Stair Climbing

Note: This piqued my interest since I know some BBCers do some serious stair climbing in Ballantine Hall over the winter. - AE

American Lung Association's Fight for Air Climb

Stair climbing is a great way for cyclists to increase both strength and endurance during the winter months.

Stair climbing works the legs in a more balanced way than cycling, primarily working your hamstrings and glutes, and engaging your core. Most of us naturally have stronger quads. Stair climbing works other muscle groups, which makes it a good cross-training activity for cyclists.

Stair climbing can also help cyclists build endurance. Stair climbing burns more fat per minute than almost any other form of exercise and it is the easiest way to increase your intensity and cardiovascular condition. When you bike, you are always putting stress on the joints in the same way. Stair climbing is easier on the joints than walking, and by supporting and moving your own body weight, you burn more calories and strengthen your bones.

Cyclists who do not bike outdoors during the winter could replace their rides with stair climbing to come back stronger and faster in the spring.

Interested in stair climbing? Challenge yourself by participating in the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb on February 18, 2012. Participants climb 32 floors to the top of the Hilton in Springfield, Illinois, or compete in the “ultimate climb” where they climb 32 floors as many times as they can in 1 hour. For more information or to register, please go to www.lungil.org or contact Kelsey Dyckman at (217) 787-5864.

Bloomington Bicycle Club

BBC Social Season Begins

From Sylvia Stoub, the new Social Chairman of BBC.

My mission is to have our large number of bicyclists get together in other ways besides on the bike.  Why?  We've got so many levels of riders.  The hammerheads know all the hammerheads; the owls know all the other owls.  Some of the BBC membership including me hardly ever ride with the club. You see the picture?   We all love bicycling!

I've got lots of ideas that will enable our club to be even more viable in so many ways. Please join me for some free pizza, salad, cookies, beverages at Cafe Pizzaria, the corner of Grant and Kirkwood, Monday, November 7th between 7pm and 9pm.

The BBC website also has a new Socials Page with more information about this and upcoming events.

Bartlettsville Squared

By John Bassett

I was having a little trouble figuring out how last Saturday’s club ride got its name.  Yes, the ride goes though the little north Lawrence County community of Bartlettsville.  But, it was not apparent until I looked at the route map (south part shown here) that you actually go through Bartlesville twice (about mile 20 and 28).  So, Bartlettsville x Bartlettsville = Bartlettsville².

Saturday was one of those great, sunny fall days that begs a bicycle ride and served to break the funk associated with last week’s cold and rainy weather.  It was a little brisk in the morning (31oF) but soon warmed up to the very low 60s.  About 20 riders assembled at 10:00 at Bryan Park, and we picked up at least one rider along the way out of town.  The basic “A” route was on the order of 52 miles.  Jim Schroeder had laid out “B” and “C” routes of about 70 and 105 miles, and there were several takers for those distances.  I’ll stick with the “A” route having decided it was best not to spend the entire day riding my bicycle.

Bartlettesville Squared is sort of a lop-sided figure-of-eight centered at Bartlettsville.  The top loop goes around Lake Monroe with the smaller bottom loop following rural roads in northern Lawrence County.  The county roads in this area are generally very good and traffic is low.

The loop south from Bartlettsville is particularly scenic.  After a steep climb with a switchback at about Mile 21, there is a nice view back to the north into the South Fork Salt Creek valley,

Then follows a very pleasant peddle along Ramsey Ridge Road through a piece of the Hoosier National Forest.

Coming back off Ramsey Ridge, there is a nice level section running several miles back down the South Fork Salt Creek valley, to complete the lower loop of the figure-of-eight, and across the Salt Creek valley to head back north.

At Mile 34 this pleasantness comes to an end with a long climb up “No Name” hill to Judah.  This one appears to have a couple of false summits.  But, not to worry, as refreshments are available at a couple of places once you reach Old 37 a few minutes later.

The ride follows Old 37 back north to Bloomington.  The total climb of about 3,300 feet is comparable to a day of the Hilly Hundred and was a good follow up to last weekend’s event.

This was a very pleasant Fall day on a nice route with a great group of people.  Many thanks to Jerry Arvesen and Jim Schroeder for leading.

Bloomington Bicycle Club Web Site

Breaking Away Ride - The Video

Riders who attended the Bloomington Cycles – Breaking Away Ride led by Jim Schroeder on October 2 might be interested in this video of the event.

You Tube Link

From Dale Andrews

Bloomington Bicycle Club

The View from South Bend

I just want to start off by saying that the BBC is a first class club.

I'm from South Bend have been visiting Bloomington for several years as my son attended IU and continue to visit family and friends. I regularly jump on your weekend rides when I'm in town. Also had the pleasure of riding RAIN two years in a row. Your members are always receptive,friendly and courteous.    

Thanks,

Greg Olen

This Would Be McVille

From John Bassett

Eastern Greene county is dotted with little crossroad communities like McVille.  Although my wife who taught at Eastern Greene schools for 29 years had never even heard of it, McVille was one of the highlights of last Saturday’s BBC ride.  Note: Clare M says that BBC should now stand for “Black and Blue Cyclists”!

It was one of those cool mornings when you knew that whatever you wore you would spend part of the day too hot, or too cold.  It was apparent looking at the 20 or so riders who gathered at 10:00 AM at Bryan Park that all kinds of thermal strategies were being employed.  It was a nice mix of regular riders and at least one new face, Charles V from Ellettsville.

The scheduled McVille, Newark & Solsberry ride is one of my favorites.  Maybe it’s the long downhill section from Hartstraight Road on the west side of town to Rosie’s in Hendricksville, or the great tree-line county roads in eastern Greene, or maybe that steep climb to the traditional rest stop at Yoho’s in Solsberry that is most appealing.  But, Google Map applications give this a modest 3,000 feet plus of climbing, so bring your better hill game for this 50 miler.  This is Hilly Hundred Country.

The route west follows Vernal Pike (now open to through traffic) and SR 48 to Whitehall.  Take a little break at the store in Whitehall and regroup.

Then fly along a fast, level section of SR 43 to Hendricksville.  You might usually turn left here and follow Gardner Road back into Monroe County, but McVille, Newark & Solsberry turns west on CR 800W just past Rosie’s Dinner.  At least it starts out as 800W.  Be careful with road designations out there - this is one of those areas where numbering roads north, south, east, and west from the courthouse does not always work very well.

A good climb and a nice ridge top section brings you to the big blue water tower on the height of land.  This would be McVille.  A nice downhill and a stout climb brings you on to Newark (pronounced “New Ark” according to Greene County friends).  Turn left there at the church and you are following the old Hilly Hundred Day 1 route.  You then get to do the “Three Sisters” of Hilly fame, but going downhill since you are now riding the Hilly route in reverse.

There is rough section CR 480N to navigate through at the bottom of the Three Sisters, but you soon reach a climb back out of the valley and under the railroad trestle to Solsberry.  Take a break here, regroup, and buy a pop a Yoho’s on the square.

From Solsberry the route gets increasing more familiar as you work your way back to Monroe County.  That burning sensation in your legs also gets more familiar as you navigate east on both Elwren and Ison Roads.  Some people had a little better luck with this than others.  Keith V’s freehub seemed to be developing a terminal seizure at this point.

Overall, it was a very good ride and nice, clear, fall day.  I’ll do it again next year.


The Positives:
Vernal Pike and SR 43 to Hendricksville
Scenic Eastern Greene County
Those great Ison Road rollers (east bound, at least)

The Negatives:
Bring your own potty
Did I mention all those cute little dogs?

OWLS do Bruster's

After a nice sunny day, a group of 10 OWLS riders gathered for a final scheduled ride of the season, just as the predicted clouds were coming in. After a bit of discussion about the wisdom of riding on an evening like this, we all set out on our short, only slightly round-about, jaunt to Bruster's for ice cream. So it was over to Snoddy, down Moore's Creek, up Swartz Ridge, and straight up 446 to Bruster's. It was nice that we had perhaps the warmest day of the week for our end-of-season social. Bye and bye it was time to head home. Only then did it start to sprinkle. We all got home only slightly damp. I had over 13 miles, with on OWLish average of 13.6 mph, which probably didn't justify a waffle cone of pumpkin ice cream.

Note to OWLS riders: Gather as desired at 5:30 (note change of time!) on Tuesdays and Thursdays for short informal rides with no designated route or leader.

-Allan Edmonds

FOWLS Foul Weather Finale

Seven (fool?)hardy FOWLS met for the final ride of this season under threatening rain clouds.  After consulting our smart phone weather radars we decided to alter the planned Double Creek route to the east and instead ride west in hopes of avoiding or at least minimizing the rain.  We rode to Ellettsville via Vernal-Woodyard and returned via Maple Grove-Bottom Road.  We reached Ellettsville dry and a bit smug at having outwitted the storms.  Unfortunately, Tlaloc had his revenge on the ride back as we slogged through rain varying from light sprinkles to heavy drops for the final ten miles.  Although wet we all survived the ride having gone 23 miles at an average speed of 15.5 mph arriving back at Bryan Park right at sunset.  It has been a fun season of rides with good companionship and sometimes adventurous routes.  Thanks to all who participated in the F/OWLS rides this year.

Tom Reynolds

The Privileges of the Bicyclist

As the season winds down our Tuesday-Thursday training rides are getting shorter. The Original OWLS group did a little over 20 miles, doing a variation of the standard BBC Fluck Mill Ride, adapted to start and end at our church parking lot starting site.

We had 9 people out for a nice ride. (Well, 10. But one rider got there early and went out into the neighborhoods nearby and didn't get back in time. We do start on time!)

We were a little worried because our route had us going and coming through the intersection of Harrell and Rohrer, which supposedly was blocked to through traffic until Thursday. We initially planned to alter our route. But  one rider had passed through and said a bicyclist can get through.

So that's what we did! We carefully walked our bikes under or around the yellow tape that extended well into neighboring property and were on our way.

We were a bit worried about running into showers. But none caught us. And we got back to the start at least 20 minutes before official sunset.

B-Line Trail ride

By Kathy Cummins

The combined T/Th training group, the FOWLS, and the OWLS met at Butler Park near the north end of the B-Line trail and rode together down to Grimes St. for the official opening of the B-Line trail. Because of the gloomy weather, unfortunately, we didn't have the mass of BBC riders that we had been hoping to have representing the club at the ceremony. The Bloomington band was entertaining a sizeable crowd at the Grimes St. area, and it began the proceedings with the Star Spangled Banner. At least two speakers (one being the mayor) followed, extending thanks to all those who worked on the trail. At the back of the crowd where we bikers were standing, however, it was hard to concentrate on the speeches, as we instead watched the dogs and kids and the rest of the crowd, which included the Andersons and other BBC members both on and off the bike, some also wearing a BBC jersey.

At about 6:15, we riders (I counted just 10) decided to leave the ceremony (which was supposed to be over by then anyway), and as a rarity, representatives from each of the three groups (T/Th training group, FOWLS, OWLS) rode together: first south on the B-Line, then south on Rogers to Old 37, where, fittingly, we rode "our" section of the local roads (the part of Old 37 that is our Adopt-a-Road), performing in a way our own celebration of the great riding in Bloomington.

Soon the different groups went their separate ways. Before long Bill and I turned around at the Starlight and headed back toward home, hitting some sprinkles along the way.

Sub-9 Super D, August 22, 2011

Club member Dan Hickey shares the following report on his experiences at a recent mountain bike race in Brown County. Read and enjoy!

Race Report

Sub-9 Super D, August 22, 2011

Brown County State Park

Sub-9 Productions hosted their second annual Super-D downhill race at Brown County State Park on August 22.   The 5.5 miles from Hesitation Point to the North gate has some fast and fun downhill.  But it has some flats and plenty of uphill as well.  This friendly event was great for first time racers like me, but also competitive for the many Cat 1 and Pro riders who showed up.

 

My Kid Put Me Up to This

Thirteen-year old Luc got this ball rolling.  He returned from Palawopec  (a fabulous summer camp in Nashville, IN) a more experienced and ambitious rider.  Over several weeks we checked out new trails in O’Bannon Woods (lucky to have them), Brown County (Green Valley is fast and fun),  Wapahani (cleaned up by the city and volunteers nicely after the tornado), and French Lick (incredible).

At French Lick, we ran into Sam Preston (Bedford) who convinced Luc that we should sign up for the Super D.  After that we spent our trail time at  Brown County finding the fastest line from the North Tower to the North Gate.  This was the shorter mostly-downhill run for the juniors.  I was chagrined and delighted to find Luc consistently beating me on that stretch.  His used 1998 Trek hardtail humbled my cherished Santa Cruz Blur LT

The Real Race

We registered just a few days before the race.  We discovered that the 13-14 Juniors were racing the full 5.5 mile course.  Luc was disappointed at first.  Then he realized he might beat me there as well.  On our first practice run, I got away and Luc got lost.  On our second run he passed me on the bottom stretch.  For me, the real race was whether he could beat me.  I had been waiting years for this. 

On race day, we first headed over to the rocky hairpin near the start. We watched the first wave of Category 3 (beginners) weave the fifty-foot trench.  Tim Carson (Pittsburg PA, who set the course record 19:39 last year) was cheering everybody on.  Earlier, Tim coasted to a 46:46 with a broken chain. None of the Cat3s took Tim’s advice to pick the cheater line straight over stumps and boulders.  Three fell and one crashed hard. But everybody made it. 

I raced near the end of the Cat3 riders.  My Blur served me well on the downhills.  I found a nice inside line in the speed trap and clocked a decent 19mph.  But on the uphills I really felt the previous day’s practice runs. My imagined over-the-top scrambles were supplanted with winded grinds.   I finished with a mediocre 27:44. 

The Super-D Courses at Brown County State Park

Luc Spooking the Shooter (Courtesy of Two Pedals Photography)

Luc went later.  He did better than me on both the ups and downs.  But he took the slower outside line on the speed trap.  You can see from the photo that he took my advice to always look 10-20 feed ahead for the best line.  But you can also see how he spooked photographer Michelle Spitz out of her trailside crouch.   (Michelle and Two Pedals Photography did a great job and I was happy to purchase this and another print from their website).

When I caught video of Luc on the bottom berm, he had just passed his second Jr on his way to a solid 26:00. That put in first place in his age group and third in the Jr men.    I ended up third out of six in my Cat3 age group.  This seemed appropriate given that my overall biking goal is being in the middle of whatever group I find myself in.  And my son beat me soundly

Promising Juniors

 Red Zone Cycling from Louisville brought an impressive crew, including Katherine and Daniel Santos.  Katherine passed at least two riders (click for video) to post the top Jr Women’s time of 25:49; Daniel was second among the Junior Men 13-14 at 24:17. 

Drawing for Irony

Overall winner Chris Bowman of Indy posted 20:10, and was awarded almost an entire drive train from lead sponsor SRAM.  Dylan Elliot who came down from Ontario posted the fasted time in the speed trap of 25 mph and also got some cool stuff with his trophy.   The drawing for swag yielded the most ironic moment of the day, when Tim Carson won a new chain.  But he was also happy that he held on to the course record by a full 30 seconds. 

Overall Winner Chris Bowman (Courtesy of Two Pedals Photography)

Hitching back up to the road to the start, I ended up in a van with the Trail Patrol volunteers who had come in from Cincinnati.  They were happy for the largely uneventful day, with just one Jr crash resulting in some scrapes and bruises.  They said they were looking forward to coming back for the Brown County Breakdown on Oct 8-9. Also a Sub-D Productions, the Breakdown is the major fundraiser for the Hoosier Mountain Biking Association, who we can thank for all of our outstanding trails.

Last Ride of August

By CE Taylor

The last OWLS ride of August departed the church Tuesday evening for a ride north of town.  Sixteen bikes plus one tandem headed out Highway 45 to Tunnel Road.  We had short stops at Mt. Gilead and Tunnel Road to regroup.  The ride down Lentz was far more pleasant than the climb up Lentz we did a month ago.  The group had split into several smaller groups by this time.  After the climb up Firehouse Hill on Old 37 we met for the last time at the fire station.  The route then went east on Bethel and then south past Griffy Reservoir.  It is sad to see the water plant infestation in the lake.  As usual on our evening rides, once we got back to town, riders split off and rode their separate paths home.

It was a great evening for a club ride.  We had good weather, challenging hills to climb and friends to ride with.  If you haven’t been out riding with one of the weekly groups you are missing out on a good time.

RAGBRAI 2011

By Jim Schroeder

Sylvia Stoub, Sandi Owen, and Jim Schroeder travelled to Iowa for their summer vacation.

Iowa? an exotic destination? in July? the heat? the humidity? corn? why?

If you know anything about bicycle touring, then you'd all know that Iowa in July means RAGBRAI - The Register's Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa!  They've been doing it for 39 years now. There's 10,000 riders registered for the week; 5,000 more on day passes and about 10,000 more bandits or locals.  This should be on every biker's bucket list!  This is the only ride I've been on where state highways are closed off by law enforcement for the bicyclists.  Small towns shut down and cater to the bicyclists passing through and will sell anything that is edible or drinkable or photographable for their local fund raisers!  Each day is about 65 miles and each town that RAGBRAI passes through is like a county fair.  The overnight cities bring in top name entertainment, but we were usually too exhausted after setting up our tent, showering, and eating supper.

This is one ride that is not about the miles nor the bikes.  It's about the people: the bicyclists, the city folk, the farmers, and even the vendors!  At least every mile there would be a vendor selling or giving away water, gatorade, freeze pops, smoothies, secret potions, lemon shake-ups, french toast, pancakes, corn dogs, pork chops, ice cream. or even beer.

Lance Armstrong even dropped in for a day's ride.  I didn't see him, though.  I was relaxing under a huge shade tree in some farmer's front yard.  I guess the ride could be described as a Hilly Hundred on steroids.  We spent more time eating, drinking, and relaxing.  We met a lot of nice people, especially those from Iowa that are awful proud of their state and this ride.

Oh, did I tell you about the heat?  It was over 100 for two days, and the remainder highs were always in the mid 90's!  Iowa could have sold us shade but they didn't.  The funniest sales pitch was "$1 for a dip in our swimming pond, free for skinny dippers"

For a week long ride there were highs and lows.  Most cyclists are worried about two things at the end of the ride: showers and supper.  Each hosting city had a different list of priorities.  The best would have to be the small college towns.  They had it figured out.  Don't ask me about Altoona, though!

Here are some of Jim's photos. Click on them to see full-size images.

Tire Tools

By Allan Edmonds

After my experience of a couple weeks ago with four flats with bad tubes (and my blistered right thumb) I was primed to be thinking of alternative tire tools. Although I've never had much problem getting a tire off using two standard tire tools, my hands and wrists just aren't strong enough to muscle a road bike tire all the way on without tools more than one time in ten. (I've always succeeded well enough with the larger tires on my commuter hybrid.)

So I perked up when we got email from new BBC member Jim Walls about an invention of his from some years ago that he is now actively marketing, called the COBRA TOOL. Here's a picture:

Jim wrote,

"I am a new member to the BBC. I am also the inventor of the Cobra Tire Tool. This is a new tool that I introduced to the cycling world at last year's Hilly Hundred. I designed the tool over 13 years ago but just recently started producing it for sale.

The tool is totally homegrown as I designed it here in Bloomington and contracted with a manufacturer just south of town to produce the tool.

I am trying to get the word out locally and would like to offer the Cobra Tire Tool to the BBC members at a discount. "

The information on the Cobra Tool highlights its use in removing a tire. (That's the part that's never given me much trouble, although others may differ.) If you've struggled with tire removal this might be just the thing for you. Check it out! They don't say much about using it to put a tough tire back on the rim. What they do show seems to involve using the Cobra Tool by hand just like any other tire tool to pop the last hard bit back onto the rim.

Here's a review of the Cobra Tire Tool by Jim Langley at RoadBikeRider.com, entitled "Cool Tool for Tire Removal".

And here's a link to Jim's web site at cobratiretool.com  where you can view a video of the use of the Cobra.

Good luck to Jim marketing his neat invention. If you've struggled getting tires on or off, you might like to give it a try.

Jim is offering the Cobra at a discount to club members. He writes "I would like to offer the tool to BBC members for $4.75 ea. including sales tax. Members can contact me direct on my email for questions or to make a purchase. Shipping and handling may be additional depending on quantity and destination. All orders that are hand delivered will be for free!" Contact him jimwalls@cobratiretool.com.

***

For my own purposes the best I've found for remounting a road bike tire has been the VAR tool. You can read about it at this blog posting . It has two parts that together can be used like ordinary tire levers for removing a tire. The creative part is how you take the main"wishbone" piece, straddle the tire, and pop the last, hard bit onto the rim. The VAR tool is reputed to be hard to find. But a web search should turn up something. I bought mine several years ago at a local shop. The funny thing was that in a pinch I always seem to forget just how to use it. I'm hoping that this latest study of the two alternative bike tire tools will help me remember how to use the VAR next time I need it.

P.S. While working on this post I discovered a You Tube video that shows a technique for working a tight tire onto a rim by bare hands, by pushing the done parts so the bead is deep in the rim well, giving just a bit more slack on the diametrically opposite side of the tire. The demonstrator uses string or toe straps to hold the done parts deep in the rim. It looks pretty good for working at home, but not like something I could pull off out on a ride.

Four Bad Tubes

By Allan Edmonds

A couple of weeks ago I rushed out to the garage at 7:30 am to pump up my tires in preparation for heading to Bryan Park for the Saturday. The tire flatted. I proceeded to change out the tube and discovered a leak at the base of the valve stem. That's one reason I don't like smooth valve stems. Every time I put my pump on, it pushes the stem into the wheel slightly. After a year of that it eventually gave out.

I put a new tube in, pumped it up, and re-mounted the wheel on the bike, and it went BANG! Oh, no. I must have a bad tire.

At that point I gave up all plans of going on the club's Cordry-Sweetwater Ride.

Later I inspected more closely and couldn't find anything terribly wrong with the tire. What I did find was a long 8 or 10 inch split in that unused tube.

In any case I went downtown and bought a couple new tubes and put one in the tire and one in my seat pack, while waiting (impatiently) for Tuesday's OWLS ride.

We didn't get any farther than Snoddy Road when my tire went flat again. I changed out the tube (with another 4 inch split) with assistance from a few friends on the ride. Pumped it up. put it on the bike. FLAT AGAIN, with another split! John offered me his spare. To be safe he pumped it up slightly and found that it didn't hold air either. Another brand new tube with a pin prick hole. By then CE had come back looking for me and offered me his spare tube. That one held up.

By that point I was exhausted. That's when I noticed my right thumb hurt. It turned out that I had created a big blister trying to get my tire back on the first time without using a tire tool. (Subsequently my friends encouraged me to use a tire tool for the last little bit, which worked.)

My bike was working, but I decided just to head home.

Four Bad Tubes

Next day I bought two more tubes from another local shop. So far so good. I've done a Saturday tour and two weekday training rides with no problems. And a week and a half later my thumb is almost healed. A heck of a week, though. And that sore thumb got me to thinking about tire tools and how change tubes more easily.

A True Experience

By Allan Edmonds

After having some issues with bad tubes, which I'll report on separately, I realized my rear wheel had some very loose spokes and was badly out of true. So for the first time I took out my never-before-used spoke wrench, consulted my bike repair book, turned my bike upside down, and endeavored to fix things. I actually improved the wheel a little bit, so that at least it wasn't rubbing on the brake pads. But it still had a major wobble.

At that point John Bassett offered to loan me his professional quality Park Tools truing stand. I accepted the challenge and studied up some more on truing wheels, listened to John's voice of experience, and set to work on the wheel.

I removed the tire. I also lightly oiled each spoke nut. One of the things you need to avoid is just twisting the spoke without ever turning the screw end.

So I found the worst spot and loosened a couple of spokes on that side and tightened two or three on the other side. Then I repeated that process several times.

Overall the whole wheel was pitched slightly to one side so I also carefully loosened all spokes on that side a quarter turn and tightened the ones on the other side a quarter turn.

I checked for roundness of the wheel and didn't see any major problem. Then I checked for trueness again, made a few more adjustments and finally declared the job done.  I reinstalled the tire and was ready to go the next day.

It may not be perfect, but it's a lot better than before. And I was happy to use that spoke wrench I got for Christmas a couple years ago.

Dark and Wet

By Allan Edmonds

Thirteen OWLS debated among themselves whether to do the planned route, do a shorter route, or jump ship altogether, given the questionable skies and weather forecast. Eventually we decided to do the planned 26 mile Triple Creek Ride, originally designed by former club member Al Abbott (now retired and living in Arizona, and by all accounts primarily doing mountain biking). That led to our uncharacteristically late departure at 5:48 PM.

All went well as we headed out to Kerr Creek off of 46 (= East Third Street) just east of 446. We sailed down into the valley along Kerr Creek, then turned up along Getty's Creek, stopping briefly at the new bridge where we joined up with Mount Gilead Road. We next stopped at the church on Brummett's Creek Road, near Unionville.

It was time to start heading back toward town and the sky in that direction did not look good. But there was nothing to be done but set out. Soon it was thundering and raining and we naturally had to slow down a bit, especially on the down hills. Those who had rear flashers or headlights along all turned them on.

Before long we were pretty well soaked. Suffice to say we were not hot. Pretty soon we had to climb Fleener, one of the steepest climbs around. As Dave remarked he was never before so comfortably cool after climbing Fleener. There was a near problem when one rider tried to stand up on the pedals and had his rear tire slide out from under him. and then when he put out a foot that slid out too. He barely missed me, and I was able to continue riding. But four bikes behind were forced to stop mid hill, and they all had much trouble trying to get started again.

Several people wisely opted to walk down one of steeper down hills since their wet brakes seemed unreliable and the wet road was very slippery.

By the time we were back to the top of Kerr Creek Road the rain was pretty much over, and I began to feel better and safer. In due course we all made it home safely, with an average close to 13 mph over 26 miles, after one of the more memorable rides of the year.

P.S. Reports are that the FOWLS cut their planned 30 mile ride short and were back to Cascades Park before they, too, got wet.

Larry Limestone Tour, August 13

Jerry Arveson led a reprise of his fun "Larry Limestone Tour," a drive-and-ride out of Heltonville, about 20 miles south of Bloomington, on Highway 58, just off of 446.

One group left Bloomington early by bike to turn the ride into a (near) century. See Mike Finger's report below.

I was the last to arrive, about 9:08, by which time the whole group had already started out. A couple of friends saw me drive up and waited a few minutes for me to catch up to them. Otherwise I would have been riding by myself the whole way.

It was a beautiful cool morning for a ride that takes us onto some roads that we rarely ride on out of Bloomington.

The route went clockwise, starting at Heltonsville. The main group stopped at a store in Leesville, but had just left by the time my little trailing group got there.  We did meet up at the next stop (at the turn south of Buddha ad Pinhook) and had a larger group riding along, including ride leader Jerry.

At two points we encountered evidence of severe tornado damage. Here's a photo of the first one, along the eastern part of the route:

The main group had a refueling stop at a convenience store on an out-and-back along Highway 50, where 446 ends, teeing into 50 (see the map).

It was a great day for a ride but that last LONG, STEEP climb before Heltonville was universally felt to be a killer. See the elevation chart:

Our group end up averaging about 14.2 mph for the 56 mile ride.


REPORT FROM THE CENTURY GROUP BY MIKE FINGER:


I arrived at the designated meeting place (Brusters) promptly at 7:47am to find I was the only one there. OK-I admit I was 2 minutes late. At about the same time Tim Dowling showed up and we waited about 5 minutes before setting out for Heltonville.  We hadn't gone far when Tim announced that there was another bike chasing us from behind and it was gaining fast. A few minutes later Kevin Hayes caught on to our back wheel, and then we were three. Kevin announced that he wasn't doing the club ride, only looking for an out and back to start his day, so he could do most of the pulling. Tim and I gladly took him up on the offer and we proceeded to fly south

Shortly after passing Chapel Hill Rd. we became aware that we were slowly gaining on some bikes going the same way and we subsequently caught them to discover it was Stan Ellis, Doug Edwards and Tom Schroeder. They had arrived at the meeting place early (what a strange concept!) and had departed at the stroke of 7:45am. Now we were six. Kevin continued to pull until we reached the bottom of the long downhill, and partway up the short rise on the other side, whereupon he pulled out for the back portion of his out and back. We thanked him for his good work and rode the last few miles into Heltonville. We arrived in time to hang around a few minutes before the large group set out, and to see more bikes arriving that had made the trip down from Bloomington. I had a fast start to my day, averaging over 20mph on the way down, thanks to the good work of Kevin.

Jerry handed out maps and words of encouragement and shortly after 9am we set out. After a leisurely ramble down Hwy 58 in a large group we made our turn onto Back Creek Rd. At that point Colin Allen and Andreas (sorry, Andreas, I don't have your last name) pushed up the pace a bit and a few of us followed in pursuit. Within a few miles we seemed to have established our working group of Colin and Andreas, Tom Schroeder, Tim Dowling and myself. Once again we were fortunate to have a real machine in Colin to stay at the front and set the pace for the majority of the day. Somehow we managed to follow the map and make all the correct turns in spite of the fact that almost all of the road signs were missing. That's right-the poles are there, there are just no signs on top of them. I decided that people must be stealing them to use as wall hangings in their homes-a sort of Lawrence County decorator chic. We continued to make good time and found our way to the lunch stop on Hwy 50 at the terminus of 446.

After a bit of relaxing and refueling we set out on the second half. Once again Colin was setting the pace, and the rest of us were doing what we could to maintain contact. With a few exceptions, we found the roads to be in great shape with a lot of new pavement. The weather was beautiful and the temps reasonably cool all day long-a perfect day for riding! We kept flying along and it wasn't long before we were approaching the last big climb on Dunn Bridge Rd. before dropping into Heltonville. The pace of the day hit me pretty hard on the way up that climb on Dunn Bridge-if I'd had a lower gear I would have been going slower. However, we had nearly 80 miles for the day, and just a quick jaunt up 446 to finish the day, so I was feeling pretty good.

As we were leaving Heltonville Tim announced he was going to take his time and to not wait for him, so we became four. The four of us stayed together (with Colin pulling, of course) all the way to the climb up from the Causeway, where I made a strategic move to the back. My last view of the gang was to see Colin and Andreas dwindling in the distance up the hill, with Tom about half way in between us and dwindling fast as well. I didn't mind. If the day was going to devolve into a bitter solo grind to the finish, that was a decent place for it to happen. I was still averaging 18.5mph for the day, and was set to finish in under 6 hours, so was quite pleased with my day. As I was approaching Moores Pike, nearly within sight of the finish line, Stan Ellis caught up with me and we finished together. He reported he had done a somewhat shortened version of the basic ride, but was still going to have 90 miles for the day by the time he rode home. When I pulled into my driveway I had a total elapsed time of about 5:50 and a rolling average of 18.3mph over a total distance of 98.15 miles. A good day on the bike!

Old OWLS and New FOWLS

This week marked the beginning of parallel OWLS and FOWLS rides. Here's a report on our first day.

The Original OWLS met at Sherwood Oaks Church and did its "Long Leonard" ride to west south west. We had 9 bikes = 10 riders, averaged 13.1 or so door-to-door over about 26 miles. I was often at the end but could always see the leaders. We had two new faces, which was nice. We kept together until the end, when we split over going back to town on Fairfax or taking Ramp Creek. Two of us did Ramp Creek while the others took the shorter, perhaps easier, but more traffic option.

Over at Bryan Park the Faster OWLS or FOWLS also had 9 cyclists. Tom R reports: the training ride group joined us for the first 8 miles then went on alone while we regrouped at the Vernal-Howard intersection.  The repaired surface on the final section of Vernal before the highway was most welcome.  We rode 35 miles, "enjoying" Whitehall hill along the way, engendering mutterings that I had mapped the ride in the wrong direction!  The pace was fast while we were with the training group then slowed to a more reasonable FOWLS pace once they left us behind.  We encountered a kind young lady on Reeves Road who gave a bottle of Gatorade to one of us who had run out of water possibly saving a life.  We have nominated her for a CNN "Hero" award.

BBC Summer Picnic

BBCers gathered for the second annual BBC summer picnic at the Lions Den at Cascade Park. The weather was hot, but the food was good. As usual some key people were out of town for vacation. But there was a really nice mix of people who did come.

President Keith Vogelsang took this opportunity to recognize many of the volunteer leaders who helped to make RAIN a success this year. Many, many club members and friends and family members pitched in to prepare registration packets, to run registration In Terre Haute, to run rest stops all along Highway 40, and to run the finish line at Earlham College in Richmond.

Keith recognized RAIN committee chair Mark Villanova and Jim Schroeder, RAIN route mapper, who had to miss the picnic. He gave special mention to the following: Jennifer Miers, who ran registration; John Connell, who was in charge of the finish line; Keith and his family, who serviced the rest stops, driving a truck across the state, getting to the finish just ahead of the lead pack; and Klaus Rothe, who took over 900 photos documenting the event from beginning to end. All received a round of applause from club members.

Helen Steussy's RAIN blog

Enjoy part I of Helen Steussy's excellent RAIN blog at

http://theflightcontinues.blogspot.com/

This year she sagged so friends could ride. Many photos along the way!

She writes that she hopes to get out Part II Sunday since she leaves to bike to Missouri Monday.  And she asks: "Any idea what route would be best to Missouri?"

Good Job, BBC!

By Kathy Cummins

I successfully completed my first RAIN ride because of the experience of fellow rider CE Taylor and the strong day experienced by second-timer Ken Dau-Schmidt. CE has already posted a report for our group -- to his report, I would add another HUGE thank you to his and Ken’s wives, Letha and Betsy, for their hard work in our support vehicle. Their attention to our needs was amazing and speedy. I just had to express a wish and it was immediately fulfilled. Near the end, as I was saying “ow, ow, ow” every time we had to restart after a stop light, because the legs hurt, Letha and Betsy were also near the end of their ropes after a very long and busy day for them. Thank you so much!

A very fun part of the ride was seeing the BBC volunteers at every rest stop. All of them were working hard while being cheerful and helpful. Thanks to all who helped make RAIN a marvelous club event, especially Mark, Keith, and the committee leaders. You did an exceptional job as we moved to our new all-volunteer format for the ride.

As someone who finished near the end of the official day, I would also like to thank those finish-line volunteers who stayed well after the end of the ride to greet the late finishers. If I had been one of those who arrived after 9:00 pm, I would have been extremely happy to still have been greeted with my medal and an appreciative reception from someone at the finish line of my long day and accomplishment.

As much as I would love to ride RAIN every year now, I think I will take my turn next year as a volunteer. It is worth it, and also something to be proud of as a BBC member.

A RAIN Rider Says "Thanks"

Submitted by John Bassett

Many thanks during last Saturday’s RAIN ride to:

• Dan Hickey for his bucket of ice
• Clair Murphy for encouragement at lunch
• The Gruppettos (see their Blog post) for the GU and fantastic late afternoon tow

I could not have done it without you.

I was standing in line at the Dairy Queen a short distance back down from the street from the RAIN finish line.  I was primed to order a chocolate milk shake, my favorite post-ride treat..  Having yet to change out of my salt-stained Spandex, I was an easily-identified cyclist.  A local Richmond rider struck up a conversation.  It was about 9:30 PM, the official end of the ride, and nearing darkness.  My friend had finished hours before.  As we exchanged our observations about the day’s ride, we began to note the steady stream of eastbound bicycle headlights passing by on US 40 behind us.  Some were single lights - some were in groups of two or three.  Some had PSVs tailing them with their hazard lights flashing.  We knew that each bike had a rider who had started the day in Terra Haute 163 miles away.  Each rider was bound and determined to make that finish line a few blocks away.  And, we thought, there would not be much of a celebration left for them.  

So, it was rather spontaneous on my friend’s part - to each passing light he would yell:

“Great job. You’re almost there.  Not this traffic light, but the next one.  Turn right and you're there.  You did it!”

Most yelled back, some just groaned, some were too spent to say anything.  But, I think all appreciated that small acknowledgement of their personal effort.

I’d say few of our fellow Dairy Queen patrons had any idea what that yelling was all about.  But, kudos to the RAIN finish line staff for passing out those late medals.

RAIN from the Inside…of a Very Big Truck

By Keith Vogelsang

As the registration numbers continued to climb, I became increasingly anxious about the job of provisioning all the rest stops along the way. I had lots of help shopping for food from Klaus Rothe and my two boys, Mac and Ethan. This was the first year using our new large-capacity, high-volume watering system (the four big tanks seen below). RAIN Committee Chair Mark Villanova and I had completed a full-capacity wet test the month before, using our largest (225 gallon) water tank, and determined that the engineering was fast, safe, and clean.

 I wasn’t quite sure how I would get everything into one truck, and I almost didn’t! But my wife, Kim, and the boys all pitched in to make it happen, and by late Friday evening, the boys and I had arrived at the first rest stop to begin setting up for the next morning. I couldn’t sleep that night; as I was still unsure that I could get it all set up in time. The boys and I started out around 5:00AM to get 225 gallons of ice cold water into position. Mac set up the food table, while Ethan and I filled up across the road at the Marathon station. This is the same site south of Greencastle that we’ve used for some of our club’s century rides. The owner there loves bicyclists, and goes out of his way every year to make sure we have what we need in terms of ice and water.

Ethan filling up one of the transport tanks.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated on the elevation to get the water transferred from the truck. The system was designed to be gravity flow all around, but I could have used another three or four inches of rise from the truck down to the tank stationed on the ground and a better transfer hose to prevent kinks. Fortunately, a PSV driver named Frank, along with Vince Caristo and Doug Steury from the city of Bloomington arrived just in time to form a bucket brigade to get the water transferred and iced down. Thanks guys—you saved the day!

  Here’s a shot of one of the smaller tanks in action at the Plainfield stop. Mark Villanova, Amy Cornell, Kim Vogelsang, Ellie Dahlgren, Grayson McKim, Mac and Ethan (and Pongo) staffed this stop. I’m grateful for their Nascar-level speed at getting the truck unloaded and the tables set up. We’ve received lots of great feedback about this stop, too.

Pongo

The first stop along U.S. 231/40 and this year’s new Greenfield water stop were the only stops where water had to be trucked in. The other stops were simpler, as we could just fill up with our new drinking-water approved hoses. Dan Hickey, Clair Murphy, and Matt Hoffman from Indy met me at the Franklin Middle School lunch stop. And they moved like a military operation to get the lunch snacks and water stop set up. Jill and Christina Beyerl answered our call for volunteers, and helped Jim Schroeder and Sylvia Stroub at the Greenfield stop. As a new stop, we weren’t sure how it would work; the help we received here from the Beyerls was crucial. My thanks to all of you! By that time of the day, Jim and I were both running very late, so the extra hands were very much appreciated.

I finally made it to Richmond just minutes ahead of the lead pack. Jim Schroeder coordinated this year’s route for the RAIN committee, and his extra few miles gave me the edge I needed. Susan Bassett (in the red visor) was one of the many heroes at the finish line, helping to process riders. We’ve received rave reviews about “that nice woman at the finish line” cheering everybody on. Yep, that was Susan! John Connell coordinated this year’s finish line, and set up a new system that worked brilliantly for keeping finishers organized. We’re especially grateful to all the nice folks at Earlham who provided technical support and helped keep the food and drinks flowing.

There are so many great folks who stepped up to help—it was really gratifying to witness first-hand what we were capable of as a club. Obviously, the ride is an enormously complex logistical and technical operation. It’s not easy to get 1600 endurance athletes safely from point A to point B, when those two points are separated by such a vast distance! But I’m proud of the work the new RAIN committee put into the event, and I know we’ll make even more improvements next year as we get valuable feedback from our riders.

Preparing for RAIN

by Keith Vogelsang

An impressive group of club members showed up last week at Jennifer’s house to sort apparel and stuff rider packets. I stopped by briefly to pick up some RAIN items, and decided to take a few photos:

Jerry Arveson and Clair Murphy sorting labels and bibs

Kim Benton and John Bassett 

Jennifer shows off this year’s RAIN jersey.

Steve Holbrook and Andrew Hettlinger sort rider information cards. Anndra Morgan, Andy Loeb, and Janice Arvesen work in the background.

I had improperly configured my camera, so several other shots I took did not turn out. But with the exception of the bathroom, there was a crew stuffing or pasting in every room of the house! Jennifer informs me that their work ended up filling two truck beds, stacked three boxes high. Mark Villanova and Jennifer each transported the load to Terre Haute. Nearly 1600 envelopes were filled and would be distributed in roughly four hours at RAIN packet pickup at the Drury Inn in Terre Haute. Seeing this much club enthusiasm to make RAIN happen was exciting to witness, and Jennifer reports that the action at the Drury was even more intense.

And our efforts have been noticed by riders and other participants. Here’s a brief sampling of some of the comments we’ve received from the weekend’s events:

“ Just a note to let you know what a wonderful experience I had on the RAIN ride.  All of the volunteers deserve a standing ovation.  They were all kind, helpful and polite.  I was even more amazed that, even though we arrived at an incredibly late hour, you searched for us, gave our our finishing medalion and cheered for us as we came in.  I know that you did not have to do that.  You could have closed up by 9:30 or 10:00 and gone home to much deserved rest, yet you did not.  You waited.  I am very greatfull for all you did.  Thank you all so very much.”

“Finished my first RAIN ride yesterday, hopefully, at 64, it would be the first of many more to come. Yes, I have heard this before, that to ride the RAIN once, you are a hero.  Twice?  You are an idiot. I don't believe that. I can't thank the Bloomington Bike Club folks/volunteers enough for a great event well done, please convey my gratitude to all.”

“First off, thanks for putting together RAIN this year...It was hard, but a pretty good ride nevertheless. However, there are 2 comments I have to make regarding changes.  One is big, the other is just small.

1. Lunch.  Please don't try to make this like Hilly.  Most people don't want to have a picnic lunch with hot macaroni, beans, and hot sandwiches.  Bring back the cold cuts (Ham, turkey) & Veggies, Chips, etc.  I know some of the problems people were having were due to the heat but i don't think lunch helped out either.  And having people serve us, in 1 line, waiting in line in the hot sun, is something all of us could have done without.  The 2 tables of self service lunch is better in my opinion.  That was we can get in and out asap.

2. If we start out at the college again, make the starting line just the one driveway, and block off that 2nd driveway where people were merging into from the left.  It just slowed things down like crazy right at the start.  Anyways, I will probably be back again next year, so I hope to see you again then.”

“John,
My wife and I wanted to thank you for retaining us and allowing us to help with the wonderful RAIN event.  We feel you did an outstanding job.  I was very impressed with your organization and the improvements you made to the finish area.  Please let us know if there is any way we can be of service for next year's event.  As you and the BBC determine dates, simply contact us so we may free-up our schedules.  I look forward to working with you in the near future.  Please give my regards to your wife Sue, as well as Keith, Mark, Jennifer, Ted and all those who helped make it such a memorable experience.  Thank you again for your support of Earlham and its campus.”  Nick Johnson
Nice job, BBC!

RAIN Ride 2011: Report from the Gruppetto

My RAIN Ride report starts at 5:30 in the morning with a big breakfast at Denny’s.  My wife and I split a Grand Slam breakfast.  Letha had one pancake and I ate the rest plus a bowl of grits.  This is my traditional breakfast and it works for me. Then Ken Dau-Schmidt, Kathy Cummins and I were off for the start.  We made the start just minutes before 7:00 a.m.  It was a nice, cool morning and a good start for an all day ride.  I don’t have much sense of the ride in relation to actual time of day but I know we were slowly falling behind my time schedule I had set for a sub 12 hour ride.  I was still feeling fine at my unofficial halfway mark crossing Hwy 37.  This year’s route deviates from past years by turning south on Bluff Road and then left on Stop 11 road.  I enjoyed this year’s route much more.  It was a long straight shot across and seemed easier to me.  As we approached the 92 mile mark for lunch I found myself really looking forward to a break.  The general consensus in the group around me was the same.  We had great support at the rest stops from Letha and Betsy.  At lunch they set up chairs for us under some pine trees.  Our lunch stop was rather long but by this time the goal was to finish and not die trying to beat 12 hours.

The next section of the ride from lunch to Casey’s General store isn’t terribly long but it always seems to be the hardest for me.  I always end up riding that section during the hottest part of the day since I am not fast enough to get through it earlier.  Seems like my streak was intact again this year.  I have learned that a Camelbak full of ice and water is a great thing to have for this section.  You have lots of cold water and the Camelbak actually cools your back and keeps the sun off of it too.  I often drink two water bottles and 60 plus ounces of water during that 23 mile stretch.  After completing that section we refueled at Casey’s General Store.  I knew Letha would be waiting for me there so we skipped the club rest stop.

Usually I know I have it made and will finish once I get to Hwy 40 at Casey’s General Store.  I felt the same way this year, at least I did for the first few miles back on Hwy 40.  There was a slight headwind the rest of the way to the finish.  It wasn’t much and it wasn’t all the time but the more usual tailwind would have been much kinder to us at this point of the ride.  I should comment that there were a lot of riders stopping in whatever shade they could find along Hwy 40.  We even stopped a time or two for rest in the shade to eat, drink and rest.  The only year I have seen more people stop to rest was in 2006 and it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees. People were dropping like flies that year.  The last 30 miles were the hardest.  If it weren’t for my riding buddies, Ken and Kathy, I don’t know how I would have done it.  RAIN is a physical and mental challenge.  Having friends to ride and suffer with you makes it easier.

We finished around 8:30 p.m.  It took us 13 and a half hours, my personal longest finish time ever.  I am still proud of my ride no matter how long it took.  My riding buddies, Ken and Kathy had great rides and finished with me.  Ken finished his second RAIN Ride and he was much stronger this year.  Kathy rode her first RAIN Ride this year and finished very well.

I will quote Paul Sherwin from Versus TV when I say, “The harder to suffer, the sweeter the memory” sums up RAIN 2011 for me.  Kathy reminded us with ten miles to go of another Paul Sherwin quote.  I had asked her how she was doing and she replied that she “was reaching deep in the well of pain and agony” but was OK.  It is moments like that that makes the RAIN Ride worth it for me.

CE Taylor