The Limestone Tour That Wasn't

By Stan Ellis, Ride Coordinator

Saturday, March 28, 2009, started as a grey cold morning, but no rain........until I stepped out the door to get on my bike. I decided to drive to Bryan Park since I didn't want to be the only dummy riding in the rain. But you never know if someone might show up.

We had 10 people standing in the drizzle ready to ride. The only question was should we change the route. I made an excuse that I wasn't too crazy about riding down the hills when the road was wet, so why not do something flatter? (Actually it was my first time on the bike this year and I wasn't sure if I could get up all of the hills on the Limestone Tour Route.)

We decided on the Muscatatuck ride, with many options available depending on the rain intensity. Brett didn't feel well, so he left us at the edge of town; Jen, Carl & Jodie turned around at Muscatatuck for an out-and-back; Mike F, Mark, Greg, Doug, Chris and I rode to Fry, then Buskirk to Dittemore Road. Chris was having shifting problems so he headed back to Bottom Road. The rest of us took Mike F's advice and added on just a few more miles to Chambers Pike, then to B-town on old 37 through Dolan.

The neat thing about riding with the club is you can almost always find some one to ride no matter the weather. I am sure everyone finished soaking wet and with a dirty bike, but we got in 34 miles on the long route. I met some new riders and it felt great getting back on the bike.

Stolen Bikes

By Allan Edmonds

This New York Times blog posting The Bicycle Thieves Among Us, that I accidentally ran into today, brought back thoughts of the time about 35 years ago that I my bike was stolen. I left it weakly locked to a rack hidden from street view and came back in the early evening to get it, and it was gone.

As with any other theft, I felt violated. My biggest mistake was parking it out of view. And second was not having a good lock.

The main result for me was that I bought a used Raleigh Superbe Three-Speed, which was actually a much better bike than the newer Raleigh that was stolen. I think it was considered their top-of-the-line bike back in the 50's and 60's. It had things like a built-in lock in the fork and a built-in generator in the front hub. And a great leather Brooks saddle that looked just like the one club member Carl Fields uses on his custom road bike. Here's a link to a blog that shows a picture of what could be my old bike (minus the big seat bag): Raleigh Superbe.

That Superbe lasted me a long time, twenty or twenty-five years, until I finally bought a Trek hybrid that was sufficient to get me started with Nice and Easy club rides and even on my first Nashville 90!

The NYT blog's main points are that you need to secure the wheels, which nowadays have quick releases, as well as the seat. I have to say that around Bloomington I don't usually lock my wheels or seat. I worry more about my detachable lights.

Does anyone in the club have a story about a stolen bike to share? Has anyone ever gotten a bike back after it was stolen?

Adopt A Road Update

By Jennifer Miers

You never know what the weather is going to do in March. Seven slightly demented BBCers showed up Sunday, March 29th to patrol our adopted stretch of highway while a mix of rain and snow pelted the area. Happily the precipitation stopped shortly after we got started. As it was the first cleanup up of the year, we feared the worst but were pleasantly surprised. The bulk of the refuse appeared at the Walnut/37 intersection. For the most part, the roadside was not in the awful state we found it in in '08. Recent rains had done a good job of washing plastic bottles and Polar Pop cups to central "collection" areas. We were quickly able to restore the limestone hillsides and volunteer tree stands to their natural state. Passersby now see redbuds where they were previously distracted by clumps of white Styrofoam.   Two tough hours were sufficient to complete the task. And the weather was so nasty, we didn't have to miss a ride to do it!   BBC is really making a difference on this road. I hope you will join us on our next outing: Sunday, June 14, 1:30 p.m.

Sebring Bicycle Race

By Brian Fitzgerald

I had the opportunity recently of going to Sebring, Florida to race in the 24 hour Sebring Bicycle Race which on the surface seems stupid.  Why ruin a perfectly good trip to Florida by staying up all night riding a bicycle?  I mean if you're going to stay up and at least drink until dawn, right?

I knew about this race and always wanted to go down and do the 12 hour ride but having completed the 2006 run of Rudy's Double Century, I decided that if I was going down there then I needed to do the 24 hour non-RAAM qualifier portion of the race.  The thing about this was that I had quit riding after the 2008 RAINSTORM to focus on running and I was continuing to run in November when Wayne Gallapoo of Seymour wondered if I'd be interested in going.  My initial answer was no but I thought it'd be a good excuse to hit the Southern climes in February but initially he was going to do the 12 hour event.  I said that if I'm going then it was the 24 hour race that I'd do and he was ultimately convinced to join me.  So it was the two of us plus Elizabeth Eaken of North Vernon who would race in this event along with Wayne's wife Sarah Gallapoo who would be our SAG, cheerleader, mom, caretaker, etc.  The decision was made in the middle of November so I had to get after the training in earnest.  I didn't know how to get ready for it but I knew that all of the training would be done indoors on the trainer since I'm too much of a wimp to ride outside when it's less than 50 degrees.

We made the trip down to Sebring starting on February 11^th and arrived in Sebring on the 12^th.  Given the day to stretch the legs, lay out by the pool, etc.  we were able to pick up packets on February 13^th.  Given that we've done RAIN and have helped out RAIN registration, we've had it spoiled with the efficiency of getting packets, etc. pretty quickly.  Of course in my case, I pre-registered for this event and they didn't seem to have anything on me, no paperwork, etc.  All though my check did clear, my paperwork apparently didn't.  Once I got everything straightened out I was hoping this would be the only thing that would go wrong for this race.  The race staff was helpful and apologetic that this did happen though.

5 am February 14^th came early.  After a hot shower and a final pre-race check, the three of us headed outside with over 200 other riders for the 6:30 am mass start at the entrance to the Sebring International Raceway.  This race track hosts the world famous 12 Hours of Sebring race.  It's a 3.7 mile road course that has hosted races since the 1950s.  We were given are last minute directions by the race director and at 6:30 am, we set out for a 3 lap circuit of the track before being turned loose onto the 89 mile out and back section of the course.  You head out on the section and not quite half way, you need to drop off a poker chip that has your ride number on there.  It ensures that the riders actually have ridden out to the checkpoint.  The nice thing about this loop and riding around this part of the state are the numerous orange groves that you encounter.  During the harvesting as you ride by, the citric acid and aroma is thick.  It smells good and you almost feel the citric acid in your eyes but one thing that we commented on was how cool it would be to live down here and have some orange trees in your back yard to pick every morning.

Anyway, back to the race, once we made the turnaround we headed back to the track, the wind wasn't too bad but the three of us worked well together so we all had turns dealing with a little headwind heading back plus we were protected a little bit by some trees.  We got back to the track in 6 hours and 8 minutes.  I was hoping we'd get back in 6 hours or better for our goals so we were close.  After a crossing of the timing mat, we headed back out on an 11 mile loop.  Heading out for a couple of miles into a block 10 mph headwind and going uphill for that matter was a little tough but then that last 8 or so miles was with the wind, plus by some more orange groves, and we were able to take it easy at about 14 miles an hour going into the wind and around 18-20 miles per hour with the wind.  We used that strategy a lot for a couple of hours as it seemed that we couldn't get people to work with us heading into the wind and they'd fly off and leave us once we had the wind but I guess people have their own goals but after 3 laps or so of that it got a little thankless for the 3 of us.

Sometime around 5 pm we were thinking that and were told that around 5:30 pm that they were going to open up the track, they actually opened it not too long after we got done with our 5^th lap so then we began what would be a rather long evening and morning on the track.  Safe from the traffic and close if we encountered a problem.  Some people know that at some point everyone tends to ride for themselves.  You want to stick together but sometimes it just doesn't happen depending on how people feel, etc.  Once the three of us hit the track, the only time I saw Wayne and Liz were in the pits or when they passed me on the track.  

It is a funny feeling riding past sundown.  You need good bright lights and having an iPod seemed to help out too.  I was concerned about the headlight that I had so the day before at Wal-Mart, I purchased a small LED miners lights and wore it.  I was hoping that it would work out and be comfortable for the overnight ride.  It worked better than I could've hoped.  Very light weight and very bright.  I eventually turned off my headlight and just went with the miners light.  The iPod was nice to have since I knew that at 1:30 am, I would get tired of telling myself to keep pushing and that I would need some music to keep me motivated.  Sadly I didn't adjust my playlist accordingly and on some parts of the ride, instead of some hard rock and roll, I'd have some easy listening.  Not a good situation to go through.

Riding at night on the track was actually pretty cool.  They had used blinking taillights to show you the route of the racetrack, provided that no one ran over them, and it proved to be a great asset to follow the direction of the track since they don't have any lights on the race track that we could've used.  That might also be true to since the track is near the airport as well.  But one thing that I noticed that although you were out there with other riders, their was a loneliness to the ride.  I could have drafted but the opportunity never really presented itself.  It is to some extent every person for themselves or maybe it's like you are condemned to suffer your race by yourself.

My goal was to ride 300 miles but it's always a priority for me to have a good time.  I was going to have fun regardless of the distance limit that I imposed on myself.  But when I finally got off the back for the final time slightly before 5:30 am on Sunday morning and having accomplished my distance goal, I was very ecstatic and very tired.  I finished with 307 miles for the day and my actual ride time was 19 hours and 12 minutes.

I'll definitely do this event again and we're already penciling it in for 2010.

Muscatatuck and Beyond

By Allan Edmonds

By Allan Edmonds

Leader Mike Finger organized a group of 18 riders for the Saturday club ride on March 21. The weather was clear and crisp with temperatures in the low 40's at ride time. Because of the reported tree down across the road in Cascades Park and the size of our group it was decided to avoid Cascades on the way out of town, opting instead to take Gurley Pike up to Kinser and head out toward BHSN and beyond on Kinser. We made good time along Kinser. There was a regrouping after crossing 37 and before heading down the sandy, rough hill to Bottom Road. We then speeded along Bottom Road, passing Muscatatuck Nature Reserve without stopping. The next regrouping was at Fry Road, where 5 riders opted for the short route, while the others continued along the standard regular route. They planned to modify it on the way back by cutting over east so as to come in on Old 37 instead of retracing their route along Bottom Road. The smaller group doing the short option took Frye to Buskirk to Dittemore and from there returned to town on Bottom and Kinser. We did opt to go through Cascades to inspect the downed tree. It was easy enough to go around it on the grass on the east side of the road. We could not fathom why the tree had not been removed. It did not look like a major job. Altogether our OWLish group did 29 miles round trip from the park, at a respectable 13.5 mph. Total climb about 2255 ft.

Triple Creeks

Saturday Ride, March 14 By Jerry Arvesen, Ride Leader

It had been years since I'd led a BBC ride, and never a Saturday ride, so I was a bit nervous as the weekend approached, especially after hearing that 35 cyclists had ridden on the previous week's ride. (The saying "herding cats" comes to mind when I think of leading a ride.) Saturday morning arrived cool, gray and overcast, with temperatures in the mid-40s. The weather, and spring break, must have kept the numbers down, as only two riders were at Bryan Park at 10:55. However, that quickly grew to eleven a few minutes later, and after some brief introductions and route review, we were off.

Our group consisted of some regulars like Mike Finger, Keith Vogelsang, and Allan Edmonds. Since I'm only a regular-wannabe, a few other BBC members were new to me: Chris Bonham, Carl Field, and Allan Headley. John Connell and Bill Struemph were also along, as was a fellow on a cool Kona hybrid, plus a strong young rider on a single- speed.

Our ride to the first regroup location at the old Mt. Gilead church and cemetery was uneventful, mainly dealing with traffic, potholes, and sand on the roads. It wasn't until the climb up the other end of Mt. Gilead that the lead riders started to disappear. Bill and I recounted our painful memories of last summer's final 20 miles of the Wilbur ride, when it seemed as if we'd never get back to Bloomington. We also talked about climbing hills on March legs, and regardless of how strong we think we are the hills never seem to get easier.

Heading south on Brummetts Creek, we all fell into the state of bliss that relaxed riding brings, as we chatted and enjoyed the first signs of spring in the forests and fields. Brummetts Creek has always been one of my favorite roads. Most of its course is a wide open valley with steep wooded hillsides, low traffic, and picturesque farms. At our second regroup point at Fleener Road, Mike Finger organized a sub- group of five head- and leg-strong riders to tackle Boltinghouse hill. This included Tom, our visitor from Seattle, and our young single-speed rider. It seems as if Tom had heard of the Boltinghouse folklore on last week's training ride, and wanted some proof before convincing his friends back home about Indiana hills. I wonder how our 43x18 single-speed managed on Boltinghouse?

The rest of us mortals, scoffing at this insanity, headed for the two- mile flat stretch of SR46 before joining Gettys Creek and Kerr Creek roads. We continued along the creeks at a relaxed 15 mph pace, and powered our way up the Kerr Creek hill with only minimal griping. Through Park Ridge East individuals started to head towards home, as did I, after ensuring that the few remaining riders could manage their way back to Bryan Park. All in all, a great friendly group, a nice relaxed pace, good spring air, and 25 miles into the ride log.

The season begins

By Mike Finger, BBC Tour Director

The first week of March marked the first Tuesday/Thursday evening training ride of the season. The rain held off (or perhaps went away entirely) and it certainly was warm enough. By 5:30 we had a small but dedicated group of riders. Besides myself, Klaus Rothe and Jim Schroeder were there, as was Bob DeGroff, Wes and a visitor, Tom, from Seattle. He said he will be around for about 10 days and I hope he gets to ride with us again. He is a strong rider (with a very nice bike)!

We decided to do the standard Thursday route out to Smithville and from there go straight across to Ketchum and back in by way of Fluck Mill and Vernal Pike. However, when we got to Smithville we realized we were having too much fun to go home so soon, so we decided to go on to Harrodsburg and come back in on Old37. The only bummer about the whole thing was that the headwind was brutal on Strain Ridge Rd. On a good day it is not unusual to be in a paceline moving along in the mid to high 20mph range. Today, it was all I could do to keep it at 13mph and it felt like I was climbing a mountain. This period of suffering was short-lived because when we made the turn at Harrodsburg this same wind was now our friend. The finish back to the park was a 'breeze'.

Total miles: 27.5mi. Average speed 17.1mph. Just under 2 hours. Sweeet!! Let's do it again soon!

Annual Meeting and Banquet

By Allan Edmonds


Club members declared March 7 the First Day of Spring. March 7 marked not only the first official ride of the 2009 ride calendar. It also marked our annual meeting and party. This year we had an elegant buffet dinner at Chapman's Restaurant in Bloomington. Social chair Autumn McCoy did all the organizing for a wonderful event. The menu included green salad, melons and grapes, a sliced tomato-parmesan dish, steamed vegetables, rice, vegetarian lasagna, baked fish, baked chicken, and dinner rolls. Dessert included lemon custard, chocolate mousse, apple pie, and coffee. All food was paid for by the club. A cash bar was available. There were about 80 or so club members, including family and guests. A nice time was had by all.


After dinner, club co-president Mark Napier presided over a brief, formal business meeting, in which the club approved a small change to the by-laws that will follow recent practice to allow club officers to live "near Bloomington," replacing the former requirement that they live "in the city of Bloomington." Officers for the coming year were also elected. Keith Bobay presented a slate of officers on behalf of the nominating committee. Mark Napier and Jennifer Miers were re-elected co-presidents, Tom Whitehead was elected vice-president, and Joe Anderson was re-elected treasurer, and Keith Bobay was re-elected as secretary. Keith also presented two new committee chairs: (1) Sandi Owen, who will take over as Membership Chair, as Jim Lang devotes his time to upgrading our computerized budget and accounting system to QuickBooks. And (2) Jim Schroeder, who will head up a project to update our collection of route maps.

Mark introduced many of the continuing committee chairs, each of whom spoke briefly about their activities on behalf of the club.

Co-president Jennifer Miers talked about Adopt-a-Road. Our section of road is a one-mile stretch of Old 37, just south of where Old 37 crosses State Road 37 heading toward Harrodsburg, see the map. Dates for this year's four clean up days are on the club calendar. People should contact Jennifer ahead of time if they plan to help so that she can be sure there are sufficient reflective vests and gloves to go around. Besides being a good public service, this is a good way to help drivers appreciate cyclists more. There are signs at both ends of our mile stretch that announce that the BBC has adopted this section of road.

Tour Director Mike Finger talked about the ride calendar and being a ride leader. A group of ten or so club members responded to Mike's invitation a few weeks ago to gather and put together the main Saturday ride calendar for the upcoming season. Pictures taken at the meeting by Klaus Rothe can be viewed here. Rides were selected and ride leaders were recruited. More ride leaders are still needed, especially for rides in the second half of the season. Mark chimed in with a plug for the idea of co-ride leaders. When we have large groups it's too difficult for one person to keep track of everyone. It's an easy way to get a feel for what's involved with being a ride leader to volunteer to assist and experienced ride leader. Typically, one person leads out and shows the way, while the other keeps an eye on the tail of the group being sure no one gets dropped or lost or accidentally left to fend for themselves. In general all club members have a shared responsibility to help be sure no one falls behind or otherwise has trouble. So keep an eye on those near you, and offer a helping hand where it might be needed.

Outgoing Membership chair Jim Lang announced that we now have 188 members, and that memberships can now be paid on-line through a secure credit card payment link.. Just go to the Membership Page of the club web site to renew, if you haven't already done so. Note that your credit card statement will show this as a payment to RAIN. (The club is saving money by piggy-backing on the system set up for RAIN registration.) The current membership roster can always be viewed in the private area of the club web site. Jim was accepting membership renewals at the meeting. Reminder: club memberships expire each year on May 31. Here's a photo of club member Dave Tanner renewing his membership for 2009.

Klaus Rothe talked about the new web site he is designing for the club, which he hopes will go live in the next month or so. It will have an up-to-date, visual focus. For those who can't wait, a preliminary mock-up of the new home page can be seen at this page. Many changes are still being made, but you can get a rough idea of what to expect here. By the way, for those interested Klaus uploaded some of the photos he took at the party to BBC Banquet. (The second and fourth photos in this story came from Klaus.)

Advocacy chair Keith Vogelsang talked about his role keeping an eye out for issues and being a general gadfly. Keith's comments provoked a brief discussion from the floor about the developing B-Line Trail. It is a multi-use trail. Bicyclists may use it to get from one place to the other, sharing it with walkers, runners, skateboarders, etc., but it won't substitute for our regular road cycling. Keith specifically asked club members to keep him informed about issues they hear about related to bicycling. Cathy Meyer, chair of Safety and Education (which overlaps a bit with Advocacy), chimed in with a call for some new committee members. Their activities involve such things as requests for assistance and kid's bike rodeos and being a presence at other events where they can hand out safety literature.

Allan Edmonds talked about the OWLS (Older or Wiser or a Little Slower) riding group and encouraged people to come out for their moderate training rides on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 5:45 pm, starting in April, and typically go around 25 +/- miles in a couple of hours. See the on-line ride calendar for more details. Those who have never been on an OWLS ride but might be interested can get a sense of them from a series of OWLS ride reports Allan put together last summer. This year we'll have the rides on the club calendar. CE Taylor is helping out planning rides for this season.

Allan also talked about this new BBC Blog that is replacing our sometime newsletters. Articles will be published here as they come in, with brief announcements being sent to the club by email. Ride reports and articles of general interest should be sent to him by email. Contributions from club members will be important in making this a successful venture. So take up the challenge of sharing your thoughts and ideas with club. Use the email address blogger@bloomingtonbicycleclub.org to submit articles.

In the absence of RAIN Director Joe Anderson, Mark discussed plans for RAIN 2009 and the importance of club members helping out as volunteers, both on the day of the event (July 18) and in getting things organized in the weeks ahead of that time.

Jennifer Smallwood, chair of the grant committee, talked about this year's grant process. Grant recipients who were present were introduced and the others were mentioned. In particular Madi Hirschland of Earth Care Bloomington talked about the group she represents and their program of encouraging bicycle racks at area religious organizations. She showed a poster advertising Walbicus---Walk Bike Carpool or Bus to Worship weekends -- scheduled for 2009. Here is photo taken by Klaus.

Click here to see a copy of the poster.

After all the business and reports were completed, Norm Houze presented a program on deCycles, including a 45-minute video documentary on their 2008 trip, three weeks in the Southwest, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. The 2009 trip is already completely filled. It will be a three-week round trip from Bloomington, called Appalachian Mountains 2009, riding south to the Smokys, then along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and back home via West Virginia. Check out the deCycles website for the full story of last year's trip and to follow day by day accounts of the 2009 trip. Norm invited all club members to come out as a bicycling escort when the group leaves Bloomington on June 20. More details on that will be available later.

After the program many members and guests continued to chat informally for a while before heading out. We hope not too many people forgot to reset their clocks for Daylight Savings Time when they got home!

First Club Ride of 2009 Riding Season

By Allan Edmonds and Keith Vogelsang

We had a tremendous turnout for Saturday's ride to Ellettsville. There were lots of familiar faces and some new ones too. But the group was too big to go around introducing everyone. Riders were still pulling into Bryan Park and assembling their bikes after our scheduled 11:00 start time, so we started a bit late to give all 35 riders an opportunity to join the first club ride of the 2009 season.

Eventually ride leader Keith Vogelsang got everyone organized and away we went. Naturally with a group this size we soon split up into at least three smaller groups.

With so many riders, staying together as a group to get out of town would not be possible. Nearly all riders successfully re-grouped after crossing State Highway 37 at Vernal Pike. Two new riders, however, were struggling a bit, so Keith and Ethan, his 8 year old stoker on their tandem, stayed with them to make sure they had an opportunity to complete the route.

Everyone regrouped two or three times more times. But one group decided to add an extra five miles or so on their own. (At least that was their plan...we didn't go along!) By the end people trickled back in small groups to the park.

As the trailing group made its way out of Ellettsville, one of the riders (Mark) stopped to assist a motorist in distress. The motorist was having car trouble, and was in tears because she couldn't get in touch with anyone to help her. Mark, who happens to be the minister at First Baptist Church in Ellettsville, suggested she pull her car into the nearby church parking lot and wait there until help could arrive. While Mark escorted the woman to the church lot, Keith, Ethan, and Kevin continued at Mark's request.

While pedaling back into town, the sweep group encountered other riders that began with us at Bryan Park. Were these riders doing the Ellettsville loop a second time while we were still on our first loop?  No--but they were the ones who had decided to add extra miles, and were now catching up to us, which was easy to do at our leisurely pace. When it's early March and the weather is as pleasant as it was on Saturday, however, any pace is the right pace for a bike ride.

Overall one rider's GPS recorded an average speed of 12.3 mph from home, not too bad for the first ride of the season, especially given the strong winds. The GPS recorded a total climb of 1815 ft.

Included with this report are both a small map of the route and an elevation chart. We leave it to interested people who weren't on the ride to puzzle out whether we did the route clockwise or counterclockwise, using only the map and chart.

Cycling in the Winter

by Joe Anderson

It doesn't work very well in Bloomington, IN, our hometown. During 9 months of the year, bicycling in southern Indiana is fantastic, as featured in the movie "Breaking Away." Our Bloomington Bicycle Club has route books that list over 100 loop rides (from 10 to 200 miles in length). While Bloomington offers some of the most scenic and varied bicycling opportunities in the country, when winter sets in it is difficult to get many outdoor miles. I'm a 65-year-old destination rider, one who does not enjoy riding a trainer or doing a spin class at the YMCA. I ride to eat and to see and experience the countryside and meet the local people.

In search of warmer riding conditions, Barbara and I headed southwest this winter. We loaded up our motor home and headed for our first destination, Houston, TX, where we spent a couple weeks with Barbara's sister, Marcia. Being avid bicyclists we had packed two bicycles for the trip south: my Trek 5200 and our folding Bike Friday tandem.

Although Houston is not the ideal bicycling destination, by scouting neighborhood roads it was possible to find a decent route out of the city. After only five miles of city streets I could be in rural Texas, riding to places like Pecan Grove and Fulshear. The main problem isn't traffic congestion, once the ideal exit route is found, it's the flat terrain. If the Texas winds aren't blowing, I can do a 60-mile ride without changing gears, not ideal for someone trying to get his butt back in shape after a month off the bike.

The second leg of our southwestern trip took us to Big Bend National Park where we spent two days, me riding my Trek and Barbara hiking to "The Window" in the Chisos Basin before meeting for lunch at the lodge and watching the Arizona Cardinals earn a trip to the Super Bowl. My ride was 28 miles with ten miles of gradual downhill, ten miles of gradual uphill, and eight miles of granny gear, grinding it out, uphill. Barbara's hike was a 5-mile, 500 foot of climb personal best for her.

After leaving Big Bend, we stopped in Las Cruces, so I could complete the final six miles of my 1998 coast-to-coast bicycle trip. A late March snow storm in Cloudcroft, New Mexico that year, required us to be hauled off the mountain until we were below the snow line. I started at the top of the pass this time and coasted the six miles required to finish my route, then I rode back up to the pass and coasted the sixteen miles at 30+ mph from Cloudcroft back to Alamogordo. It was indeed satisfying to relive the excitement of that trip.

Cottonwood, Arizona, was our final destination, and we have already spent five weeks in this area. Cottonwood has some great bicycling opportunities that can be combined with hiking and sightseeing. The local bicycle club, the Verde Valley Cycling Coalition (VVCC) offers many opportunities to ride with other cyclists of various abilities, speeds, and distances. Barbara and I rode our tandem on VVCC club rides. Their Monday 11:00 am rides with Maggie took us to various destinations depending upon the wind and the temperature. We've toured Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Oak Creek Valley Road overlooking Cornville, and the fish hatchery at Page Springs. The leisurely pace of the Monday rides allow us to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Each Friday at 10:00 am the VVCC enjoys a twenty-mile loop ride from Jerona's Coffee Shop through the Cottonwood Ranch community before flying down 89A to Clarkdale on our way to Tuzigoot and back through Old Town Cottonwood. The group, which can be as large as 20 riders, always stops for coffee and pastries after the ride. VVCC also has a regular Saturday ride which starts in the Village of Oak Creek (VOC) and traverses the red rock country toward Sedona before circling back to VOC for side trips up Verde Valley School Road and Jack's Canyon Road. Of course the National Forest Service Visitor Center on Hwy 179 and the beautiful, new smooth roads with marked bicycle lanes make this Saturday ride a real delight.

Barbara and I drove to Prescott for shopping and a movie one day. I, of course, took my bike so that I could return via Mingus Mountain and Jerome while Barbara spent time in the shops. Coming up Mingus from Prescott is much easier than riding to the top from Cottonwood, as I discovered last week. The elevation change from Cottonwood goes from 3,000 feet to 7,020 in about 13 miles. Highway 89A over Mingus has lots of switchbacks, seven percent grades, and spectacular views of the Sedona red rocks, the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, and the Verde River valley.

Yesterday, the day before we were scheduled to drive to Sierra Vista, I rode from the Thousand Trails Camp on Hwy 260 through Sedona and up Oak Creek Canyon to the overlook with the Indian market. This is an 83- mile round trip with another 4,000 feet of elevation change and is a traditional cross-country route used for the Race Across AMerica. The Decycles group, a bicycle tour with about 60 teens and their chaperones, from Bloomington climbed it last summer after enjoying swimming at Slide Rock State Park.

Riding in the southwest is quite different than riding in Indiana where the biggest hill is only 400 feet high. Granted the grades on those hills can be in the fifteen to twenty percent range for short distances, but the rolling terrain and quiet back roads are hard to beat. Here in Arizona we ride on wide shoulders with lots of traffic just a few feet away. Recent highway improvements to 89A in Cottonwood and the new divided SR 260 from Cottonwood half way to Interstate 17 is also great for bicycling. The northbound lane of 260, however is old and doesn't have a shoulder. That, the rumble strip and the debris along the edge make this quite dangerous. The beautiful four lane divided route from Cottonwood to Sedona with the 10 foot shoulders outside the rumble strip is great, so long as broken glass doesn't cause a flat tire. We have been here five weeks already and truly enjoy the area with its wild life (eagles, antelope, white tailed deer, coyote and dead skunks).

Gary Felix, a VVCC riding buddy from Jerome, once said you can only see five percent of Arizona from the road, so Barbara and I, with Al Abbott's encouragement, have purchased hiking poles and put our bike water bottles on straps or in a belt bag and set out on two eight-mile hikes in the Sedona Red Rocks. It is truly thrilling to see Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse, Cock's Comb and many other rock formations from the back country. We are in training for a trip to the Grand Canyon, only 150 miles away and hope to do some of the Bright Angel Trail when we return to Cottonwood in a couple of weeks.