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

25th Anniversary RAIN Route

Jim Schroeder shares this years RAIN route of 163 miles:

and the elevation profile, showing a total climb of just over 3,000 feet.

Last Ride Before RAIN

Tom Reynolds led a mixed group of 20+ riders on his "Limestone Tour" ride to the southwest, past several quarries. We had a number of people doing their last "easy" ride before taking Friday off before doing the RAIN ride on Saturday. Club member Dave Tanner was spotted among that group. He was instrumental in organizing the very first RAIN and has ridden in everyone of them. This will be his 25th straight RAIN! Several regulars were missing, having already gone into "rest mode" in preparation for Saturday. Others were there for the regular ride and were planning to volunteer on Saturday. Others, like me, have to be out of town and will only be able to experience the big day vicariously. Good luck to everyone riding or helping out or both on Saturday! We hope for a great day and a safe day for everyone.

BICYCLE DREAMS

  AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT 

RACE ACROSS AMERICA

COMING TO BLOOMINGTON JULY 31

Bicycle Dreams, the award-winning feature-length documentary about Race Across America (RAAM), will premiere in Bloomington as part of the film’s ongoing nationwide tour on Sunday, July 31, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Bloomington Bicycle Club. Tickets are $10 in advance, at www.buskirkchumley.org .

Race Across America is considered by many to be the most challenging sporting event in the world. The 3,000-mile coast-to-coast race, in its 30th year, was held last month and passed through Bloomington on its way to the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland.

The film, which has won numerous awards at film festivals all over the world, “is an up-close look at what RAAM riders go through,” says Stephen Auerbach, the director and producer of Bicycle Dreams. “They deal with searing desert heat, agonizing mountain climbs, and endless stretches of open road. And they do it all while battling extreme exhaustion and sleep deprivation. It’s a great subject for a film.”

“Bicycle Dreams is a spectacular and heartfelt film that offers a riveting portrait of extreme courage in the face of inhuman obstacles,” writes TheLoveOfMovies.com. “It is an artistic triumph that renewed my belief in the power of desire and the strength of the human will.”

“We are very excited to be able to bring Bicycle Dreams to so many locations along the route that have never had access to the film before,” says Auerbach. “Viewers will be overwhelmed by the amount of pain and suffering these riders go through. Hopefully, many of them were able to see it all first-hand when the racers come through Bloomington last month.”

To capture the mammoth scope of the race, Auerbach worked around the clock with a complement of 18 cameras. Embedded camera operators traveled inside the racers’ support crew vehicles, gaining unprecedented access to the cyclists and their teams. Their footage captured emotional and physical breakdowns, late-night strategy sessions, and great moments of personal triumph, all in intimate detail. Auerbach then took on the enormous task of editing hundreds of hours of material and forming it into a powerful and inspiring look inside the most difficult race on the planet.

Bicycle Dreams has won major awards at the Fallbrook and Breckenridge film festivals, as well as the Yosemite, Grand Rapids, Red Rock and All Sports LA film festivals, among many others.

Most recently the film added the Best Foreign Film trophy from the Krasnogorski International Festival of Sports Films in Moscow and was also invited to be included in the 2011 World Cinema Showcase in New Zealand as well as the Mountain Film Festival in Istanbul, Turkey. And before that it made its Australian debut at the Big Pond Film Festival in Adelaide.