Tour de Upland

Doug Dayhoff, BBC member and owner the Upland Brewing Company, has passed along a note that Upland is hosting the second annual Tour de Upland: 30 hours of cycling, beer drinking, camping, and music in the hills of Brown County on the weekend of August 20th and 21st.

More details and registration information can be found at www.tourdeupland.com. Check it out!

Bicycle Tour of Colorado

By Jerry Arvesen


From Sunday, June 19 through Saturday, June 25 I participated in the 17th annual Bicycle Tour of Colorado (BTC).  This year’s tour started and ended in Central City just west of Denver, and promised the Peak to Peak Highway, the crossing of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Canyon, a day off in Glenwood Springs, and finishing with Vail and Loveland passes.

My wife, Janice, and I drove out and cycled in South Dakota for a few days en route to Boulder, where she was to stay with friends while I was riding the BTC.  Our first pedal strokes were in Badlands National Park, marking my first time in South Dakota.  Fellow BBCer Jim Schroeder had kindly given us some SD cycling routes, which we followed religiously.  The Badlands is laid out as a rolling end-to-end road through the major sections of the park, so Janice and I did a 45 mile out and back.  It was a warm and sunny day, with little traffic, and we saw plenty of prairie dogs, mountain sheep, and moonlike scenery.

JANICE IN BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

After a drive to Custer State Park, the next day we rode to Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore.  The Crazy Horse mountain carving was started in 1948 and is still far from completion.  Designed to be about 10 times higher than Mount Rushmore, it’s no wonder.  The terrain this day was much more challenging, with 2-3 mile long uphills, major road construction, and heavy tourist traffic.  Fortunately, we had shade and rest breaks as we lingered leisurely at the attractions.  In the state park we also had heavy bison traffic, and at one point a line of vehicles had slowed down to gawk at a herd on the shoulder of the road.  Having already seen my share of these creatures, I proceeded ahead only to have one grunt and take a step towards me.  That resulted in my fastest sprint of the week!  59 miles for the day.

JANICE & JERRY AT CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL

ONE OF OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS

After a day off, we headed to Spearfish Canyon in the northeast corner of South Dakota.  This area was a nice and beautiful surprise.  Our hotel was fortuitously located in a rural setting right on the highway, and we enjoyed waterfalls, rugged pine forests, rock outcroppings, and wildflowers as we rode 13 gradual miles downhill at the start of our ride.  Unfortunately, we had to pay the price, as we had two major four mile uphills with traffic starting to build around the gambling mecca of Deadwood.  The heat and hills were starting to get to us, and we slowed our pace considerably.  These hills reminded me of our SR446 causeway hills, but once at the top we coasted and cruised easily for about six miles back to our hotel, for a total of 48 miles for the day.

JANICE IN SPEARFISH CANYON

On to Colorado, where Janice indulged me in my quest to see if I could conquer the mountains of Colorado.  We had seen about half of this year’s BTC route on a family vacation about 15 years ago, but fatherly duties kept me from riding significant miles.  I was curious if my middle-aged, southern-Indiana legs could keep pace with the serious riders from mainly western states that this ride attracts.  Janice joined me as a bandit on Sunday as we rode the Peak to Peak highway from Central City to Estes Park.  The day started out cool and cloudy, then turned to rain as we finished.  We were able to get a great taste of the week to come, however, with gorgeous scenery and the thrills of carving the turns on the downhills.  I like going fast on downhills…no doubt about it…and the Peak to Peak highway would prove to be one of the best of the week for that purpose.  Janice and I got separated towards the end, and I discovered my cell phone was not working because it got wet in the rain, so we had problems hooking up.  I got to the school first and started hustling with the tent (instead of watching for her), as the rain had subsided somewhat.  Wrong marital choice.  My phone would receive her calls but I could not hear her nor could I make outgoing calls.  Finally we hooked up, made peace, and met our Boulder friends for dinner.  There was a terrific thunderstorm during dinner, and upon returning to camp I noticed my soaked and flattened tent.  Bummer!  Now I was on my own for the rest of the week, and I had to start off with some wet clothes and gear.  It would not get better soon.

JERRY ON PEAK TO PEAK HIGHWAY TO ESTES PARK

No doubt, one of the highlights of the entire BTC was the opportunity to ride Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.  Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, climbing to 12,183 feet and connecting the towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake.  The Park Service tries to open it by Memorial Day every year, but this year they couldn’t until June 6 due to the most snow seen this late in the season in thirty years.  Even at that, because weather conditions can change rapidly, we were to be prepared for the possibility that the road would be closed for the day and we would have to ride back to Central City and be shuttled to Granby, our next town.  We awoke to the promise that a yay or nay decision would be made by the Park Ranger at 5:00 am, then 5:45, then 6:30.  Something was happening up there, because the weather wasn’t too hospitable at the school either.  I was dressed in my heaviest winter cycling gear; three layers on top, shorts and tights, and full-finger gloves and ear band.  I guessed it was about 45 degrees when we got the go-ahead at about 7:30, and there was an en masse cheer and sprint for the road as impatience met with thoughts that we should take off before anybody changed their minds.  Why were we so excited about a 25 mile uphill climb?  Everybody soon hunkered down in a comfortable gear and cadence.  Clouds, mixed with some sun and mist, formed a rainbow over a valley near the entrance to the park, and groups even stopped to take pictures during a sunny moment at one of the major junctions on the road.  The more we climbed, however, the more foreboding the weather became.  I started seeing riders coming downhill towards me going the opposite direction, and noticed they had BTC stickers on their bicycles.  Finally I reached the first sag stop at mile 20, and encountered a huge backup of bicycles and cars, because the Park Service had closed the road due to worsening weather conditions.  Crap!  What to do?  Do we turn around and grab a shuttle bus to Granby?  But, wait!  Rumor is that they’re reconsidering!  Sure enough, the time that I spent refueling was time well spent, as we soon queued up and were released up the road in groups of 50 riders or so.

ENTRANCE TO ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATION PARK & TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

I remember a ride report from RAIN a few years back when it was reported that they “had everything but snow”.  Well, this time we had everything but sun.  It started raining, then sleeting, then downright snowing with blizzard-like conditions.  The wind was fierce and gusting sideways.  Despite the sick irony of riding in these conditions and “enjoying” the arctic scenery, my thought was to keep hustling and get off of the summit as quickly as possible, and maybe conditions would be better at lower elevations.  What alternative did I have?  I stopped at sag stop #2 just long enough to get the pictures to prove it, and the same for the Visitor’s Center at the summit, where I basked in the warmth of the shelter and in my glory of having pedaled to the top.  No time for pictures at Milner Pass, the Continental Divide, because it was on the downhill and it was raining heavily.  I had looked forward to this long downhill as my reward, but it was hardly enjoyable as the cold, pounding rain made it hard to see and required full concentration.  In addition, I thought I could feel my bike shimmying on the descent, a new sensation for my trusty Trek.  However, I soon discovered the real reason:  I was so cold and was shivering so violently that I couldn’t keep the bike stable.  Regardless, I quickly arrived at sag stop #3, where the volunteers and park rangers were hustling us off our bikes and urging us to warm up in one of the many vehicles idling for this sole purpose.  My clothes still soaked, but with the worst of the weather gone, I finished the last 15 miles or so to Granby and made a beeline for indoor camping in the gymnasium, required wrist-bands be damned.  65 of the most exciting, harrowing, adventurous miles on the bike I’ve ever had.

STILL BALMY AT 11,000 FEET

SAG STOP #2, TRAIL RIDGE ROAD, JUNE 20, 2011

VISITOR CENTER AT SUMMIT OF TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

The next two days to Steamboat Springs and Glenwood Springs, respectively, were sunny with friendly clouds, dry air and light winds.  It was cool at the start, requiring a jacket, which we shed by midday when the temperatures hit the mid-80s.  We were now riding in wide-open Colorado, home of big skies, scrubby ranch land, buttes, wildflowers, and a small town every 30 miles or so with the requisite coffee shop and bakery.  All that and a mountain pass or two thrown in for good measure.  After setting up camp, I enjoyed the beer gardens, live music, and the offerings of the food vendors in the parks in each town.  Each cyclist I talked to had their own story to tell of Trail Ridge Road, which seemed as if it would quickly turn into a legendary day.  I later found out that I was in the minority of riders who were able to complete the whole route that day, the others needing to be shuttled by bus over to Granby.  90 miles each day to Steamboat and Glenwood Springs.

JERRY STRADDLING THE CONTINENT

After a day off in Glenwood Springs, we headed eastbound to Vail, paralleling I-70, and riding on either US6, US40, or a nice paved dedicated bike path.  The weather again was ideal, which helped as we literally were riding uphill for the first 50 miles or so for the day, culminating in a rather steep (for mainstream Colorado) 6-8% grade, eight mile climb up Vail Pass.  The little town of Frisco, 20 miles east of Vail, was our destination, and I enjoyed re-kindling my memories and bike rides of our previous vacation in this area.  Our camp was at the high school south of town which services Frisco and Breckenridge, and the two towns (and the whole county as well) are connected via a nice separated bike path system.  After dinner I rode to “Breck” to meander and get some dessert, and I watched a red fox for a few minutes as it sniffed around the bike path and trotted casually not fifty feet from me.  85 miles for the day.

NEAR THE SUMMIT OF VAIL PASS

Our last day’s route took us past Keystone and Arapaho Basin ski resorts and up Loveland Pass on US6.  A-Basin was still open for skiing…amazing to me, but a fellow told me they’re normally open in June, mainly due to their geography and their orientation to the sun.  Again we were to start out with at least fifteen miles uphill, and the eight mile Loveland Pass proved to be a make-or-break, as the accumulated miles were clearly wearing on many riders’ legs.  Throughout the week, I found that one cannot ride these climbs like the hills around Bloomington…you can’t sustain standing or try to power up them, rather you have to hunker down, take your time, sit and spin, and think of how to solve world peace.  There was a celebratory atmosphere at the sag stop at the summit of Loveland Pass, as people took pictures and relaxed, knowing that the week’s last major climb had been completed.  The downhill was one of the week’s best, with open views and a fun twisty road to carve.  We all came to a quick halt, however, as the Clear Creek Sheriff’s department held us up and released us in groups of fifty or so onto the shoulder of Interstate 70.  Riding a bicycle on the Interstate is legal where there aren’t obvious alternatives.  In this case we were riding the shoulder downhill for fifteen miles or so at a 5-6% grade, coasting at speeds of 35-40 miles per hour.  We had to avoid the grooved rumble strip, road litter, and most definitely the right-hand lane of the highway.  At the bottom of the grade, and after the last sag stop, I waited for Janice at our pre-determined meeting point, and watched the riders pedal the last climb into Central City.  49 miles for the day, 425 for the week, 40,000 feet of elevation gain, and a mixed sense of happiness and melancholy as the tour came to an abrupt end.

JERRY AT LOVELAND PASS SUMMIT

Random thoughts:

• The National Park Service rangers had full authority and police power over Trail Ridge Road.  While they were incredibly polite, accommodating and well-trained, it was obvious that their word was paramount and a person did not want to get on their bad side.  I suspect in all about 40-50 ranger personnel were involved in traffic control and ride support.
• Likewise, the Colorado State Police were in evidence all week, patrolling the route on motorcycles and ensuring that cyclists maintained road decorum on the narrowest roads, and keeping in contact with the sag drivers.
• I saw t-shirts or bike jerseys from RAIN, TRIRI, Hilly Hundred, IU, DALMAC, 3 State 3 Mountain, and TOSRV, among others.  I also met BBC member Jim Isenberg at one of the sag stops, as he was wearing a current BBC jersey.
• I have no problem touring by myself.  (I’m my own best company.)  I rode and shared meals with others, meeting riders from all over and talking about our shared experiences of the road.  Most everyone asked about the movie Breaking Away, and had heard favorably about Bloomington.  That being said, it sure was nice to see and be picked up by Janice at the end, and to sit on an upholstered seat wider than 4 inches on the ride home.  
• Early to bed, early to rise, makes a cyclist fast and wise.  I was asleep generally by 9:30 pm and awake to the cacophony of zippers by 5:30 am.  I always felt like I was playing catch-up in the mornings.  Get used to it if you want to tour.
• I felt that I was continually organizing my gear:  Clean clothes, dirty clothes, bike gear, getting stuff ready for the next day.  Housekeeping duties never ended.
• T-shirt of the week:  “What’s so hard?  It’s half downhill.”
• The ride attracted experienced touring cyclists and campers.  99% of the riders were safe, smart, strong, and climbed the hills, if not with aplomb, at least with no complaints.  This was not their first rodeo.  I think most any BBC member could handle this ride.  As I’ve remarked before, “If you can ride in Bloomington, you can ride anywhere.”

Williams Bridge Ride

Tammy subbed for husband Glenn who had originally planned to lead this ride. Thorough leader that she is, Tammy had already ridden the 70 mile route on Monday to check it out.  Her main reports: roads are all okay; you can no longer ride across the covered bridge since it has a locked gate now; the view of the old bridge from the new bridge is excellent; the store in Williams has minimal stuff for cyclists: no Gatorade or Powerbars.

Here's a photo of the initial group at Bryan Park.

Almost that many more showed up before we took off around 9:10 or so. As you can see it was an excellent day for biking. Fair skies and moderate temperatures.

On the way out of town on Grimes we just glimpsed the big DeCycles group heading north on Rogers for their big adventure to the east coast.

Then fairly far south on Rogers Dan H. had a flat. The whole group stopped for a while. Eventually most of us took off and left a small group of faster riders to offer moral support. It looked like they would make quick work of it. But as it turned out they didn't catch up until the stop at the convenience store in Judah, where old and new 37 cross.

At that point two of us headed back toward town via Guthrie and the "Alps" and by Lake Monroe, following Strain Ridge and then Ramp Creek back to town. Some others were still considering the shorter 50+ mile option, but most were aiming to do the whole route.

Quite frankly I was completely satisfied to do a 35 mile ride, arriving home before noon. Of course I'm not training for RAIN.

(If someone wants to send me some notes on the rest of the ride I can add that to this short report.)

-Allan

RAIN Billboards!

Take a look at the RAIN billoard that Klaus Rothe has succeeded to get LAMAR advertising to place along US 40:

(click to enlarge)

Klaus just reported to the BBC board:

"It's official! I've just heard from Lamar that two, count them "TWO", 14 x 40-foot billboards declaring the RAIN ride will be going up. One will be on the west side of Terre Haute, the other in Plainsfield facing toward Terre Haute. What you are viewing here is the actual art.

"If you're wondering where our logo for the BBC is, or where any mention of the BBC is -- that was not allowed as the Convention and Business Bureau cannot give promotion directly to an organization or business.  I tried, but they slapped my hand."

It will be great! Thanks, Klaus, for engineering this!

BBC Double Century 2011

By Eugene Kase SAG Driver

Dateline:  June 18, 2011

We initially had 5 riders for the 200+ mile ride and three for the 100+ ride, and one rider meeting us in Terre Haute and riding to Sullivan. The ride was to start around 6:00am. But with the weather not being friendly and yours-truly not liking a ride in the rain, it dwindled down to 5 riders....Jim S., Tom S., Paul T., Stan E., and Dan H. I need to point out that at this time, we had an abundance of SAG navigators/drivers. My daughter and her friend, as well as my 12-year son wanted to come along. Yes, 2 teenagers and a pre-teen, waking up at 5:00am on a Saturday morning to support biker riders for a long period of time, I was surprised. But, I sent my daughter and her friend home in my car (with my bike...mistake #1) while my son Michael and I would handle the SAG duties in our Odyssey.

At 6:30am the 5 riders left the First Baptist Church in Ellettsville with plans on meeting the SAG vehicle in Clay City, about 33 miles away via bike. It was in Clay City that the rain started to let up and the skies started to clear. It was also where most of the rain jackets came off of the riders :)

After the brief stop at Clay City, the next stop was at 3rd St. & Cherry St. in Terre Haute @ mile 61. It was this stop where Paul was ready to go without his helmet, leaving it sitting in the grass! We all quickly pointed out that he was missing something on his noggin.

So off to Subway restaurant in Paris, IL. The riders did a ride thru Saint Mary’s of the Woods College (this years starting point for the RAIN ride) on their way to Paris. The stop in Paris is about 24 miles from their break in Terre Haute. The route from TH to Paris was quiet and almost traffic free. These roads are straight, pretty flat, but without ‘dan-henry’s’, I waited at questionable intersections to make sure they stayed on course. I was envious watching them in the rear view mirror in a perfect pace line. A couple of times I asked my co-pilot Michael to count and make sure there were 5 back there, so not to lose anyone.

The stop in Paris is where substantial food consumption and relaxing at the picnic tables took place. It was also where one rider asked “where is that Gatorade?”, and the answer was “it’s in the blue cooler”. I think there were 7 blue coolers in the van.

From Paris it was off to Marshall, IL, near mile 108. The riders would hit the century mark right around Clarksville, IL.

Clouds did show up around mile 93. The winds picked up and the temp dropped. I stayed close ahead of the riders thinking any minute it was going to come down. My co-pilot even asked if we might have a tornado. This big cloud literally passed right in front of us. A few drops hit the wind shield, but that was it. The stop in Marshall, IL was quick and simple. Drinks, snacks and back on the road, off to Hutsonville, IL. about 26 miles away. At about mile ~125, Dan H. decided he would join me in the car. As I loaded Dan’s bike on the van, I told this other 4, to stay on course into West Union and make a left on HWY 1 and we’ll meet up in Hutsonville. Hutsonville (mile 134) is where Dan treated the pilot and co-pilot to a soft serve ice cream cone and a large root-beer float.
After Hutsonville, the riders by-passed a stop in Sullivan and headed east on route 54. I waited at a Casey store at the top of a hill in Dugger, IN, at mile 158.

The stop at Dugger is around the 3/4ths point of the double century. Our next stop would be in Worthington. But we also decided I would pull over every 10-12 miles to make sure the riders were still alert, there was enough light, etc. The stop in Worthington was quick and un-eventful...other than a rider demonstrating the process of embrocation while the gas station attendant observed outside her window. From Worthington to the church in Ellettsville, it’s about 30 miles. It was getting late and the riders were chasing daylight. At this point the four riders broke up into two groups (Tom, Stan, Paul in one and Jim in another), so Dan, Michael, and I decided we would leap frog. I would drive up wait for all four to pass me and then drive up ahead of them again, never more than a few miles in front.

The SAG vehicle pulled into Ellettsville a few minutes ahead of the riders, allowing us to locate a “beverage store” to purchase a cold “recovery drink” for the riders. The final rider pulled in the church parking lot around 9:30pm.

A few notes to re-cap:

• Stan went through 13 gu packs.
• Tom ate his potato stew at almost every stop. He may want to patent that recipe.
• I didn’t get lost until Dan took over the co-pilot duties from Michael. Next time, let’s not wake Dan up.
• Michael was content in the van for 13 hours with his Kindle, Nintendo DSi, word search book, and a Harry Potter DVD. 
• At one point I had the camera around my neck, the route map on my lap, and my phone/gps in my hand...and as I rider mentioned “our lives in your hand”.

Improving Tuesday-Thursday Training Rides

BBC member Wes Harris contributes the following commentary aimed specifically at the Tuesday-Thursday Training Rides. But his comments apply perfectly well to all club rides, and especially those without a designated leader. - Editor.

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Several people have suggested to me that we need to address a few of items about the weekly Tuesday, Thursday training ride. 1)      The pace of the group out of town is a little fast.  We should keep the speed down and observe traffic rules to help keep the group together as this is really just warm-up time anyway.  Once we hit the open road outside of high traffic areas then we can increase the pace to whatever. 2)      Identify rendezvous points prior to start of the ride and get a head count of riders at the park. This will help keep track of stragglers.  It’s also nice to let the group know if you intend to drop off or turn back so we don’t wait needlessly. 3)      Rendezvous points should not be at the top of climbs.  I know this seems like a logical place but it’s actually physically a bad idea.  The last thing you want to do after a hard effort like a hill is stop and let the lactic acid that has just been built up stay in your legs stay there.  It’s better to pedal easy down the road a ways first after the hill to a rendezvous point.  Also we should attempt to stay out of traffic as much as possible at the RP. It’s also a good idea to let new riders to the TTTR know what is going to take place and what they can expect.  Mike Finger does a great job with this and this is in no way meant to diminish his contribution.