Saturday, July 25, 2009
Riders 9, Dogs 0: Ride to Harmony, Thursday, July 23
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
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:
Gathering at 5:45
Regroup after climbing Ramp Creek hill:
Turn around at the dam:
Final regroup at the Smithville PO
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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, July 11, 2009
Saturday Ride 7/11/09
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
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
Mike Finger wrote:
It rained over 2 inches that day."
Perhaps we'll reschedule this ride later in the season?