Hoosier Hills 60k

by Keith Vogelsang

With such cold, gloomy weather this past Saturday, I certainly didn’t expect much of a turnout for the Hoosier Hills ride around Lake Monroe. The Doppler radar indicated a narrow window of opportunity as our 10AM scheduled time approached, and because I was the designated ride leader, it was my call on whether to roll or not.

I’m glad we went for it. Eight of us showed up at Bryan Park, including Mark and Andrew, two new members. At the halfway point, Mike, Stan and Paul split off to add some extra miles. Here’s Mike’s summary of the day:

“Paul, Stan and I enjoyed our extension to today's ride. We went to (near) Heltonville by way of Bartlettsvile, then back to Bartlettsville. From there we worked our way over to Judah and back into town on Old 37 and the Ketcham cutoff over to Victor. Distance of 65 miles, avg. speed 16.4, climbing of 3500 ft. We weren't too cold as long as we kept moving, and though it started raining again on the way back into town, we managed to stay fairly dry. It's not the kind of day I would have chosen for a ride, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I had a blast.”

Yeah, that about sums up my day, too. We had a fun group, all working at the same pace. Although my toes were cold and the skies gray with drizzle, I stayed dry enough to get in a good workout on the hills. Jim and I both narrowly missed the same frightened, confused squirrel on a fast descent down Ramp Creek—lucky day for us and the squirrel!

Fortunately, my first experience with the Hoosier Hills ride coincided with beautiful riding weather. And during Saturday’s ride, it occurred to me that this particular route was my initiation into recreational cycling in Bloomington. Years ago, the city hosted a 20k, 60k, and 100k version of the Hoosier Hills ride as a fund raiser for the local food bank. And at one time, the Bloomington Bicycle Club used the ride as its own fund raiser.

Back in 2004, a friend suggested that we take our kids, clamp on our trailer bikes, and sign up for the Hoosier Hills 20k. Surely we were both strong enough to complete a short 20k route with kids in tow; right? While chatting during the ride, we missed our turn onto Swartz Ridge Road from 446. By the time we had realized our error, we were nearly to the causeway, and decided to just keep going and try to complete the 60k. We knew there were hills, but no one told us about “the alps!” Oy…

I remember feeling so empowered after completing this challenging route with my eldest son, Mac, in tow. It’s hard to believe that was about 28,000 ride miles ago, but it was this particular ride that motivated me to seek out other touring opportunities, and eventually, brought me into the BBC.