Bluegrass Cycling

By John Bassett

I usually don’t blog about a trip that has not been announced to the membership in general, but I want to make a small exception this time out.  Last weekend’s Horsey Hundred in Georgetown, Kentucky (the Horsey) was attended by no less than 21 BBC members, so it almost counts as an official club ride.  This was the 36th running of this classic event put on by the Bluegrass Cycling Club (BCC), but was my first time to attend.  Having heard stories of beautiful country scenery, well-kept horse farms, and quaint towns and mills, I just had to give this one a try.  Besides, this annual event is only an easy 3 ½ hour drive from Bloomington.

Susan and I headed down Friday morning, her intent being to soak up some scenery while I tried my first venture into Kentucky cycling.  We rendezvoused with Glenn and Tammy and Dan and Cindy in Georgetown for a casual Mexican dinner and to plot out our adventures.  We arranged to meet Jen, Andy, and Martha for the 8:00 AM mass start Saturday morning.  This is horse country, so the ride start is announced by a traditional “Call to the Post” bugle call performed by the real guy from the nearby Keeneland racetrack.

Think of the Horsey as a Springtime Hilly Hundred with multiple-distance Saturday and Sunday options.  This year’s event drew about 2,000 riders.  It is smaller than the Hilly, but has its own unique flavor and character.  All routes start in Georgetown, just north of Lexington, at the Georgetown College recreational center, which serves as the center for event activities.  The long route for Saturday is the traditional “Horsey 100” which this year was mapped out at 104 miles.  A large number of the Bloomington contingent did this. I tagged along for the day with Glenn, Tammy, and another Glenn from the Bluegrass Cycling Club who shared his knowledge of the routes and history of the area.

From Georgetown, the 100 mile route dipped south of I-64 and went through the historic town of Midway.  We then did a big north loop and plunged down into the Kentucky River valley north of Frankfort.  Riding past several bourbon whiskey warehouses, we followed a community bike path south for a lap around the historic Kentucky State Capital.

I was told the Bluegrass Cycling Club (BCC), wanted to make a hillier route this year.  They succeeded.  As shown on the profile, there was a lot of climbing to do from about mile 30 to mile 70.  The Kentucky River and tributaries are entrenched about 400 feet below the rolling Bluegrass uplands in this area, and you spend a lot of time south of Frankfort climbing in and out of the valley.  Leaving the valley about Mile 70 the route loops through Keeneland back to Georgetown.

Total climb for the Saturday ride was listed as 7,800 feet, which was within 100 feet of what our GPS units recorded.  The big hills in and out of the river valley were on modest highway grades and were therefore not overly difficult.  What makes this 100 miler challenging, and what makes cycling in Bluegrass challenging in general, are the seemingly endless upland rollers.  There is no level ground.  The small hills act in combination to wear you down on a long ride.

The BCC has a great answer to this problem – lots of rest stops.  No, I never did find any Hilly Hundred fried chicken, but these guys do a great job with the food - peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, oranges, potato chips, some great oatmeal ginger cookies, and oh yes, the ubiquitous dill pickles.  You really need to try pickles while riding, but I would not recommend doing over a dozen at one time.  It took a few miles to recover from that.

I don’t want to get hung up on food here, but another nifty thing about this event is that you can quite literally end your ride and get off your bike within 30 feet of the post-ride chow line.  This little bennie is included in your registrations and features tasty sandwiches of many types, salads, and chips.  You don’t even have to take your shoes off as the whole event is outdoors!  Here is some of the Bloomington contingent before diving into a post ride feeding frenzy.

On Sunday, the rides are a little shorted, but I would not say easier.  All of the rides went east of Georgetown to the Paris area.  Many of the Bloomington contingent opted for the longest 75-mile route. This is roller city; the farther east you go – the bigger the rollers.  I was glad to get that ride turned around and headed back west.

Overall, this was a very nice weekend.  Thanks to the BCC for putting on this great event.  The routes, maps, road marking / signage, scenery, and food were all excellent.  I’ll plan on doing this one again.  Mark your calendar for the Horsey Hundred next year.

Special recognition goes to three Bloomington riders: Martha, Dana, and Rachel all completed their first centuries on Saturday.  There might even be others I don’t know about.  Congratulations, everyone.

The Best Ride in Indiana?

By John Bassett

Well, probably not – but it was a good one nonetheless!  On May 18 we tried something a little different on the Saturday club calendar and did a drive and ride to the Columbus area.  The route was published on the Bicycling Magazine website last year and was touted as the best ride in Indiana.  Who could not do such a ride!?

I had blindly put the ride on the club calendar in February.  Scouting it last month I had found the terrain a little hilly, but the roads and deep forest setting surprising pleasant.

After a brief rendezvous at Bryan Park to pick up a guest, Greg, from South Bend, Stan and I headed off to the designated starting point at the Jay C on the west side of Columbus.  By the 10:00 start time we had, by my count, 21 riders assembled BBC riders.  The official route was 56 miles with a 38 mile short option; all elected to go long.

The route starts with a long, gradual climb up the geologic Knobstone Escarpment on West Georgetown Road.  Turning south, you descend, cross SR 46, and climb again on Four Mile Ridge Road.  Valley Branch Road presents one stout climb and a nice downhill run before you junction with SR 135 just outside of Stone Head.  This is a pleasant section that extends on east along Bellsville Pike to Pike’s Peak.  Arriving in Pike’s Peak we were surprised to run into Klaus who had ridden his own route from Bloomington.  I was also surprised to see a bicycle aid station passing out bananas and cookies.  This, we found out, was associated with a separate bicycle tour being run at the same time by the Columbus club - friendly folks, but alas - no cookies for the BBC.

Crouch’s Market in Pike’s Peak is the only good place to refuel.  But, by riding a figure-of-eight, with Crouch’s in the middle, the ride has rest stops at 19 and 38 miles which divides the ride into three, about equal, parts.  The stops conveniently come after a couple of the more strenuous hilly stretches of the trip, Valley Branch Road headed south to Pike’s Peak on the north loop, and Christianburg Road heading north to Pike’s Peak on south loop.  Crouch’s, I must add, makes great sandwiches.  I had one at 19 miles, and it was so good I stopped for the “chicken salad special” at 38 miles.  Be sure to ask the nice lady at the cash register how Pike’s Peak - located in a valley - got its name.

Leaving Pikes Peak, the south loop of the Figure-of-Eight extends down Poplar Grove Road with yet another steep, but relatively short climb.  You join the Nashville 90 route at Spurgeon’s Corner and ride about two miles of the 90 in reverse.  The route follows Buffalo Pike, Houston Road, and Christianburg Road back north to Pike’s Peak.  I can best describe Christianburg Road as Rockport on steroids!  Does the road have a level section.

After leaving Pike’s Peak the second time we headed east out of the Middle Fork Salt Creek Valley and up the biggest climb of the day.  Our group got pretty strung out at this point.  I tried to stay in the middle of things and attempt to redirect wrong turns up front and assist stragglers off the back at the same time.  But we did pretty well, with Ron, Sid, Jack, and Ysusf doing a little extra credit, and Zack, Gregg, and the new guy with the vintage carbon fiber Look doing a lot of extra credit.

After a tour of the magnificent homes around Grandview Lake, the ride leaves the geologic Norman Upland, levels out, and heads back north into the Columbus ‘burbs.  We made some real time on this stretch getting to stretch our legs with some high gear work.  Back at the Jay C, a stone’s throw away, is Dagg’s, a very nice little ice cream shop.  This place totally made up for no bananas or cookies at Pike’s Peak, and was a great way to finish the ride.

We all had a good day.  I finished at 56 miles with a modest 3,800 feet of climbing.  As Stan said a couple of times: “None of these hills are named, but there sure are a lot of them”.  The route is well designed, suiting riders of various abilities.  There were several comments to include it on the ride calendar again, so we likely will.

Three Ramps on a Spring Evening

This ride was laid out by Gail Morrell (and mapped by CE Taylor), in part to avoid road work on Harrell: 446 and Knightsridge Road to Pine Grove; down and back up from the boat ramp; down Swartz Ridge and up Stipp; then Handy and down and back up Ramp Creek; back into town via Fairfax and Cardinal Glen.

Gail writes

It was a great ride!  Fifteen people showed up and 12 did the whole ride.  Three people had to cut it short due to time constraints so they turned right at the bottom of Swartz Ridge, while the rest of us went up Stipp and then out to Ramp Creek.  I found out later that evening after I got home that Harrell is paved and back open again.

Klaus Rothe, unofficial club photographer, took this opportunity to document the ride. Here's his photo from the climb up from Pine Grove boat ramp:

Click here to view OWLS ride 3-16-13 (Album of 37 great pics.)

Op Ed on Multi-Use Bike Bridges

The following is the text of an opinion piece submitted the Bloomington Herald Times by club president Jim Schroeder in consultation with the BBC board.

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Bloomington Needs a Multi-Use/Bike Bridge Over IN-37/I-69

May is truly Bike Month in Bloomington, home of "Breaking Away" and the Little 500.

As President of the Bloomington Bicycle Club (BBC), I applaud our city government on all of its pro-bicycle programs.  The BBC is a non-political, non-profit organization that promotes bicycling for everyone, and we have advocated for safe bicycling infrastructure in the city as well as out into our county.

City Sustainability Coordinator Jacqui Bauer is quoted ("May is Bike Month in U.S. and Bloomington," Herald Times, May 3) as saying that Bloomington will make 7th Street a bicycle corridor for a good east-west route in Bloomington.  But, West 7th Street terminates at Adams Street, far short of the city's western municipal boundary at IN-37.  Moreover, none of the current or proposed city bicycle routes provide easy and safe access across IN-37.  As the idea of the economic and health benefits of bicycling expands throughout our community, it is important to find a solution for the IN-37 barrier to provide a link between the city's bicycle route system and our developed areas to the west.

The BBC has lobbied the city government for many years about the importance of having a multi-use bridge over IN-37, eventually I-69, that is fully protected from motorized vehicles.  Monroe County supports this idea, and the BBC encourages the City of Bloomington to support it also.  Such development will clearly require a multi-jurisdictional effort.

A multi-use bridge over the highway would easily link to the Monroe County Karst Greenway project, and provide access to shopping areas, elementary schools, Cook, IVY Tech, and all of the new housing development west of IN-37.  The BBC's vision for placement of an IN-37 multi-use bridge, presented in detail by Ron Brown, chair of advocacy for our club, can be found on the Advocacy page of our website (bloomingtonbicycleclub.org), and all the ideas shown there have been presented to the city, county, INDOT, and INDOT I-69 planners.  Monroe County has given the bridge strong support, and INDOT has been receptive to the idea pending City of Bloomington support.  Although a multi-use bridge spanning I-69 is no longer contained as an element of the preferred Alternative 8, a multi-use bridge bridge between SR-45/2nd Street and SR-48/3rd Street is still under consideration as a separate project championed by County Councilman Geoff McKim.  The BBC encourages all City of Bloomington agencies to support this project.

There is no good reason Bloomington shouldn't get a bridge of this sort.  Columbus has a safe multi-use path under I-65, and Indianapolis has many such accommodations.  Why should the bicycling capitol of Indiana not have one, too?

A Cycling Moment

By John Bassett

The Funky 50 club ride yesterday extends down in scenic Lawrence County.

Westbound on Gil Gal Road, I was riding near the back when were we passed by a dually diesel pickup.  A few moments later I noted we were closing fast on that truck and were soon on his bumper.  The driver flipped his hand out the window in obvious frustration with an impediment ahead of him.  Around the right side of the truck I glimpsed a bright fluorescent jacket – a lone cyclist.  One of our group in trouble, I thought, crawling along on a flat?

The truck finally cleared the cyclist.

“Not one of us,” Greg noted.  In clear view now was a middle-aged woman on a fat tire bike spinning slowly, but determinedly up a small grade.  She had a severe weight issue.  It was obvious why she was on that bike.  I downshifted, fell back, and pulled up beside her.

“You’re doing fine,” I said.

She managed a pained smile.  “I’m getting a little faster,” she said.

“You know,” I said, “one lady who rides with us dropped 45 pounds in a year by riding her bike, and the lady at the head of the group who passed you a second ago pretty much did the same thing.”

Now she looked at me.  “I want to get there.”

“Keep this up, and you can!”

I flashed her thumbs up and continued down the road

Under the Trestle

From John Wrasse

I just wanted to share a pic from the Shuffle Creek ride the OWLS did on the last day of April. I enjoy passing under the trestle and finally took a pic.

Midweek Century to Vincennes

The first of May marked the season's first drive-and-ride century, great spring weather, and the largest group we've had yet. Jim called his route the the "Odon Ride". He designed it as a test of a middle part of the planned Double Century from Bloomington to Vincennes in June. As we will see there were a couple of issues! This map shows where we crossed the new I-69 coming and going.

We had nine people meet at Bryan Park at 7:30 AM to carpool: Jim, Allan, Klaus, Joe, Dave, Dana, Jen, Mike, and Stan. Kathy and Mark met us in Odon. We called Glenn as we passed by Crane and he took off work for the rest of the day to ride with us. That made a group of 12. Only a few of us are retired, but we are all folks with somewhat flexible schedules!

We got started a little after 9 AM and rode along quite happily for a while until we had trouble trying to cross the White River on backroads.

Here's the route most of us actually took:

We had a little trouble staying on the route in Washington as you can see if you look closely. After a while we passed a sign that said the road was closed, but didn't quite believe it since it was off to the side. Pretty soon we came upon some water in the road that we could go around. Then came more water, which we rode through, most of us getting our shoes wet. Then we came to MORE water, this time appearing much deeper, with a visible current. We razzed Jim a bit until he said he would try to wade it, carrying shoes and bike. The rest of us decided we weren't up for doing that, and with Joe's recommendations we backtracked adding several miles to the day's route. In the end Glenn also stayed with Jim.

We had no decent cell phone service and had no idea what had become of Jim and Glenn as we approached Vincennes. We left messages saying we were stopping at a Subway on the main drag. We had just sat down to eat when they showed up. Although they had taken the much shorter route, it took them quite a bit of extra time. It turned out that they had to wade FOUR times. And then Jim had a flat, which turned out to be a punctured sidewall that required a boot not to blow out. WHEW. But all was well and we ate lunch together before heading down to old town and the river, etc. As usual, Joe was able to regale us with stories about the history of Vincennes. One tidbit: This is one of the few places one can ford the Wabash River, here where the ancient Buffalo Trace crossed. Another thing we learned is the Vincennes University is the oldest university in the state. You can read some of the history of Vincennes by clicking on the link to Wikipedia.

Here's a picture Klaus took of most of the rest of us at the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park Rotunda on the Wabash River in Vincennes:

On the way back we got split into at least three groups, which has been unusual for the century rides. The largest group headed out from a refueling stop because at least one person needed to be back in Bloomington before 6 PM.

Then my group of three went. Finally Jim and Klaus brought up the rear.

A close comparison between the planned route and the actual route shows a little "appendix" along the northern edge. This was there for services and to bring the route closer to 100 miles. My group skipped it and I expect others did too. After all we already had added 5-6 extra miles.

The last surprise is not obvious from the maps. But near the end the road turned to gravel. Our three debated what to do, but finally decided to plunge ahead. It turned out that over 3 of the last 5 miles were a long gravel stretch, including a 15 degree climb. My moving average for the day dropped from 15.1 to 14.7 just in those 3 miles. And I never would have used my granny gear except for that one steep climb. Too bad there's no helpful and current database of paved roads! In the end it turned out that Jim and Klaus backtracked and rode back into Odon on the Highway 58 shoulder, but all the rest of us did the gravel. Jim did report that the highway was rough going since it had been shaved in preparation for resurfacing.

According to Jim's Ride with GPS route we expected only about 3000 feet of climbing for the day. My GPS recorded only about 1700. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between. But in any case you won't find many century routes in southern Indiana with less climbing.

Altogether it was an adventure of a ride on a beautiful, warm and sunny day. A great time.

For insurance reasons and the desire to keep these centuries open to people across a wider area of the state, these centuries are not designated as official club rides. Anyone interested in keeping informed or in joining in on any of this years midweek centuries should contact Jim Schroeder to be put on the special email list and/or join the Southern Indiana Centurions Facebook group.