Last Sunday, January 6th, Tim, Timothy, Patrick, and I went out for a planned 40-mile gravel ride leaving from Marengo Indiana.
The weather forecast was for low to mid-30s with a 20% chance of rain. The temperature stayed in that range. We never did see any rain. Although all of the snow Louisville had gotten had already melted, this area had gotten more snow and not all of it had melted. This made some of the road conditions interesting.
Once we arrived in Marengo (Tim drove me there), I realized I had everything I needed except for my helmet. I’m not a helmet-nazi, but my helmet is where my mirror is mounted. It also has a rain cover on it which is useful for blocking the wind when it’s cold. I missed the helmet during the ride.
I rode the Fargo. It’s a great gravel bike, but doesn’t have fenders. No fenders meant that I didn’t have to worry about mud getting stuck between the tire and fender. Instead, the mud just went all over me and the bike.
I’m not going to give a play-by-play, as this was nearly a week ago, and I can’t remember the details. What’s important is that some of the roads were quite sketchy. This included a private road that was pretty much washed out – on a steep descent. I dropped the bike in that stretch.
There were icy/muddy bits. There were soft muddy bits that made moving forward difficult even on flat ground. Once this road pitched upward we were forced to walk up the hill.
There were water crossings and a lot of puddles. My bike and I were very muddy at the end of the ride.
40 miles is a relatively short ride for the four of us. Yet, we cut a few miles off the route, and made it more like 37 miles. We just didn’t have the desire to go the few extra miles. I’ve lost fitness, and I think the other guys have too. It was a tough route.
I have to congratulate Timothy on this route. I’d like to visit here again when it’s warmer out and I’m in better shape.
