on unfamiliar roads.  He sent me the route the night before.  Due to technical issues I had to re-draw the route.  I think I made a mistake as our devices did not agree during portions of the ride.  We are both still learning the their idiosyncrasies.

It still worked well.  It was Tim’s ride, so we used his GPS when there was a discrepancy.  We have different models of Garmin devices, but with the same maps.  It was strange how they nearly always beeped at the same moment.  We (mostly) had turn-by-turn directions working.

Green field

After passing through the tiny town of Zenas we crossed the Muscatatuck River.

Muscatatuck river

Once crossing the river we turned into the wind.  We knew this was coming, but the wind had picked up since the beginning of the ride.  So we had a weak tailwind at the beginning of the ride, leading to a strong tailwind at the middle of the ride.  Ugh.  Our brisk average speed of over 15mph dropped.

Looking south - into the wind

On the bright side, the wonderful gravel had returned.

Hills, gravel, and trees!

The slower pace and harder work due to the headwind meant I took more breaks for pictures.

Old schoolhouse?

The route had us going through Muscatatuck, which is a “town” owned my the Army and used by the Indiana National Guard for urban warfare training.  As we approached we noticed a guard shack.  I assumed we’d have to detour.  The guard waved us through, so we continued.

There wasn’t much going on at Muscatatuck on Sunday.  I figured I’d play it safe and leave my camera in my bag.  There were run down buildings, collapsed trailers, and overturned vehicles.  It looked like, well, a war-zone.  I almost expected a blown-up bridge.

Exit gate at Muscatatuck

This bridge over a tributary of the Muscatatuck made a nice place for a rest.

Quiet bridge

We had more uphill gravel into a headwind to look forward to.

The next challenge

We rolled into North Vernon needing food and water.  Tim was carrying some snacks, but I wasn’t as I had eaten a large breakfast.  We looked at the menu of a small cafe, but decided against it, and went to a gas station for snacks and water.

We left North Vernon on some awfully smooth pavement before finding more gravel.  We eventually crossed the Muscatatuck River again and stopped for a photo shoot.

Lazy LHT

With all of the rain recently, the river is rather high.  This could be important later.

Brown, flooded river

When we turned on CR700W*, there was a sign that said “Road Closed – High Water”.  I didn’t worry about it much.  Cars were coming through and there were no barricades.  It was a straight, flat, gravel road heading north.  We finally had the horrid wind at our backs.  I was ready to roll.

Then we rolled up to this.

Flooding ahead!

The water never got more than a couple of inches deep.  Not only was it not up to the hubs, it wasn’t even up to the bottom bracket.  We carefully rode through.  The first stretch wasn’t bad, and I didn’t even get my feet wet.

We pulled over in the dry patches to let the cars come through.  We didn’t want them barreling by and getting us wet.

One of the flooded stretches was a bit deeper.  I attempted to lift my feet off of the pedal at the lowest part of the pedal stroke, but it was no good.  My feet got wet.  It wasn’t a problem, it had warmed up quite a bit and the ride was nearly over.

We continued north back to Hayden.  We had the wind at our backs, it was quite a nice ride.  Once arriving, my odometer was a little shy of 60 miles, so we circled to push it to 60.3.  That’s much better than 59.9.

This was one of the more pleasant rides I’ve done it a while.  It had some rolling hills, but none were so bad as to make you suffer.  It was scenic.  The weather was nearly perfect, other than the wind.  Like most loop rides, the wind was only a problem during half the ride.  It helped the other half.  It was long enough to be interesting and take the better part of a day, but not so long as to make me want to give up near the end.  All in all, quite a nice ride.

*This road is called CR700W in Google Maps and CR500W in Garmin’s maps.  Which is right?  I don’t know.

I left work on Friday and rode out to Za’s Pizza to meet up with them.  After enjoying some pizza and beer, I rode home, beating them back to the house.  I can get through Bardstown Road traffic faster than they can.  :)

On Saturday, Kristy wanted to stop by a co-worker’s house who was having a garage sale.  I didn’t want to get stuck there for very long and I had errands to run.  I hooked up the trailer to my single-speed, and met her there.

The house was down off of Southern Parkway.  It’s not an area I’m overly familiar with, but I didn’t have my GPS and still managed to not get lost.

I left there and headed toward Feeder’s Supply on Baxter.  Along the way the weather started looking ominous, and I had to wait for a train.  While waiting for the train, lightning started cracking.  It still wasn’t raining.

I purchased about 60lbs of pet supplied, loaded it into the trailer, and headed off.  I still had another stop to make, On Your Left Cycles, also on Baxter.

I was discussing a project with Drew at OYLC when the storm really started rolling in.  There was heavy rain, strong winds, possible hail, yellow skies, and strong lightning.  I stayed at OYLC for a few extra minutes to wait out the worst of it.

I later found out that my wife was still at her friend’s house near Southern Parkway.  She watched a metal shed/storage building tumble across the road.

Once the severe weather passed, it was still raining, and I headed for home.  My trailer still has the rain cover, which is helpful in keeping the dog food dry.

The road was littered with tree branches, trash cans, and other storm debris.  It was a slow, uneventful ride back home.

That little bit of riding on Saturday was still 14.8 miles – all of it while towing the trailer.

This trip happened because of Debbie’s idea.  She wanted to ride to Indianapolis.  She later couldn’t do the first half of the trip for her own reasons, but she planted the seed in my head.

I learned a few things from this ride.

Don’t bring too much. I was overloaded. I wasn’t even camping, but I was probably carrying 50 lbs.  I was carrying a laptop, but I needed to in case work needed to.  I probably wouldn’t do this on a camping tour.  I brought too many clothes.  I should only bring two sets of cycling clothes, one to wear while the other is getting washed or dried.  One set of street clothes and some raingear would have rounded out the clothing needs.  I had cycling gear for four days, street clothes, and several sets of socks and underwear.  I also had a sweater with me that I never wore.

Put some weight on the front. If you are camping, and are going need to carry a lot of gear, spread the load out between front and rear.  I had all the weight on the rear.  This normally worked, but during steep climbs in low gear, the front wheel would sometimes lift.  It wasn’t a huge issue, but could have been better.

Riding alone and riding with someone are different, and each has it’s advantages. I rode 30 miles with Michael.  I rode 120 miles with Debbie.  The remaining 130 miles were solo.  Riding solo is less hurried, less worry about what others think.  It’s quiet enough to lose yourself in thought.  It can also get lonely.  Riding with someone gives you someone to share the experience with, even if you don’t discuss much of it.  I will continue to ride solo and with others on tour.  I like both for different reasons.

Bicycling touring is a great way to talk to strangers. There’s something about being on a loaded-down touring bike that will get people talking to you.  There was an older couple at a restaurant in Salem that wanted to know about my trip.  An old man in Indianapolis at a downtown bar who discussed bicycling lifestyle (he’s car-free).  The woman working the desk at the Motel 6 was quite fascinated by our trip.  People are genuinely curious about what you are doing and why.

There’s a lot of time required off the bike. Finding food, resting, sleeping, checking into motels and/or camping all take time.   Packing/unpacking the bike is time-consuming.  You also need to leave time to talk to random strangers and friends alike.  I initially was too aggressive with my per-day mileage and had no time.  Luckily, I saved 30 miles when Michael picked me up in Bedford and took me to his place in Bloomington.  That gave us time to go our for dinner (and excellent beer).  On the last day of the trip, after arriving at Debbie’s house, she saved me another 30 miles by driving me home.  This allowed me to spend more time with my wife and daughter before having to go to work the next day.

Related to time is mileage. You won’t go fast when touring.  It’s not a race.  My average speeds were probably just under 10mph.  Trying to ride 110 miles on the first day was a mistake.  I rode 80 miles on the first two days, and 60 on the other two.  I should have tried to stay under 60.  That would have meant a longer (time-wise) tour, but I’ll plan for that next time.

Enjoy the trip, not the destination. Or as Pondero asked, “Have you been able to transition from destination obsession to enjoying the moment that touring affords?”  I think having a pre-set route for each day caused me to have “destination obsession”.  I knew that flexibility is best, but hotel stays, a host in Bloomington, and meeting up with another rider made it hard to be flexible.  I did enjoy the trip, but I was always looking forward to arriving at my destination.  I need to work on that.  I also need a longer tour to be more flexible.

It takes time to adjust to normal life. I didn’t think this would be an issue for me after only five days, but it was.  Going back to work was hard.  Cleaning house and other mundane chores just felt wrong.  I wanted to be out on the roads again.  I’m not sure what will happen after 30 days on tour.  Will I never be able to come home?

Most people are polite. Most bicycling forums, mailings lists, and random talk from friends paints the picture of the cager, an asshole wrapped in his metal shell.  There are a lot of drivers out there.  I took low-traffic roads when I could, but around cities it’s impossible to avoid the traffic.  I was passed by thousands of cars over four days of riding.  Nearly all of them drove politely near me.  On the way to Indianapolis, I had zero honks or screams.  There were a couple of close passes and impatient drivers, but they were in the minority.  On the return trip, it was during the week, and had a couple of honks and one yell, but again, the rudeness was very much the minority.  This was true even on US36 in Indianapolis or US50 in Seymour.

Sunblock is a necessity, even in March.  I had intended to bring my sunblock, but couldn’t find it.  I didn’t bother buying more, because it’s March and the weather forecast called for clouds.  Although everyday had a cloudy stretch, each also had sun.  I had sunburn on my neck and ears.

I want to plan my next tour already. I have this “head in the clouds” thing since getting home.  I want to go on a longer tour.  Maybe to Nashville now.  Across the country in a year or two.  I wish I had the time and money.

I need to get out and ride more often. Since moving into town, I don’t have a quick and easy 11-mile loop.  I need to come up with one, even though it would now be urban rather than rural.  I’m comfortable in traffic, so an urban route isn’t a problem.  I’ve been so fixated on bicycling for transportation, that riding everyday is nice, but I seldom ride during the week except for commuting or errands.  Maybe that will ease some of the yearning for the next tour.

I love my GPS. Some old-school tourers may say a map is all you need, but I’m directionally challenged, and the GPS was a godsend.  I understand the value of having maps also, but for easy routing without having to stop and pull out a map, the GPS did a wonderful job.  It worked for keeping me on track and finding detours when necessary.

Why tour? It’s not just about the bike riding.  There are a lot of reasons.  Meeting new people and seeing new places is often cited, but I don’t think it’s the primary reason.  Getting away is my reason.  Most of us need time alone.  Whether we are truly alone, or touring with someone else, it’s a good time to reflect on life, yourself., and the world.  You can process your past, plan your future, and enjoy the present while just turning the pedals around.

More Pictures? Why yes, I do have more.  Below are links to my Picasa Web Albums for each day of riding.  Each photo is geotagged so you see where I was when it was taken.

Saturday, March 19th
Sunday, March 20th
Tuesday, March 22nd
Wednesday, March 23rd

Here’s the actual route we rode, except the very end is modified for Debbie’s privacy.

Dave offered to haul my extra stuff in the car.  I cut my load down to one pannier.  Although this final day was a flatter route, it did make things easier.  I still had over 90 miles to go to get home.  They also offered to drive me home once we reached their house, which would save me 30 miles.  I accepted the offer later in the day.

The day started off cloudy and chilly.  There was also wind from the south, which did not help our forward progress.

Somewhere southwest of Columbus we came across a rather friendly horse.

As we approached Seymour, the skies started to clear in one direction and it looked like a storm coming from the northwest.  The temperature did warm a little.  I was quite comfortable.

We crossed the White River at Seymour.  I’m not trying to be like Michael, but I like this shot of the river.

We detoured off our route in Seymour to find something to eat.  The GPS had an old address for Subway, so after riding on a really busy road (Tipton St/US 50) for too long, we went to Taco Bell instead.  Not ideal touring food.  Debbie has some heartburn later in the ride.

We continued south out of Seymour.  We ended up just east of a spot on the map called Dudleytown.  It appears to be just a single intersection, and we didn’t go out of our way to check it out, as the weather was turning bad.

We fought against the headwind to try to get to Crothersville before it started raining.  It started raining the occasional large drop of rain.  We decided it was time for rain gear.  I had my J&G rain cape.  Debbie had an “emergency rain poncho”.

The skies really started to look ominous.  The wind was getting very gusty.  I mentioned the strange color of the sky in the distance, and that it could mean a tornado.  I was half-joking.

Shortly after the rain really started coming down.  The large raindrops were actually painful.  There was occasional pea-size hail.  I didn’t take any pictures at this point, as I wanted to keep the camera dry.  The new panniers kept everything dry without any extra rain covers.

The lightning never got terribly close, but in the wide-open areas of Indiana farm fields, it was very visible, and a little frightening… and I like thunderstorms.

As we rolled into Crothersville, I was unsure on rather we should take shelter and wait it out, or continue on.  We spotted a library, so I dashed in and checked the weather on one of the computers.  There was a tornado warning in effect for the area, and it looks as if the entire storm would pass within 30 minutes.

We went next-door to a Subway restaurant where we could rest, shelter, and eat.

We watched the hail continue outside for a while.  Then the weather cleared and the sun re-appeared.  We waited another few minutes for the weather warnings to expire, and continued on.

We continued out of Crothersville enjoying the sunshine and the change in wind direction.  We still didn’t have a tail-wind, but it appeared to be coming from the west.  At least it wasn’t coming from the south anymore.

I started seeing piles of what looked like snow on the side of the road.  I stopped for a closer look, it was hail.  Apparently that area got even more hail than where we were.

A little farther south, and the muddy fields were proof of how hard it had rained.

The ride to Scottsburg was quite pleasant.  We were headed due south most of the time.  The wind was from the west.  The temperatures had fallen slightly, but it was still comfortable and sunny.

We stopped at a nice little coffee shop in Scottsburg.  They didn’t seem to have a public restroom, so we detoured again to get to a gas station.

Once we got south of Scottsburg we were nearly to Debbie’s house, and in an area that I’m mostly familiar with.  It’s a rural area, and horses are popular.

It’s a scenic area, and probably the hilliest portion of our last day riding.

We reached Debbie’s house.  I did accept her offer for a ride home.  I was tired and ready to see my wife.  It would have taken me another three hours to ride home.  My daughter had come to visit, so the three of us went out for pizza (I had more beer of course).

I’ll write a wrap-up later that is less about what happened and more about how I felt about the adventure.

We headed out about 9:15.  We went over to the Circle of Light in downtown Indianapolis to take a few pictures before heading out.

Downtown was a mess.  It appeared that everything was under construction.  Sidewalks were fenced off.  Lanes were closed.  We began to take a street only to discover it was covered in fresh tar – we detoured around it.

We eventually worked our way away from the city center, which led us to a more suburban area.  This wasn’t great either.  There was an unused porta-toilet at a construction site that came in handy though.

Riding through suburban sprawl took a while and it wasn’t scenic enough to bother with pictures.  After we were nearly 20 miles into the ride things seemed pretty rural.

I was wearing shorts and short-sleeve jersey for the entire ride.  I was a bit chilly in the morning, but warmed up nicely and was comfortable for the rest of the day.  We had a few spatters of rain in the morning, and another in the late afternoon, but mostly it was just cloudy and windy.

The wind was unending.  It wasn’t gusty wind.  It was steady in-your-face headwind the entire route.  It did slow us down.

As we continued on in the quasi-rural area, we found someone’s rather unique lawn ornaments.

We stopped for lunch at a small pub in Franklin.  It was cheap and had only a small beer selection, but a burger and beer really hit the spot.

Our route took us along the edge of Camp Atterbury for a while.  Camp Atterbury has shunk since WWII, and the area we rode through was actively used at one point, now all that exists is overgrown lots and stubs of roads.

After getting to the main road between Camp Atterbury and Edinburgh, traffic was quite heavy and we were hugging the shoulder.  I got a laugh when a brown van with the sherrif’s logo on the side passed us.  The back was open and at least eight men were sitting on the back in uniform.  They waved and smiled as they passed.

Entering Edinburgh we rode over a bridge over the Big Blue River.  It is a river, but it’s not terribly big, and certainly didn’t look blue.

After crossing the bridge, we were looking for drinks and snacks.  We stopped at the first business, which happened to be a bait shop with a “colorful” woman working there.  They did have drinks and snacks, albeit a small variety.  They also had crickets, but I figure I eat enough bugs on the bike.

We took IN252 eastward out of town.   The original plan called for turning south shortly after crossing the freeway, but the “road” was a private farm driveway.  We continued on the busy IN252 a bit longer and turned unto S 700 W (I hate road names like that).

It was a nice rural road and we saw a young horse.  (zomg ponies!)  ((sorry))

The round-about way we detoured around the private road led us to climb and descend the same hill three times on three different roads.  Not so much a hill as a small ridge.

Did I mention the wind?  We watched a father and daughter flying kites.  Once they got them flying, they staked them to the ground, and they remained aloft.  I’d never seen that done before.

The last ten miles was just a slog into the wind and light rain to get to the motel.  It was only a 60-mile ride and the route was fairly flat, but that wind!

I felt fine when I arrived at Motel 6 in Columbus, other than needing a shower.  I took a shower, and met back up with Debbie (and her husband Dave who had driven) for dinner at a Mexican place within walking distance.  I, of course, had more beer.

The tour is not over until tomorrow.  There’s still more opportunity for beer.

My route for Sunday was planned for 80 miles.  I did ride the planned route.  I modified the GPS track below slightly for Michael’s privacy.

By the time we left his house, the rain had stopped and skies were clearing.  While riding through Bloomington, I noticed that the city is trying to be bike-friendly.  There are bike paths, bike lanes, and these traffic calming devices.

Of course after stopping to take a picture of the traffic calming device, while trying to get my heavy-ass bike moving, I managed to run into the curb.  I didn’t fall, it was just embarrassing.

We worked our way northeast through Hindustan and into Morgan-Monroe State Forest.

Michael was enjoying the ride.

At some point during the ride I noticed we were making good time as long as we weren’t climbing a steep hill.  It was a tailwind.  Much better than Saturday’s headwind.

Rural Indiana has a lot to offer…. or not.  :)

Michael and I rolled into Martinsville and stopped for more water and snacks.  We were 30 miles in, which meant we were to part ways.  I continued north, Michael headed west.

A few miles north of Martinsville there was this imposing coal-fueled power plant.  The amount of coal piled up on the grounds was staggering.

Before long I was crossing the White River.

After a long flattish stretch that included Martinsville, I knew there would be more climbing.

The climb was up Goat Hollow Rd which once at the top was just a meandering ridge top road.  I never did see a goat though.

A few miles later I did see several sheep.  Come back here!  I need some new wool socks!

I rode through Mooresville, but didn’t stop anywhere.  I was making good time, but due to my late start was worried about how late I’d be getting to the hotel.  In Plainfield I was getting hungry and noticed Buzz’s Pizza.  They served up a decent stromboli, which I ate on a bench outdoors before continuing on.

After Plainfield it mostly became suburban hell.  Luckily, being Sunday, traffic wasn’t too bad.  The multi-lane high-speed US36 wasn’t the most pleasant, but I did have an interesting conversation with a young mother and her daughter about where I rode from and where I was riding to.  The little girl was fascinated.  Surprisingly I had no yelling or honking motorists the whole way.

Once I got inside the I-465 loop there was a bit of city traffic, but people appeared to be used to bicyclists.  I passed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As I approached downtown, I really began to appreciate downtown in Louisville.  Downtown Indianapolis is harder to navigate and the roads are in poor condition.  Also, for some reason, the city bus drivers are maniacs.

I eventually found my hotel and checked in.  The biggest problem there was that the tiny elevator would not accommodate my bike unless I stood it on end.  That was not an easy task with the weight I was carrying.

I made it to my room ready for a shower and bed.

I learned two important lessons about bike touring on my very first day.  Don’t overpack and overestimate the mileage you can do.

My first day route was a very hilly 110 mile day getting me to Bloomington.  I can ride that under good conditions, but add in a heavy load and a headwind, and it doesn’t work as well.

Here’s the actual route I rode on Saturday.

I left Louisville at 7:15 under cloudy skies.  There as a slim chance of rain, but it didn’t materialize.

I wandered through Clarksville and New Albany.  I climb Moser Knob Rd again.  Moser Knob Rd is steep enough that I need my granny gears on the LHT.  I felt fine on that hill, even with the extra weight.

I continued generally northwest and enjoyed the countryside.

There were a number of homes where the driveway crossed the stream… as in you have to drive through shallow water.  There was generally a small footbridge for pedestrian access.

I liked this “forest”.  It was somebody’s yard, but they had cleared all of the brush and just left the trees.

This was an old church and cemetery along Voyles Rd.

As I was coming into Pekin I crossed this old bridge.  I had been on this bridge once before on a ride with Tim.  (New) Pekin hasn’t changed much.  I stopped at a gas station for supplies and moved on.

The clouds had cleared up.  The temperature had climbed in the high-60s.  It was really turning into a nice day.  I even had to put my cycling sunglasses on to really look like a dork.  The glasses not only help with sun, but are good for preventing my eyes from watering while doing a 40mph descent.  I spent a lot more time at 4mph than 40mph though.

When I arrived in Salem, I found a small Mexican restaraunt with outdoor seating.  It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to watch my bike.  Eating outside meant I couldn’t have beer with my food, but I really didn’t need beer in the middle of this ride.

My GPS did a great job of keeping me on track on unfamiliar roads.  I did miss one turn, but that was just because I wasn’t paying attention.  I hadn’t gone far, so turning around wasn’t a big deal.

I always get chased by dogs in Southern Indiana more than anywhere else I’ve ridden.  Saturday was no exception.  At one point, three dogs came at me at once.  They didn’t look vicious, and I didn’t want to hit them, so I stopped.  That’s when I noticed one of them had three legs.  They quickly lost interest once I stopped, and I meandered on.

So what do you name a dog like this?  ”Lucky” – lucky he wasn’t killed.  I’d probably name him “Tripod”.

Although I’m sure it wasn’t, this appeared to be highest point in the state.

While riding along Cox Ferry Rd (where a bridge has long since replaced the ferry), I came across something unexpected, gravel.  I don’t normally mind gravel, but I was behind schedule and the hills, weight, and headwind were hurting me.

This is the creek that Cox’s ferry must have crossed at some point.

Here’s a fine looking touring bike sitting on the bridge that replaced Cox’s ferry.

This is the climb I had to look forward to as I left the creek.

I don’t take pictures while suffering a climb.  After this climb was a nice descent, and I didn’t take pictures there as I was grinning ear to ear at 40mph.  Once I was back on the flood plain of the East Fork of the White River, it became obvious that water levels are still high.  Luckily my road was still dry.

Crossing over the river was a cool old bridge.  I have a thing for neat bridges.

As I continued on, the pavement ended again, but instead of gravel, I got good old-fashioned dirt.  There were a few small muddy spots due to the high water, but it wasn’t difficult riding.

During most of the ride I saw a lot of circling birds.  Whas it just a sign of Spring, or were they waiting for me to expire?

I came across Fort Ritner.  Fort Ritner seems to be a dying town.  It looks prone to flooding.  It seems it was mostly a railroad town, and railroads aren’t what they used to be.  There were a handful of well-kept homes, but the majority of the town was abandoned with rotting homes.  There were no businesses open.

This was a bridge over a creek on a private road.

These were typical of the town.

After leaving Fort Ritner, I continued on a road that led to another climb up unto a ridge.  Once on the ridge, the road is known as Devil’s Backbone.  I thought that was a neat name for a ridge road, especially when a one point the ridge is very narrow with steep dropoffs on each side.  Quite cool!

The weather was beautiful.  There were wildflowers sprouting up everywhere.

I had let Michael know that I was running later than I wanted to.  I explained to him that even the shallowest uphill grade was slowing my speed into the single-digits.  I had simply made too grand of plans.  He offered to pick me up.

I rode on to Bedford where he picked me up for the drive to Bloomington.  At just a bit over 80 miles, I am perfectly satisfied by the ride.

We went out for food and drinks at Upland Brewery.  Once I got back it didn’t take long before I slept through the night with no issues.  Bike touring cures insomnia.

Here I’ve also got the Arkel Tailrider trunk bag attached.  I’ve had the Tailrider for over two years, and it’s held up well.  I had found it a pain to strap to the rack, but the GT-54 set has loops specifically designed to strap the tailrider to.

The bags are huge and the bike is ready for touring.

No Coffee Shop Here

I left home around 6:00am.  Tim had other obligations and knew he wouldn’t be able to ride, but met me in the Highlands intending to ride with me until the ride start, then turn back, but he suffered some issues with his headlight, and turned back early.

As I got further from the city center the temperature dropped.  My upper body was warm enough with compression shirt, wool sweater and a jacket, but my feet were quite cold, and my legs needed a little more protection than the single pair of tights I was wearing.

After taking Westport Rd most of the way to I-265, I headed south on Freys Hill Rd, enjoying the low-traffic route near Tom Sawyer State Park.  Then via Evergreen Rd, E Osage Rd, and Lucas Ln, made my way to Old Lagrange Rd then a quick ride to Coffee Affair.

Coffee Affair is a shop I’ve never been to.  I found it using Google, just trying to locate a coffee shop near the edge of town that would be good for a Oldham County ride.  I discovered this morning, that Coffee Affair has gone out of business.

They still had the sign up, so I waited for any other potential riders to show up.  Patrick had told me last night that he was out.  He was rather sick.  I knew there was a good chance it would be a solo ride.  Around 8:10, I resigned myself to that solo ride.

After pulling out of the shopping center, I cut through some neighborhood streets that took me to Reamers Ln, which becomes Old Floydsburg Rd.

Somewhere along Old Floydsburg Rd

Signs of the rain from last week

I came upon a rather interesting church and graveyard surrounded by an old stone wall.  I really like stone walls.

Gate in stone wall

After travelling a while on Mt Zion Rd, my route had me cutting through a neighborhood that connected to another neighborhood by a single street.  I looked at the “street” in satellite view on Google Maps, and it’s what Tim and I refer to as a “not-road”.  It looked to be a passable road.

Neighborhood Sign

No Entry

The sun was high enough in the sky to warm me.  I had begun to sweat under my jacket, so I removed that.  Although my legs and feet were still chilled, when I’d get into a sunny area, the sun felt wonderful on my legs, even through the tights.

Blue Skies

Fence Shadow

There were signs of spring everywhere.  Plants were budding,  I inhaled a swarm of gnats, and fields are being prepared for planting.

Freshly tilled ground

Climbing the damn hill

I decided to see the other end of my “not-road” to see if it was blocked also?  It was.  500 feet (or so) of gravel and two fences separated me from my earlier location.  I noticed the padlock said something about the fire department, so I’m guessing that’s easy access to water to refill the trucks.

Not-road

Water tower near not-road

I quit dawdling over the “not-road” and continued on course.  There were some wonderful low-traffic rural roads to be enjoyed.

Rural road

Distant water tower

More peaceful roads

Cruising down Fible Ln brought me to a large pond/small lake nestled in the hills.

Bucolic scene

I was briefly on Mt Zion Rd again where there is a bridge over a stream, but the roadway ends right over the stream, with no guardrail.

Watch your step

Nice stream though

I continued southeast on Hanna Rd, eventually crossing another stream.

Ducks

The ducks flew off as I approached, but came back after a few minutes of silence.

This bridge has guard rails

The bridge was also useful for hiding under for when “nature calls”.  My route had no store stops, so you make do with what you can.

Are there trolls?

I soon crossed from Oldham County into Shelby County.

Shelby County

On Aiken Rd (KY-362) traffic started to pick up a little, but scenery was still quite rural.

Cows don't have much to do

I continued along Aiken Rd.  Gently rolling hills allowed me to fly down one side of a hill, then use the momentum to mostly get up the next one.  It was quite a bit of fun.

Gently rolling hills

Skies are still clear

Paranoid?

Church built in 1863

Shelby County has a new park.  It opens later this year.  It seems to be horse-orientated, so I don’t have much interest.

Shelby Trails Park

More rural countryside

I continued following Aiken Rd all the way to Ash Rd.  I’m getting close to Louisville Metro.  Oh, there’s a women’s prison.

Women's prison

There were no store stops on the ride.  When I got back to the shopping center where I started, I was famished.  There was an Asian restaurant, Double Dragon, that was open, so I ate an order of beef and broccoli.

Feeling better, I decided to head straight down LaGrange Rd.  That worked fine until the road narrowed.  I still followed it.  I had a better but longer route set in the GPS, but I was ready to go home.

LaGrange Rd changes names a few times, but eventually is replaced by New LaGrange Rd on one side of the railroad tracks, and LaGrange Rd on the other.  I stayed on LaGrange Rd which had slightly less traffic.

I eventually cut north to Westport Rd via Lyndon Ln / Herr Ln and took that all the way to Chenoweth Ln to stop for coffee.

There were a few cyclists at Heine Brothers’ Coffee on Chenoweth.  I assume they started a ride there earlier, and some were finishing up.  One guy took a good look at my bike and complimented me on it.

I was going to head in on Frankfort Ave, but a cyclist new to the area asked where Cherokee Park was.  I had him follow me down Willis Ave and PeeWee Reese Rd until he knew where he was.  He’s lived here for two months, living in St Louis previously.  We talked a little about St Louis and bike touring, but I didn’t catch his name.

We went our separate ways in the park.  I noticed from high up on Park Boundary Rd that there were a ton of people hiking in the woods, swinging out over the water of Beargrass Creek, and some even walking in inches-deep water.

View from above

The Rig

I bought a used trailer last Friday.  Other than towing it back home full of groceries, I hadn’t used it.  My panniers are falling apart, and I hadn’t ridden my folding bike in months.

So I put my commuting gear in the trailer, and towed it with the folding bike.

Parking in the office was a pain, but the rain cover kept my stuff dry.  I don’t intend to normally ride it to work, as I have new panniers on the way, but I probably will tomorrow for the Car-Free Happy Hour.

Grainy picture of the rear of my truck

I’ll never get to be car-free.  My wife requires a car.  I still owe on my truck.  I’m okay with the situation, although getting down to one vehicle would be nice.

I rarely drive, but I’ve been driving with Indiana plates on my truck for months after moving to Kentucky.  Part of it was laziness.  Part of it was waiting to get the lienholder to send the title.

Today, I drove to work so I could take my truck in for the inspection, then to get a Kentucky license plate.  I spent the extra money to get a Share the Road Plate.

The extra money for the plate goes to the Paula Nye Memorial Education Grant program, which provides money for a number of bicycle education and safety causes.

The biggest benefit to me is that when I’m driving, most cyclists will I’m keeping an eye out for them.

I’ll keep this post short.  It was one of my favorite rides.  It was challenging, but not to the point where you began to hurt.  It was a mix of paved, gravel, clay mud-like, and grass surfaces.  There was a lot of wildlife.  The weather was nice.

My full photo album, including a few pictures from Cathy and Kirk is here.

Bikes resting

After the ride I wandered around some unfamiliar neighborhoods.  My GPS was very helpful.  The weather was beautiful.  The wind was strong enough to make things interesting.

I eventually made my way to Bardstown Rd and had a late lunch and a good brew.  I played pedestrian for a while and walked around looking for little shops to buy my wonderful wife something for tomorrow’s holiday.  I found something suitable and rode home.

I’m out of propane for the grill, so I loaded the empty on the bike, hauled it down to the gas station, and exchange it.  After riding home (round trip 1/2 mile) I then rode to the grocery store.  I wasn’t going to haul the heavy propane tank all the way to the store.  I need to get a trailer.

I had my shopping done and things put away before my wife arrived home from work.  I had a tiring, but satisfying day.  At 55 total miles, I’m not complaining.

Interesting sign along Westport Rd

Andy and Moira are great people.  I had a lot of fun helping out.  Good food and refreshments were provided.  So thanks to Andy and Moira for lining up a good time, even if it was to help them move.

My LHT towing one of Andy’s trailers.

A homemade trailer

David Morse is preparing to haul a model train

There were a lot of trailers

Furniture too

Empty trailers waiting to head back for the next load

We had a good turnout.  A total of seven of us arrived in Holland IN for the ride start.  With the snow on the ground, mountain bikes were pretty much required.  I don’t own a mountain bike, so the LHT had to fill that duty.  I had the studded tires on which worked great on the icy patches near the beginning of the ride.

The route was beautiful.  The terrain was lovely.  The road surfaces were horrid.  Once we got away from town, none of the roads had been plowed at all.  The snow was pushed down “two-track” style by car tires.

We headed west out of town.  We kept a reasonable pace, and I felt strong.  I almost felt confident due to the amount of ice, and my studded tires.  As the roads got more snow-covered, it got a little tougher, but I kept a reasonable pace.  After just over four miles, the route headed north.

At about mile 13, my speed dropped considerably, and I knew I was struggling.  It took too much effort to push through the snow.  My brakes were caked with snow and nearly non-functional.  The studded tires had little traction on loose snow.

Also along here somewhere, the five faster riders left Tim and I behind.  Tim and I decided to cut the Winslow portion of the route off and take a shorter route.  We headed south on CR 650E where the others went north.  This was probably a mistake.  I could have used some real food, and a chance to warm up.

This way also took us directly through Ferdinand State Forest, which had the worst road surface we saw.  Looking at the GPS logs, my top speed through that stretch was in the single-digits.

We continued on.  I sometimes stopped to walk the bike when I just couldn’t get traction.  I was completely out of energy.

We finally made it to SR64.  The road was clear, and I wanted to take it as far as possible toward Holland.  Tim was thinking a little clearer, and didn’t like the 55 mph speed limit, high-traffic highway, and directed us on SR257 instead, which wasn’t as clear, but had little traffic.  After some distance on SR257, the other five riders came up behind us.

We rode together to the tiny town of Stendal and regroup and took a few photos.  I was done.  I wasn’t going any farther.  There was an (out of business) general store with a bench out front.  Despite the cold temperatures, I sat on the bench and announced that I couldn’t ride anymore.  They tried to convince me to continue to avoid getting too cold, but I was adamant.

After only 34.5 miles, I had bailed on the ride.  I was disgusted with myself.  Maybe I was coming down sick (that’s actually possible, had a rough day today).  Maybe I just had the wrong bike for the ride (that certainly contributed).  Maybe I was just having an off day (like the spin class I ditched after 10 minutes).  Maybe I’ve been training too hard for the triathlon and wore myself out.

I’m still glad I rode.  The scenery was beautiful.  I managed to dress well for the temperatures.  I even survived sitting on that stupid bench with only a small amount of shivering.

More on Tim’s blog and on the RCCS blog.

By the time I was heading out the door at 5:15 or so the snow was coming down.  I rode to the YMCA and got in a small amount of exercise before heading to work.  There was some snow on the ground by then.  I was surprised that my bike was one of four in the parking garage when I was leaving.  Notice the XtraCycle on the far-right.

During the day we got a couple of inches of snow.  The main roads were kept clear and the warm-ish temperatures meant that nothing iced up (on the roads I was on).

My commute home was pretty uneventful, but the dogs seemed happy to play in the snow when I got home.

Notice all of the "luggage" on the bike.  Commuting and a stop at the Y means I get to carry more stuff.  There is a thermos for coffee buried in there to cut back on the expense of the coffee shop.

Now that I’m home, I need to get to sleep so I can get up at 4:00 a.m. again, but I’m not sleepy.  I’m considering walking to go out to dinner.  I’ll overeat, but a full belly might be what I need to sleep well tonight.

I took a different route today.  You can see it here.  It was a meandering route here in town, and I also took the Waterline Road route toward Charlestown.  I took a new way back to test routing on the GPS.

GPS routes don’t work quite like I imagined.  I can plan out a route on the computer, but once I uploaded, the GPS seems free to re-route me.  That’s fine, except I usually know  better than the GPS which roads I would rather ride.  Instead of loading a route, I can load it as a track.  It won’t tell me when to turn that way, but it’ll highlight the roads that I need to follow, so that will be the method I use, and it’s what I tested today.

When I have the chance, I’ll plan a trip out into an area I’m unfamiliar with, and really put it to the test.  :)

I rode the single-speed again.  I really like that bike.

Yesterday I compared the distance on the GPS to the distance on the bike computer.  It was off by 2%.  I adjusted the bike computer by the appropriate amount, and now the GPS and computer matched *really* closely.  That’s probably more accurate than a roll-out test, and definitely more accurate than the average car odometer.

The computer on the LHT already agreed with the GPS, so I don’t need to mess with that.

I had intended to take pictures on yesterday’s ride, but never bothered.  Well, today, I took a few pictures on the trip to Charlestown.  It was cold, clear, and a little windy.  On the way home it was simply cold and dark.  The pictures are below.

In Jeffersonville along the river.

Neat building along Market Street in Jeffersonville (Howard Steamboat Museum?)

Along Waterline Road

My wife bought me a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS for my bike.  I’m happy with the device, but not with Garmin.

The device comes with a very basic map, no problem, I’ll spend $80 for a detailed map.  I chose the download option for instant gratification (my favorite type of gratification), and the website was so slow as to be unusable.  They already had my money, and the customer service department won’t be open until Monday.

In any case, the site seems to working now, and I’m attempting to download the map.  It’ll take a while, if it ever finishes….

I didn’t eat much today.  I didn’t see a point in a Christmas dinner when I’m the only one home.  I mostly just grazed on sandwiches, leftovers, and two snacks from the coffee shop.

Tim and I got out for a little ride this afternoon/evening.  We met at Heine Brothers at the loop, as that location was open most of the day.  Good for business, not so good for those poor souls that had to work on Christmas.

The picture to the right was taken on my way home after the ride.  No, that’s not my house.  I was just passing through the neighborhood.

Although my new GPS didn’t have a suitable map loaded, I had it mounted on the handlebars, and it tracked my route through town.  I was able to import my route into RideWithGPS, as seen below.

I drove to work on Wednesday and Thursday.  I was mad at myself for that.  I’m not gaining weight, but I’m not losing it either.  I didn’t work yesterday (Friday), nor did I get out on the bike.

I did pick up my daughter who had taken a bus from Michigan to Louisville.  I only spent a few hours with her before she headed off to spend time with her boyfriend.  I’ll see her briefly tomorrow before dropping her off at the bus station.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  My day was peaceful, if a bit lonely.

Candy is unsure

After riding my bike to work and back home, I needed to go to the grocery store.  I didn’t feel like riding, so I intended to drive.  Once I was standing next to my truck, keys in hand, I realized it was silly to drive.  The local Kroger is less than a mile away.  I didn’t need much, so I walked.

The sidewalks had been ice-covered a few days ago, but they seem to be clear now.  I bought what I needed and headed home just as it began snowing.  By the time I arrived home it was sleeting.

Raw-Food

While researching paleo-diet stuff (which I’m not doing right now), I came across raw-meat diet for pets.  Dogs and cats are carnivores, so I did a little reading and decided to give it a shot.

My finicky cat is not taking to it at all so far.  The dogs however, love it.  They’ve eaten pork ribs, eggs, and chicken legs.  I need to buy some organ meat to round out the diet.

I was buying some fairly expensive dog food before, so I may actually save money doing this.  You don’t have to buy expensive meat.  The cheap stuff is fine.  Watching a dog eat an egg can be funny.  Both of my dogs eventually eat the whole thing, shell and all.

The downside to this plan is that I’ll have to mop the kitchen floor much more often.

Sandy is being protective

Getting Up Early

I hate mornings.  Even if I go to bed early, I still really dislike getting up.

I need to start getting up earlier so I can train for the triathlon.  I’ve got a couple of weeks before I really start training, but I need to get up tomorrow and get down to the Y before work and work on my swimming.

Winter Blah!

Nobody showed for up this morning’s RCCS ride.  I had a feeling that might happen, so I brought some reading material with me.  I sat at Sunergos enjoying good coffee and a book.  I eventually wandered home, and read a while longer.

Not riding was starting to get to me.  I really wanted pizza, but riding three miles over to Za’s and overeating isn’t going to do my weight-loss effort any good, so I decided to ride to Charlestown Pizza Company.  I still overate, and had an excellent beer.  I then rode over to the old house and took care of a few things before riding home.

I got 41.6 miles in for the day, enjoyed what I ate, and I feel good.

Michael planned a 42-mile route in Hoosier National Forest near Norman.  Tim, Dave, and I joined him for the fun.  The weather was in the low to mid-20s with blowing snow.  Perfect!  :)

The other three riders were on mountain bikes with knobby tires.  I was on my LHT with studded tires.  It worked out well.

Michael did have a mishap on ice, but it doesn’t appear to have done any permanent damage.

The restaurant we had planned to have a late lunch/early dinner at was closed when we finished the ride.  I assume due to weather conditions.

Something I haven’t run into before today, but I definitely made the decision: I yield to snow plows!  When I spotted the plow coming up behind me, I pulled off of the road and jumped over the guard rail to give him plenty of room.

Festive Bikes

I have three sets of Christmas lights adorning two of my bikes.  The single-speed has a blue set of lights, and the LHT has two multicolor sets.  The other two bikes haven’t been ridden recently.

There are three bikes in the picture to the right.  The undecorated recumbent is sitting behind the other two.

The single-speed will be getting fenders soon, and is becoming my primary commuter bike.  The LHT will be my ice and snow commuter, grocery hauler, and epic-ride bike.

I rode the single-speed to work today.  It was quite cold on the way in, but at least I wasn’t standing around waiting for a bus.  The ride home was warmer.

I need to buy some boots.  I was going to go after work, but I really didn’t want to ride down Preston Highway during rush hour after dark.  I guess I’ll go Saturday.  I’ll drive, as I will already be running errands in the truck that day.

My eating is much improved.  I’ve updated my daily weigh-in page.  What I haven’t been doing is keeping my food diary.  It’s just another thing to do, and I’m short on time as it is.

Oh, and I got an email today:

Thursday, December 16th @ 5:30pm – Smoketown USA – 1153 Logan St.

I’ll be there.  You?

Commuting Single-Speed

Once I had the bike, I found that I did commute on it, with a backpack.  I dislike backpacks, so I’ve now added a rear rack to the bike.  I bought a Mountain FeedBag from Tim.  He had an extra due to a snafu with the seller.  I mounted it to the bars.

I had some smaller panniers that I put on the bike.  I wanted to find some red ones that would fit, to keep with the theme of the bike, but I don’t want to spend the money now.  The laptop barely fits, but it does indeed fit.

I pulled an extra headlight off of the folding bike which I never seem to ride anymore.  I put the light on the single-speed, so that I have two headlights.  I don’t know if I leave it like that.  We’ll see.

I don’t have fenders on this bike, so it will likely remain a fair-weather commuter.  There is the possibility I’ll add fenders at some point, but it wouldn’t make a good “snow bike” as the studded tires I already own wouldn’t fit well.  My LHT will serve as “snow bike”.

Dual Headlights - Goofy?

Heavy Load

Back in April I posted “I Have a Cargo Bike” because Tim had been goading me into buying one.  I felt I could load whatever I needed on the bikes that I have.

Earlier this month I brought home a 15lb bag of dog food on my ‘bent.  I could barely tell it was there.  I assumed a 30lb bag on the LHT would be fine.

Today after work I went to Feeders Supply and bought the 30lb bag of dog food, and a 20lb bag of cat litter.  I put the food on the rear rack along with my other commuting gear.  I put the litter on the front rack.  I made it about 2 blocks.  The bike shimmied and wobbled so bad I didn’t think it was prudent to continue.

I moved the cat litter to the rear rack.  So the rear rack was holding 70lbs of pet supplies, plus another 15lbs of other random crap.  I don’t know what the capacity of the rack is, but nothing broke.

The bike still shimmied, but it was controllable.  I took it slow and easy and made it home.  The picture to the right was taken outdoors, because I couldn’t get the bike up the stairs fully loaded like that.

So, I’ve been wanting a Surly Big Dummy, but can’t afford another bike right now.  At least now I can justify it: a $2000 dog-food hauler.  :)

I’d read about lacing the saddle, which basically involved punching (or drilling) holes in the sides of the saddle, and tightening it up with leather lacing.

A few weeks ago I was walking to lunch from work, and happened to walk past a shoe repair shop, and I noticed leather lacing hanging on the wall.  So I went in and bought a piece.  Today, I finally got busy with the project.

I decided to drill the holes.  Using a punch can produce nicer looking holes, but I don’t have a punch, and I’m not terribly worried about how it looks.  I drilled four holes on each side.  Some use two holes, some say six.  I was really just guessing.

It only took a few minutes to finish the job.  I used some of the left-over lacing to replace the bungie cord that keeps my saddlebag from flopping around too much.

I haven’t ridden the bike since doing this, but hopefully it makes the saddle more comfortable.

We drove to Great Meadows Campground Saturday morning.  This is located here.

There were three of us: Tim, Michael, and myself.  There was 115 miles of riding spread over two days.  This certainly wasn’t the longest ride I’ve done, but it was the hardest.

The ride was mostly gravel and extremely hilly.  It was one of those rides that you aren’t sure if you can finish, but gives you a huge sense of accomplishment when you do.

We did the rides as planned.  We didn’t shorten a route or catch a ride.  We rode across streams, over very rough terrain, and had a ball.

I’m still coming down off of the “high” from this adventure.  My legs are finally starting to feel normal.  I’m not going to give a full write-up, as I’m sure Tim or Michael will, and they are better at it.

Next time I’ll remember to bring the sausage.  Michael will remember his tent stakes.

The 111 pictures I took can be seen here.  I’ll put a few in this post as a teaser.  Be sure to check out Tim’s and Michael’s sites as they will post their pictures also.

These first two pictures were stolen from Tim.  They are both of me at the creek (river?) crossing.

This is a traveled road.  We are currently having drought conditions.  I’d hate to see cars try to cross this after a heavy rain.

I really enjoyed the footbridge.

Resting LHTs

Sunday was a beautiful day also.

The fall colors were quite nice.

Not much of a welcome to Tennessee.

Tired, but happy.

Three Surlys, checking out the view.

I’m mostly just going to post pictures.  You can see all the pictures I shot that day here (including the not-so-great ones).

I will say that my shorter, flatter commute has killed my fitness level.  This was supposed to be an 80-mile ride.  We shortened it to 66 miles.  I was really dragging toward the end.  I still had a great time and want to do it again.

Michael’s write-up is here.

Tim divided his write-up into sections here, here, here, and here.

Amazon Kindle

I already have a huge lack of free time, but I’ve purchased something to further eat into my time.  I bought an Amazon Kindle.

I love to read.  I hate taking the time to buy (or check out) a book, and I hate the clutter in my home.

Back in February, my daughter got a Nook.  I’m not sure how much she uses it, but I was intrigued.  I didn’t like the small touchscreen.  The Kindle has a keyboard.  I like buttons.

Although I will save time on buying books, the ease of buying them, will now cause me to read that much more.  I’m definitely going to have to control my eating.  Reading doesn’t really burn many calories.

Which vehicle to take to the coffee shop?

This is, in part, due to my focus on bicycling for transportation.  Bicycling for transportation has become such I big part of my life that moved into Louisville (while continuing to pay the mortgage on my old house) so that I could bicycle everywhere.  It’s been wonderful.  I have not driven to work since moving.  When my wife and I go out to eat, I’ll even meet her there rather than drive (if she’ll let me).

I rode my bike to the coffee shop the other day, when the white truck in the picture on the right pulled up.  One individual drove that huge diesel-powered truck, just to grab some coffee.  I have nothing against trucks.  I own one.  I just believe in using the right tool for the job.

I’ve been very busy for the last week.  Some of it has been the have-to-do stuff.  Some of it is want-to-do.  In either case it has left me sleep-deprived.  I was up late last night driving to Danville and back.  I had intended to ride the Harvest Homecoming ride today.  I changed my mind at the last minute and went back to bed.  I don’t regret the decision.  I needed the sleep.

So, this blog… where does it go?  What should I focus on?  I would love to show some positive results in my weight loss and/or fitness.  The truth is, I haven’t really improved either of those since February of 2009.  I’m in much better shape than when I started in 2007, but I don’t think I’ll ever get to my goal weight of 175.  Maybe this is where I need to focus on waist size and strength.  I should add some weight training to the mix.

So, I haven’t been writing about every bike ride recently.  It’s safe to assume I ride every day now.  I will continue to do so, except maybe today, where I probably won’t be leaving the house.  I will write about exceptional rides.  I will write about what I decide to use as a metric to measure my progress, but I need to figure that out still.

I love bicycles and bicycle advocacy.  I don’t think I’m a great bicycle advocate, other than just being out there on the road.  I’m not eloquent or persuasive.  I’ll leave the “advocacy with words” to those smarter than I.  I’ll just ride my bike.  :)

The difference in what you see in cycling versus driving is huge.  There is a similar change when slowing down even more and being a pedestrian.

Walking means that one-way streets can be ignored.  Traffic is only an issue at intersections.  Stopping to take pictures won’t get you hit.  The graffiti on the right was interesting.  The “artist” must be a fan of this.

I’m not ready to start walking to work.  It would take an hour each way.  Part of the reason for the move into town was to make bicycling everywhere feasible.  I’d have to move to a smaller town, or have a lot more free time to walk everywhere.

Ben Sollee will be performing at the Kentucky Center tomorrow night.  He’s a cyclist and transportation advocate in addition to a musician.  There will be a ride right after the show (8:45?, 9:00?) around downtown.  I’ll be there.

Updated Bike

I’ve tried to keep the bike simple, but my utilitarian nature required me to outfit the bike with lights, bell, saddlebag, water bottle, computer, and a clip for papers or cue sheets.

I dropped my LHT off at On Your Left Cycles for some maintenance.  I hung out at Vic’s Classic Bikes for a while.  There was some talk about starting a bike co-op.

While working in the back yard, I came across a rather scary looking spider.  I don’t know enough about spiders to identify it.  Does anyone out there know what it is?

What kind of spider?

I hosted the Saturday morning RCCS ride, but only had one other rider show up.  We still had a good time.  I’m hosting another this coming Saturday.  Come if you can.

Later in the day, Tim and I met up for a ride and some food and drink.  Two lugged-steel single speed bikes next to each other was quite a sight.

Sunday morning, Vic has a ride from his shop.  I joined him, his son, and two others for the morning ride.  Tim joined later, this time on his Bleriot.  So we had six lugged-steel bikes with Brooks saddles riding together.

Sunday evening did not go well for me.  I had to rush to work and help with an issue.  I was there until 11:30 at night, and it left me quite tired.  I’m still traveling only by bike, but it was really hard to get out of bed this morning.

I commuted to work last night and today on the single-speed.  That requires wearing a backpack, but my LHT is still in the shop.  I could ride the recumbent, but the single-speed is just too much fun.

Yesterday, I went and picked up my latest bicycle.  It’s a 1980s-era Raleigh frame and a mix of old and new parts.  It is my first single-speed bike, and my first minimalist bike.  I don’t intend to add a rack or fenders.

Vic’s Classic Bikes built this one for me.  I need to ride it for a while to see if the current gear ratio is where it needs to be.  I hope to ride the Harvest Homecoming ride on this bike, even if it means walking up the hills.

This bike is not set up as a fixed-gear.  It does have a flip-flop hub, but I’m not planning on riding fixed.

After one full week of riding my bike to work, I got sent to Saint Louis for a conference.  It’s too far to bike, and too close to fly, so I drove.

I did bring a bike with me, and took one evening to ride and sight-see.

My route is approximately here:

Click for details

My actual mileage was about 29, as I took a couple of wrong turns and back-tracked some.

The first part of the ride was the Riverfront Trail.  It heads north from downtown through ugly industrial areas.  Also mixed in here was  a homeless tent-city known as Hopeville.

I’m assuming this was salt storage, but it could be something worse.

I have no idea what this stuff is, but I hope that runoff from it isn’t a problem.

There was a neat church in the distance, beyond the trainyard and industrial areas.

Here is some graffiti that I can agree with.

Sinkholes on the bike path?

The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.  Route 66 used to go over this bridge.  Now it a pedestrian/bike bridge.

Looking back toward downtown from the bridge.  I was using a zoom lens.

Once I got over to the Illinois side of the river, I rode some low-traffic roads before finding another bike path heading south.

This bike path went under most streets, so there was no need to cross them.

Once the bike path came to an end, I had two options, ride on Highway 3, or cut through an industrial park.  I chose the industrial park.

I don’t have pictures, but at the end of the industrial park, I was forced to ride on Highway 3.  It was not bike-friendly.  I took it a short distance to the McKinley Bridge.  The bridge has a ped/bike lane on the south side, but I was on the north side, heading west.  I didn’t see how to approach the bridge from the other side, so I just took the lane until reaching the spot where the bridge widens.  I then crossed over the barriers to the not-yet-open ped/bike path on the north side.  The picture below is the end of the north-side bike/ped lane.  I then crossed both traffic lanes to get to the other side, and take a dedicated path back down to the Riverfront Trail.

It was nice to be able to get some riding in while visiting a different city.  Riding in Saint Louis is much different than in Louisville.  I did spend some time on roads on both sides of the river and had no trouble with drivers.  The roads aren’t necessarily done well for cycling, and many of the bike paths don’t fully connect with one another.  Also, they are parks, and close at night, which makes them unsuitable for transportation.

We went for a ride in an open-cockpit biplane to celebrate.  She’s been around planes her whole life, but never flown in a biplane.  I love flying, but haven’t spent as much time around aircraft.

We did stop for lunch after the flight, but the day was pretty low-key after that.

I’ve been keeping a camera handy on my LHT recently.  That made this picture possible.  I came up on a deer, but he spooked to easily to get a picture before he ran off into the woods.

Somewhere along my route today, I passed 3500 miles for the year.  I’m pretty pleased with that.  I’m well on track to hit 5000 miles for the year.

Friday: Who knows.  I plan to ride, but anything can happen.

]]> http://fatguy.org/2010/08/26/turkey/feed/ 1 http://fatguy.org/2010/08/25/more-mixed-terrain/ http://fatguy.org/2010/08/25/more-mixed-terrain/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:42:30 +0000 David Crowell http://fatguy.org/?p=2483 Continue reading → ]]>

Tim and his Bleriot

The ride was an advertised RCCS ride, but it was put together last minute, so nobody else was able to show up.  Tim did a better write up, and it can be found here.

I was able to attach a camera bag to my front rack, so I had easier access to my camera.  That did mean I took more pictures.  Most of them weren’t posting.  I’ll put a few in this post.  The full album can be found here.

This was one of the flattest rides I had done in a while.  There was one dive into a creek valley, then a climb back out.  There was also a white-knuckle descent to the river on a gravel road followed by an arduous climb.  The rest of the ride was flat to rolling.

Tim notes in his writeup where I eat, and he does not.  What he doesn’t say, is that I had skipped breakfast that morning.  Had I not eaten when I did, I would have had a much harder time finishing the ride.

I stole this last picture from Tim.  He walked around the mud pit, and called it “the easy way”.  I said “I don’t like the easy way”, and attempted to ride through the mud.  I was no match for the mud, and the bike and I came to an abrupt halt.  I then had to put my feet into the mud to avoid falling into said mud.  I still need to wash my bike.

It was a good adventure.  We racked up nearly 80 miles, then went to Charlestown Pizza for food.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

]]> http://fatguy.org/2010/08/25/more-mixed-terrain/feed/ 3 http://fatguy.org/2010/08/21/we-love-gravel/ http://fatguy.org/2010/08/21/we-love-gravel/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:55:10 +0000 David Crowell http://fatguy.org/?p=2474 Continue reading → ]]> RCCS is hosting another gravel-seeking ride tomorrow.  In honor of that, I’m posting a few pictures of last Sunday’s Gravel ride that Tim and I did.

If you want to attend tomorrow’s ride (I know short notice), you can read more at the RCCS site.  Ride is at 9:00 am at my house.

Folding Bike - No Lock Required

Tim, Mark, and I worth the three people that showed up for last night’s RCCS Brew Cruise.

I rode my Dahon folding bike to avoid having to lock up.  I ended up with it locked to Tim and Mark’s bikes for most of the stops, but I did carry it into BBC Taproom.  The other establishments were packed, and I wouldn’t want it to get in the way.

My previous post was quite negative.  I’ve been fighting off frustration with many things in live, and dealing with depression.  Luckily bicycling has made me feel better about myself, and introduced me to many new people.  I now consider some of those people friends.

I now have a social life again, due to the bicycle.

Sunrise over the Ohio River

I did ride on Sunday with Tim.  I’ll write about that and share some pictures soon.

I intended to ride to work yesterday.  I headed out the door on my LHT shortly before 7:00 am and made it less than two miles before my chain broke.  Discouraged, I called my wife to come get me, and changed into work clothes, and drove.

In addition to getting a new chain for the bike, I made a second, spur of the moment, purchase at another bike shop.  I bought a Brooks Professional saddle to replace my sagging Brooks B-17.

Barge on the river

The hot weather has passed.  It was about 63 degrees when I left the house.  It was very comfortable weather with clear skies.  I couldn’t have asked for a better commute to work.  I may stay sane after all.

Trying to be visible