Open Streets

This Sunday was the first Bloomington Open Streets event, in which a few blocks of Kirkwood between College and Rogers were blocked off and given over to the people for fun. This is an idea that has been catching on around the world. In some places much more than a few blocks are closed to car traffic. You can read more about the broader Open Streets movement at this link.

The view of Bloomington's Open Street looking west. Yes, that's a portable climbing wall down the way!

The BBC had a table at the eastern end of event:

Thanks to Advocacy Chair Ron Brown for arranging our table. And thanks to Jim and Sylvia Schroeder and John Bassett for setting up and managing the BBC table throughout the day.

One of the big questions that comes up is how can the BBC be a group for "ordinary" cyclists who only want to ride around town, to work, to shop, or for relaxed enjoyment, without big expense and funny clothes and weird shoes, etc. As Jim has noted, the more cyclists there are of all types the better off we all are. Let's all be thinking about things we can do to promote cycling for all.

Here are club president Jim Schroeder's observations, sent to the club email list. His words are worth reading again.

"As a biking community, any time a new person gets on a bike, we need to celebrate that," says Veronica O. Davis of DC's Black Women Bike organization..."

Sylvia and I just got done spending most of Sunday at the Open Streets on West Kirkwood between College Ave and Rogers St.  Make sure to thank Ron Brown for organizing this grand opportunity to inform like-minded people about our Bloomington Bicycle Club.  Also, John Bassett for loading the big table and being there to answer questions.

The above quote rings true for bicycling in Bloomington.  This town is so bicycle crazy with Little 500 and our club's membership and RAIN and Hilly 100 and Brown County mountain biking and I can go on and on.

BUT, we forget about all those people who are just getting into bicycling let alone exercise.  We forget that we all were in those same shoes way back when.  So many of today's comments were about being worried about their present level of fitness and being quite intimidated by the "lycra" crowd.

I'd like to do something about that.

Lots of people picked up our website promotion cards to check us out. Sylvia has already contacted Klaus and asked him to add to the membership website page a picture of a cyclist with regular clothes on a hybrid or cruiser bike (with a helmet, of course). This may help reduce the intimidation factor. 

Ron had a few interested riders on his ride today, and one didn't have a helmet.  It just so happened that IU Health was fitting and giving away free helmets to anyone willing to wait in line.  Sylvia quickly got him in line and Ron's group waited at least 20 minutes for this young man to get a helmet.  I also educated him that a fall from even a stationary bicycle can even be deadly without a helmet.  Well, the group waiting for that man was indeed a celebration.

We talked to a lot of people and suggested the Nice & Easy ride and the OWLS ride.  However, I talked to a man who said he got dropped twice on the Nice &  Easy ride, and the OWLS rides are just too fast and fit for novices. Our club needs to promote and have more beginner rides and follow the "no-drop" clause.  We also need to have opportunities with neighbors, family, and friends interested in getting some exercise and recreation through bicycling. 

Road biking has been reported by many publications as elitist and snobbish, and I am sorry to have to agree. Maybe it's because of our constant hassle with the motorized NASCAR wannabe's out there or the indifference and ignorance of our rights of the road from law enforcement.  Maybe that would be why mountain biking has not gotten that label. Warning to the elite: BBC will be attracting more mountain bikers and commuters to the club.

We need to make more of an effort to embrace new members and keep tabs on their efforts to fit into our club.  I encourage the board and membership to discuss this issue. The more "normal" we become, the more our deserved rights and respect will be honored.  

Hope Ride 2013

The Hope Ride, out of Hope, Indiana, just east of Columbus, is a favorite with many BBCers. A good number of Bloomington bike riders were seen at this year's event, along with about 2400 others. The weather was cool and a bit windy, but we still enjoyed the relatively flat terrain.

There were many different options, including short at 25 miles and very short for 13. Our group took the 50 mile figure eight loop that brought us to the town square shortly after 1 pm for a taco salad lunch and live music. We opted for another 25 mile loop, which got us back to the start at Hauser High School in time for the root beer floats.

Here's a photo of our riding group at a rest stop on a farm around mile 70. Craig, CE, Allan, Steve, Laraine, Gail, Rachel. Thanks to Klaus for the photo. For all but one of us this was our first time doing the Hope Ride.

Others, including Jim, Sylvia, and Klaus opted to do the final 25 mile loop to bring their total to about 100 miles for the day.

Classic Corn Jersey

On a recent ride KDS stopped at a vegetable stand and purchased several ears of corn to take home. He convinced his friends to carry some of the corn. As it happened GM was wearing her classic 2012 RAIN jersey, aka the "Corn Jersey" and modeled it with the corn.

She only carried one ear home. The group hadn't let her forget that last year she bought some farm produce that her riding buddies helped to carry home for her. At least no one bought a watermelon!

Short Wet Leonard

This evening's OWLS ride was called Long Leonard, a 25 mile loop to the west and south.

We had a fairly big group, perhaps 24 riders. Indeed as the summer ends we've got fewer people away traveling and more people new to town showing up.

By the time we reached our first regrouping stop at Monroe Hospital we waited awhile for 4 riders who didn't show up. They didn't answer a quick phone call . One person volunteered to go back and look for them, while the rest headed forward to the famous intersection of Leonard Springs and Leonard Springs.

By this time it was lightly raining and then some. We looped down south Leonard Springs and Rockport to Tramway for our second regroup. By that time we were pretty much wet and chilly. Wet feet, wet gloves, wet brakes, wet everything.

Several of us (ultimately 7) decided to turn left on Victor and head back to town, while the remainder headed further outward to complete the long route. We ended up with around 22 miles instead of the expected 27 or so, allowing for getting between home and the start/end point. We were happy enough to get home a little early and get those wet clothes off.

Hope everyone else made it home safely too.

Bridge Out--Really!

We had the fourth annual Larry Limestone Tour this Saturday, a favorite club drive-and-ride. It starts at the old school in Heltonville, 20 miles south of Bloomington, and loops through Lawrence County backroads, highlighted by the Devil's Backbone, before taking somewhat more familiar hills between Bartlettsville and Heltonville. Jerry Arveson, who first proposed the ride to the club, and who has led it each year. The ride was originally put on by the Limestone Girls Club of Bedford back in 2008.

Jerry did his usual fine job of leading from behind and being sure no one took a wrong turn.

All his good work did not prevent our group from getting somewhat flummoxed when we came across a "Bridge Out Ahead" sign. We continued anyway with the expectation of being able to get across. As it happened the bridge really was out!

That didn't stop Mike Finger and John Bassett from carrying their bikes down to the creek, a ways downstream, to look for a way across. The rest of us said "no thanks" and proceeded to retrace our route to look for a detour. You can see our retracing toward the lower right of the map.

The downside for the main group was that we missed the main part of the Devil's Backbone and also had to take on a serious long climb. We also had a bit of trouble reconnecting with Mike and John, who really did make it across, because we didn't know who was ahead and who was behind at that point. Mike took his shoes and socks off and carried his stuff. John just waded through with his shoes on!

There's a second, planned appendix in the middle where we did an out-and-back to the convenience store at the south end of 446. (Overall the route has relatively few opportunities for food or drink.)

As we approached the last part of the route (in the upper left corner of the map), leader Jerry proposed that our trailing group take the Ramsey Ridge route back down to Heltonsville, avoiding one last major climb along Dunn Bridge Road out of Bartlettsville. We all accepted the proposal. (I think we did the same thing last year.)

It's always nice to get a little bit away from our standard rides around Bloomington. This is a ride that should stay on our yearly calendar, for sure.

Bicycle Indiana

As part of RAIN our club donates $1 per rider to Bicycle Indiana, our state-wide advocacy organization. Treasurer Jerry Arveson recently made that payment and received a note of thanks from the folks at Bicycle Indiana.

Follow Me to Wilbur

It only happens once a year. Although I don't remember doing it before, Ron claims I did it with him some years ago. It's the Wild Ride to Wilbur, a 78 mile ride to unfamiliar territory. The ride starts out standard enough, heading up Old 37 past the Morgan-Monroe Forest, cutting across New 37 at Pine Blvd to connect to Paragon Rd and thence to Paragon, where we had our first real stop at the grocery store at West and Union, which re-opened this year.

 (Look carefully and you can pick out where we stopped in Paragon.)

It was the middle part of the ride that is unfamiliar and not so often encountered, roughly miles 23 to 46, including Wilbur itself at about mile 41. It is a hilly sequence of zigs and zags, where it's easy to get lost.

(The portion of the route north of the Morgan-Monroe Forest.)

According to Joe Anderson this route originated with Frank Prosser, perhaps back in the 80s. He called it the "Follow Me" ride. He did not provide maps! (Did he even know for sure where he was going to go?)  As a scheme to try to keep the club group more together he didn't announce turns until he got there. And often he let those riding off the front go on past the turn until he go to the turn and then yelled at them to do a U-turn. Not sure it did much good for keeping the group more together, but it did make for an interesting ride. Of course now we have maps, made by Joe. Even with the maps one has to be careful. And then there are those of us with pre-mapped GPS units who don't have to worry.

We started out with about 15 riders, with leaders Jim and Sylvia mostly leading from the rear on their tandem. Joe and Doug did a short option heading up to Martinsville, where it was rumored they were going to get a ride home. It was good to see Doug out looking good, on his first club ride since a collar bone break early in the season.

From Paragon the rest of us were basically in two groups, a small lead group of 4, a middle group of 7, and a couple toward the rear.

We all met up again at the Subway in Centerton, where the route crossed 67 for the second time. Some had sugar and caffeine, while several of us had a full lunch of sandwich, chips, and drinks. Here again we left in three groups that mostly stayed together, with only minor adventures including one flat. Again the stretch of Bluff Road from Centerton into Martinsville is only occasionally encountered. It's rather flat and one can fly along there. After Martinsville we were back in familiar ground again for the ride home.

We were all glad that the possible afternoon thunderstorms did not come our way. Altogether a good ride with good friends.