Up Victor...and Back

It was a cool spring afternoon for a ride, with temperatures in the 50s. We had a good group of 19 OWLS, including one for whom it was his first ride with the club and a couple others for whom this was their first OWLS ride of the season. We had intended to do a loop south on Victor to Rockport and back to town via Rockport to That Road, and so on. But Rockport is closed somewhere between Victor and Tramway, ostensibly because of a bridge out. Therefore we planned an out-and-back on Victor instead. At the spot where Victor tees into Rockport we tried to persuade a few people to ride down to inspect the bridge situation and report back whether a cyclist, perhaps on foot, could get through. But no one was up for the challenge and the risk of having to retrace a couple of miles of steep hill climb. So we still don't know the true situation on Rockport.

We had no official leader. Fortunately CE was aware of the bridge outage and went over the options before we left SOCCPL.

Overall it was a typical OWLS ride at an average pace of just under 13 mph, on a route with some substantial hills. Total climb was recorded at around 1300 feet.

Bicycling in China

From CE Taylor

Club member Ken Dau-Schmidt is in Shenzhen, China for six weeks teaching law. He finally borrowed a bike to go for a ride with the local club (his words not mine). Here is a picture of the group before their ride. This reminds me of Allan who likes to take a group picture before we head out. I guess it is a world wide practice, who knew?

Ken in Shenzhen, China

Rain, rain go away - come again some other day!

By Glenn Berger with an update from Jim Schroeder

Ten brave souls showed up at Bryan park to do the Ye Old Hilly Route to Nashville.  Two of these 10 were new to the BBC (Derrick and James). Considering the weather man was calling for 100% chance of rain in the middle of the ride I decided to stick to the 33 mile route to keep us close to home.  After a brief mechanical delay we were off at 10:15 AM. The group quickly split into 4 faster riders (two of which were out for the "epic" 100 mile journey) and 6 of us hanging back to smell the roses.

The 6 of us stopped at Mt. Gilead to regroup and consider our options. Since none of us were in a hurry and we believed we were all doing the 33 mile we detoured to Mt. Gilead to enjoy the scenery and get away from 45 for a bit.  We called the 4 faster riders and told them not to wait up for us.  After Mt. Gilead rejoined 45 we debated about Shuffle Creek vs. the 33 mile option for the planned ride.  At this point CE and David turned and headed back and the remaining 4 of us pressed on the planned route.  We soon rejoined Keith and Klaus who had backtracked to find us.

After a very scenic ride into Brown county we said goodbye to three of our riders doing the 55 mile route as they pressed on.  Just Keith, James and myself finished up a very nice and leisurely ride on South Shore, Robinson, Old 37 and finally back into Bloomington.

All in all an excellent day for a ride (and thank goodness the weatherman was off by a few hours this time).


Update from Jim Schroeder and the Century Crew:



Tom Schroeder, Mike Finger, and Jim Schroeder raced through Nashville and onto Stonehead where we turned west on Bellesville Pike. The newbies enjoyed this new road and scenery. We came upon a group of 20 cyclists going east toward Story Wine Festival, and a few of them were old friends of Jim from Ft Wayne. Small world! We thanked them for stimulating southern Indiana economy and headed to Columbus for lunch at Papa's Deli. Tom told us of another stop downtown, an authentic soda fountain just a block south of Papa's. Mike flatted due to some rough pavement on Hoover Rd as we heard some thunder rumbling. The skies emptied just before Bean Blossom as we rode the last 25 miles in light showers.
I was just thinking, if there were only 10 riders and 3 of us did the century, that's 30%. What a great turnout for the first C ride!

Slowspokes: Season 1

By Jodi Pope-Pfingston

The Slowspokes group is off to a great start! Anndra,  Marion, and I share ride leader responsibilities for this ride, enabling a No Rider Left Behind policy intended to provide beginning riders with a sense of security, as well as a more sedate pace for experienced riders who  prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride.  This mixture of seasoned and beginning riders has created a great opportunity for new riders to learn cycling safety and etiquette and the chance to familiarize themselves with safe cycling routes in and around Bloomington.

A Break at Showalter Fountain.

With only two rides cancelled so far due to Spring rains, the group has enjoyed three rides, including the Waterworks ride, a trip to Pine Grove, and a route south that included a return trip along the Clear Creek Trail and the B-Line trail. We have seen riders ranging in age from 14 to 67 and have ridden a total of 45 miles. A great beginning for this new group ride, and we have the whole summer in front of us!

Heading over the B-Line bridge. 

OWLS Map Page

By Allan Edmonds

Over the last couple of years the OWLS group has been accumulating a collection of routes in and around Bloomington of moderate length (mostly in the 20-30 mile range), starting from the south side of Bloomington. In case you haven't noticed we've begun to plan an OWLS ride calendar in advance through most of the summer. And we've created a set of maps that the calendar will link to.  CE Taylor has been responsible for creating and annotating the maps. The existing maps will undoubtedly be refined and updated over the coming months. And webmaster Ron Brown has created a cute page of links to the maps. Check out the owls and the OWLS maps at
http://www.bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/owls/OWLS%20Rides.html

A Thursday Crowd

By Allan Edmonds

Thursday, April 1, saw both weekday training groups end up doing very similar rides in opposite directions. The OWLS left promptly at 5:44 from SOCC Parking Lot, with several of us showing up just as the main group headed out. A couple of riders stayed back to be sure the late arrivals knew the route and headed in the right direction. We all got caught up within two or three miles. Shelley was leading what the OWLS call the Old 37 - Strain Ridge Ride, of about 26 miles. Because it was just a little on the long side for so early in the season she wanted to be sure we didn't waste any daylight. We headed out to Victor Pike, down to Fluck Mill, south on Old 37 almost to Harrodsburg, then across to Strain Ridge, and from there back into town through Smithville.

Here three riders are coming into our final regrouping spot in Smithville:

And here's the lead group already waiting at the Smithville PO:

We had been quite surprised to see the other regular Tuesday-Thursday training group going the other way as we got close to Harrodsburg on Old 37. They had a good group of a dozen or more riders, well spread out over a couple of miles, doing what they call "The Thursday Night Ride," naturally enough.  I suppose that all together we had around 25 BBC riders out that evening, doing from 26-30 miles, at the beginning of April, no less. We all made it home in good fashion, but there wasn't much daylight left. I'm glad we didn't have any mechanical difficulties to slow us down along the way.

P.S. It was good to get in a longer Thursday ride, since the Saturday morning ride turned out to be rained out.