Riders 9, Dogs 0: Ride to Harmony, Thursday, July 23

by Tom Reynolds

At the start of our 26 mile ride out Victor Pike, to Harmony, to Ison, Leonard Springs, and home, we were treated to the welcome sight of Stan back on his bike after too long an absence. He's a fast healer! We all look forward to lots of rides with Stan for the remainder of the season.

The ride was both a figurative and a literal dogfight. The figurative dogfight was up the killer hill at the Oolitic quarry. Patrick was first to the top followed by Mike who seems to be getting stronger faster than humanly possible (youth, not a doping scandal). Unfortunately both riders disregarded my instructions at the start not to pass the leader on the big climbs and were therefore relegated to the back, just behind Tammy on her tandem. This made me the "official" winner of the climb!

We regrouped at the intersection of Victor Pike and Rockport Road for the jog up to Harmony. As we left the regroup point the literal dogfights began. We were threatened by the big dog across the road but as usual he stayed on his own property and we all went up the hill to Harmony untouched. We were all feeling good to have the dog threat behind us and no rain on the horizon--attested to by a rider who checked the weather radar via IPhone (and will remain unnamed). In the next 45 minutes we were nearly drowned by a deluge of Biblical proportions and attacked by 8 more dogs. The doggies failed to bring down and devour any riders (even the stragglers at the back of the pack) with the closest call being a big brown and black would-be killer who attacked on the downhill north of Harmony under cover of heavy rain.

Mother Nature, in an apparent act of contrition, brought out the sun to dry us and cheer us as we rode Ison to Leonard Springs and back into town. Thanks to all for a fun and adventurous ride.

Dam Ride, Tuesday, July 21

By Greg Simmons

Close to 30 riders did a 27 mile, mostly out-and-back ride to the Salt Creek Dam at the foot of Monroe Lake. The OWLS rides have been consistently drawing 15-20+ riders every week with varying levels of riding speed levels (much like the Saturday Club rides).

This date was 2 days after the R.A.I.N. Ride and several cyclists needed a “recovery” ride . I know I did!

The weather was perfect at around 70 degrees and was overcast but with no rain in sight. It was my first time on Ramp Creek since it had been repaved and it was very nice.

Thanks to Chris Tietz for leading the way up front while Terry and I rode sweep.

I will be leading another ride in a couple weeks that will be around 30 miles out to Bottom Road and back, so I hope we'll have another big turnout for that ride.

Photos from the ride, by Allan and Greg. (Click the image for a larger version.)

Greg distributes maps:

Tom models his new RAIN jersey:
Gathering at 5:45
Regroup after climbing Ramp Creek hill:
Turn around at the dam:
Final regroup at the Smithville PO

Bloomington Criterium

By Allan Edmonds

This year the Bloomington Criterium, sponsored by local racing team Tortuga, ended up on the same day as the BBC RAIN Ride. It was a fun event for those of us not participating in RAIN (and even for a few who did RAIN!).

Here's the route for the race (about 0.55 miles):

And here's a snapshot of the Cat 3 (mid level, amateurs) racers making the corner from Grant onto Kirkwood by the Library. (Click on it for a larger version.)

For those not familiar with criterium racing, there's a general description at Wikipedia.

Owls Ride Report July 14 2009

by Eugene Kase

I volunteered to lead this ride and was glad to see a small gathering at the church parking lot when I arrived about ~10 minutes early. More and more riders trickled in and as we were discussing a variety of topics waiting until the start time of 5:45pm, we all heard a loud pop and one unfortunate fellow’s tube popped. He replaced the tube and it popped again, at which point he gave us the go ahead to proceed without him.

At that point, 26 of us proceeded down Rogers thru Hyde Park, cut across on St. Remy to Smith road and up to 45.

We stopped at the beginning of Mt. Gilead and took a head count.
We took Mt. Gilead to 45, left, to Tunnel road where we stopped again for a quick refueling.

We proceeded down Tunnel a short ways and took Robinson, which had little to no traffic. At the last part of Robinson it does get a little rough but we stopped at Robinson and Old 37 and see if there were any takers wishing to go up Boltinghouse. Indeed there were, as 6 from the group took the challenge.

The remaining group stayed on Old 37 and up Fire Station hill. The 6 that went up Boltinghouse split at the top, with one going left toward 45, 3 going down Hinkle/Griffy Lake, and two going toward Old 37 where they hooked up with some of the Fire station hill route riders. We headed toward Cascade Park, then by IU Stadium and then home.

I want to thank everyone for riding and I hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Special thanks to Glenn, who was my sweeper for this ride. Also thanks goes to my daughter who took the pictures of us riding down Olcott/Hyde Park. I’m sure she would have taken more, if one of her hands wasn’t on her cell phone.

Saturday Ride 7/11/09

Close to 30 riders set out shortly after 8 am on this favorite Nashville 90 ride. Bob DeGroff got the group organized and we were off. The weather report called for probably rain in the afternoon, but it looked pretty safe through about 1 pm. This was our first official test of the state's chip and seal program, which started around Pine Grove on 446 and continued southward for ever. I can report that it makes for quite a bone-jarring ride. Often the best riding was to be found on or just to the right of the white line on a narrow shoulder that hadn't been hit with rock and oil. But where the shoulder was wider it too had been chip-and-sealed and was rough as usual and carried a fair amount of debris. It was predictable that there would be several flats. But there were "only" two along 446 between the causeway and Highway 58.





There was a major reconnoitering at Highway 58. The lead group had already headed toward Freetown. One OWLS group was waiting to collect 90 riders. A third, smaller, OWLS group of seven headed west on 58, refueling in Heltonville and then working our way through back roads over to Judah, following the club map for Dr. T's Funky 50. At Judah it was just beginning to rain lightly. We hung out for a short while at the BP station at the intersection of Old and New 37 for a bit. Then we decided to ride on in on Old 37. Pretty soon the very light rain stopped and we had an uneventful ride back to the park, for a round trip of about 52 miles. Our route as recorded by GPS is displayed.



The OWLS group also completed the Nashville 90 in good fashion and even provided some good pictures of familiar sites along the route.. For Shelley and Mike, it was their first-ever 90 mile ride... Mike also reports that "We got drenched with a heavy rain from Helmsburg to Needmore, but it took our minds off how much our legs hurt." Mike passed along familiar looking photos of Freetown grocery, the Story Inn, and a richly deserved stop at Bruster's on the way back into town.

Keith Vogelsang provided an additional update from the ride:

Mac and I managed to keep up with OWLS group to Freetown. Once there,
we learned a parade was soon going to commence. Dave Tanner decided to
stick around and watch. For tandem teams, ascending hills can be really
slow, and we fell behind the OWLS once we encountered the hills on the
way to Story. It was in Story that we first started to feel rain--not
enough to drench the road, but enough to spot our glasses.

We didn't see the OWLS again until Nashville, where Mac and I had
stopped to get a pizza, and the OWLS had already finished their lunch
and were now on the road to Helmsburg. Upon leaving our pizza lunch
stop, the rain began in earnest--along with thunder--and we started
making plans to seek cover. We rode the six miles to Helmsburg and
sought cover inside the Figtree Gallery & Coffee Shop. The proprietors
were very kind to us and offered us towels to dry off. We were their
only customers, and waited out the rain drinking coffee (me) and hot
chocolate (Mac). It was my first time inside the Figtree--perhaps the
most interesting and eclectic coffee shop I've ever seen. Dave Tanner
spotted our tandem as he was riding by, and stopped in to tell us about
the parade in Freetown. As it turns out, local congressman Baron Hill
participated.

Shortly after leaving Helmsburg, the rain started up again, but we
just kept going at our very slow pace and finally encountered dry
roads. While our feet were still dripping wet, our bike was completely
dry by the time we returned to Bloomington. The storm didn't appear to
be as productive in eastern Monroe county as it was in Brown county. We
had a great ride, and feel much better prepared for next weekend's RAIN.

Any other updates from other groups on the ride are still welcome.

For a day in mid July it was remarkably cool. Anyone from that group is welcome to send an update to blogger@bloomingtonbicycleclub.blogspot.com for adding to this report.

OWLS Stone Crusher Ride 7/9/09

Tom Reynolds led a group of 20 riders out on this new NWW route that he and Shelley Bradfield scouted out. Here's Tom getting us organized.





The first challenge was to get through town and on our way out on Vernal Pike, making judicious use of a shortcut at the Winslow Sports Complex and the Y. We eventually circled around on Oard Road, where the stone crushing operation is located. Here's Tammy on her recumbent climbing Oard Road at the Stone Crusher site.



A unique aspect of the ride was a stop at Karst Farm Park, where we waited for several people who had gotten separated from the main group way back at a light on Vernal. Shelley was co-leading from the back, so no one got permanently lost. Another rider also had plenty of time to fix a flat...twice! Then it was back by the airport, and homeward.

OWLS Strain Ridge to Harrodsburg 7/7/09

CE Taylor led a group of 20 OWLS on a 28 mile route similar to the standard "Thursday Training Ride." Ramp Creek, Strain Ridge, Old 37 to Harrodsburg; then Old 37 and Victor Pike back to town.



I was breaking in a new camera...different brand than I'm used to....and ended up taking pictures in B & W. (As usual, click on a photo for a larger version.)

Cordry-Sweetwater Lakes Ride 7/4/09

This 80+ mile ride was destined to have low-participation. It was a family-centered holiday and the weather prognosis was lousy. That evening
Mike Finger wrote:

"There were 5 of us that headed out on today's scheduled, Cordry Sweetwater ride, but the voice of reason had already begun to speak loudly within my head. Rain was coming-that was a certainty-only how long did we have before we were wet was the only question. Having been sick all week, the last thing I needed was to get soaked and stay that way all day in this cool weather. I bailed at Unionville, taking a right on Brummetts Creek road and John Connell came with me. That left Tom, Mike and Bruce to continue along the designated route. How did they do? Did they do the whole ride? Bail at some later point? Did they make a safe return to Bloomington? I, for one, am curious to know! By the time John and I got to Kerr Creek road on our way back, it was already raining. It is still raining as I type this at 9:30 in the evening!"

Later that week Mark Napier, the official leader of this ill-fated ride, sent along a group photo:

He also wrote, "Of those in the picture, Joe went straight home, Dave Tanner was heading to watch the parade. Others went various directions. To the best of my knowledge, nobody did the scheduled ride.

It rained over 2 inches that day."

Perhaps we'll reschedule this ride later in the season?