Bloomfield Covered Bridge Ride

Another hot day and another long ride. Leader Stan Ellis had checked with the Green County Highway Department and found that paving had been completed in the Bloomfield area. So, except for the infamous Rock East we had quite a bit of good to excellent to brand new pavement. This is a difficult ride, but all agree it's not as difficult as last week's Williams Covered Bridge Ride.

We started with 16 riders and picked up another couple on the way out of town. Most did the whole ride but a few did judiciously opt for the 50 mile short option. The morning ride was a delight. Everyone in the main group made the trek out to the covered bridge before our lunch stop. (Thanks to John Bassett for taking this photo on CE Taylor's smartphone.)

If you look closely at the right you'll see CE and me, each sporting CamelPaks. This was my first time trying one. It worked out pretty well. I was able to stay much better hydrated and the back pack was not too hot or uncomfortable. I emptied two water bottles of Gatorade and one 70 oz CamelPak before our lunch stop at the Bloomfield Subway. Most of us had sandwiches and drinks there and were able to put ice and Powerade in our bottles.

After lunch we headed out on the return half of the ride. We followed up with stops in Springville and Harrodsburg. We were split into two groups, not too far apart and both groups generally tried to keep the pace down as the afternoon heat increased.

There were no mechanical problems beyond several dropped chains on hills. Everone managed the heat in his or her own way. Overall it was a good ride on a hot summer day.

Cool Midweek Century

Tuesday provided almost unbelievably nice weather for a long bike ride. Organizer Jim Schroeder found six other riders waiting when he pulled into Bryan Park just before 7 am. Joe Anderson, Dana Marsh, Laurence Kohler, Jennifer Miers, Allan Edmonds, and Clair Murphy quickly organized into three cars for the almost-an-hour drive to Brownstown. The temperature was in the upper 50s. In Brownstown we parked at a convenient CVS and met an eighth rider Dan Fowler who drove from home.

Check out the route map at this link. Especially take note of the elevation profile and total climb of 3907 feet. (My GPS measured climb at 4635 feet, probably too high; while Garmin's online site corrected the 4635 to 3069. In any case parts of the ride had significant climbs.)

We stopped at a country store in Little York around mile 30, at a service station in Scottsburg around mile 45, for a sit-down lunch at Christie's Cafe on the downtown square in Salem around mile 65, and for snacks in Medora around mile 89 or so.

Besides the beautiful weather, interesting sights included workers on scaffolding hanging from a large water tower (big bulb on a pedestal) while they repainted the tower and a now-defunct brick-making kiln dating from the 1800s.

We followed the planned route closely until near the end where Joe took us on a back-road portion of the Round Barn Ride route. I thought he was going to show us a round barn, but if so, I never saw it. The good news is that the route didn't add any significant distance and it had less traffic. The bad news was that some of it was old chip-and-seal, in bad shape, and shook us up rather well.

For the first half or more of the ride I averaged in the mid 15s (well the faster riders probably recorded higher numbers). I finished at 14.5 mph for the day.

The group stayed together pretty well. Thanks as usual to Jim for organizing a great ride and for taking care with some of us slower riders to be sure we made all turns and didn't fall completely out of touch with riders ahead.

Hot Double Century

The club already received a succinct report on this year's double century from participant Rudy Savich: "Hot!" Here the ride organizer, Jim Schroeder provides a more detailed report.



This was the 13th year that there has been a double century in Bloomington for the BBC.  The first eleven years it was known as Rudy's Double Century as Rudy Savich organized, mapped out the route, and provided support for the riders.  He also selected a charity that would benefit from any donations that any rider would have liked to make to that cause.  Last year did not have Rudy or a charitable cause as six BBC members rode to Paris, IL with the sag support of Eugene Kase.

This year I decided to resurrect the charity angle as the 2012 Tornado Double Century went to the Henryville, Indiana area where tornadoes ravaged that area this past March.  Many of us have ridden southern Indiana, and I thought it would be fitting for mostly fortunate Bloomington to give something back.  A local charity, HCC Recovery, was selected and several BBC members and a few Jim's CVS customers contributed to the cause.

6am at Bryan Park, three riders and a sag support driver started the journey.  I had tried to publicize this event and promote a "share a century" concept where riders could ride the first 100 miles and then help support the riders that were riding the last 100 miles.  That was not the case, and so, Sylvia Stoub drove the famous support Subaru with 3 "tifosi" golden retrievers while Nathan Rogers, Rudy Savich, and myself headed off on our two-wheeled steads.


Nathan had never attempted a double century and thought it would be a good test for his first RAIN ride a month later.  Rudy, mostly a marathon runner, decided to strart training  for this two WEEKS previous.  I had planned a grueling 200 miler with a "hill mongerish" 9,600 feet of climbing, but not the mid-90 degree heat in store for us!

We started the route with some familiarity as we paced down to Springville and Fayetteville, and then turned left on IN-150 through Eureka and then Bedford, which was actually new to Rudy.  The dogs kept us alert, as Gracie barked at every farm animal she saw.

Rolling to hilly but always enjoyable Tunnelton Rd was ridden, naturally, all the way to Tunnelton on the East Fork of the White River, as we now entered BBC uncharted lands through Bono and Cave River Valley, and highway 60 to Salem.  The country roads were some of the best I've encountered, and IN-60 had a nice shoulder.  70 miles showed on the computer so we decided to eat at a Subway south of the courthouse in Salem.

We veered onto a nice country up an downer, Martinsburg Rd, which ran parallel to IN-60, but the scenery was nice and the tree cover cooled our bodies.  We came back on IN-60 in Pekin, but that was okay as the state road avoid all the "knobs" that surrounded us on both sides of the highway.  After passing over I-65 we then headed north on US-31 and entered Henryville and stopped at Henryville Christian Church to hand over our donations of about $1500.  There was so much going on with all the construction of the school and many houses in town.  The Church was the mess hall for all the volunteers out there.  The kids enjoyed the dogs, while we enjoyed ice cream sundaes.  There was so much donated food that they even gave us boxes and boxes of Clif bars. Behind them, I understood the gesture: There was a 10 ft x 10ft x 10ft cubicle mountain of just Cliff bars!

At this 100 mile point, Rudy was tiring of all the hills dolled out on him, so we suggested that he ride on the flatter US-31 to Austin and Crothersville, while the rest of us went farther east and north to Marysville and Lexington.  There we followed the path of destruction on Henryville-Otisco Rd.  The heat and the country hills were pounding us, but nothing like the tornado that had pounded on the forests, houses, and churches throughout the countryside.

Nathan and I had hoped to meet up with Rudy somewhere between Austin and Crothersville.  Rudy even left us a sign, a red rag on a street sign but we missed it in Crothersville.  All of our cell phones had lost power by then, so there was no way to find him.  Brownstown was our last stop, and some remnants of some rain storms cooled the road off a bit as we now headed north on IN-135.  We even had one of those rain showers in the sun later, and that sure felt good.  We took the detour around the Kurtz bridgework, but we went the opposite way that the Nashville 90'rs went.  We had all the uphill!  Arrggh!

Finally, our last leg was IN-446, and it was quite desolate until we climbed Mellencamp Hill just north of the causeway.  Traffic piled up behind our sag vehicle and it was getting darker by the minute.  We still hadn't seen Rudy, so I decided that we should turn right at the Cabin Restaurant and go to Rudy's house to check on the situation. Rudy was actually ten to fifteen minutes ahead of us.  By then it was pitch dark.  I figured that 191 miles was long enough for a double century, so we all loaded up in the Subaru and dropped off Nathan.

-From Jim Schroeder

Long, Longer, Longest

This past Saturday was a day of long and longer club rides. The official ride was the club favorite Nashville 90. That was the long ride.

Bob DeGroff led a group of 16 riders at the 9 am start. A few chose to do an out-and-back on 446, the only plausible short option.

Meanwhile some of the OWLS offered a slower but longer option, starting at 8 am and intending to a make a century out of it. I had planned out a route that added the detour laid out by Mike Finger to get around the bridge repair on 58, Bear Wallow (!) after Nashville, and Robinson Road/Firehouse Hill to finish up. Our group started with 11 riders. A couple opted to skip our extended stop in Nashville and just complete the standard 90. Another couple had to quit and call for a ride because of physical ailments.

The day started out nice and we made good time to Freetown where we snacked and drank and replenished fluids. As we proceeded toward Nashville the day got increasingly warm. We had a leisurely sit-down lunch in the shade at the General Store.

By the time we had climbed South Shore the remaining group mutinied and wisely decided not to do Robinson Road and Firehouse Hill. Yours truly ran out of gas and limped home with 98 miles. But Gail Morrell and CE Taylor both completed a true century by taking a sufficiently circuitous route home. That was Gail's first century and her longest ride ever. CE has done centuries before (not to mention 6 or 7 RAIN rides in a row). But this was his first century of the season. Congratulations to both.

It was a day for dehydration. That caused at least one person to drop out and it also helped keep me from completing a full 100 miles. That was just the kind of training we need to get ready for RAIN. More liquids and electrolytes needed!

Meanwhile, of course, Saturday was also the day of Jim Schroeder's Double Century event. We hope to hear details from that group soon. 

Venice Traverse

Tuesday marked the OWLS switching their start place from Sherwood Oaks Church to Bryan Park, like everyone else. The closures of the intersection of Sare and Rogers and of Harrell finally pushed us into it. For now we are experimenting with a 6 pm start so we stay a little bit separated from the other groups starting at 5:45. But we may go back to 5:45 if that's what people prefer.

We did a short ride north to mark the new start site, a simple 22  mile loop out and back on Bottom Road with a loop on Simpson Chapel and Lawson at the north end. Altogether we had 12 riders out for a gorgeous cool June evening.

The plan was to take in the Astronomy Open House on the top deck of the Henderson-Atwater Parking garage viewing the traverse of Venice across the sun. They were set up with filtered telescopes. But there was a huge crowd and none of us wanted to wait in line. I did take in club member John Carini's scope projection on a white board. The sun projected to a 4 inch disc and the small black dot corresponding to Venice was clearly visible.

Riding up and down the parking structure ramps on our bicycles was a blast. The Garmin GPS hardly knew what to make of it:

Inaugural City Trail Ride

By John Wrasse

Sunday, June 3rd, featured our first City Trail Ride. This ride is designed for new or returning riders to have fun while exploring the trails around town. Families are welcome! The rides will vary from 4-12 miles and will focus on how to ride safely in a group. We will meet each Sunday this summer to ride one of the routes.

Our first ride had 8 riders. We had kids in trailers and three others on bikes of their own. Everyone wore a helmet (of course) as we journeyed on Clear Creek trail from one end to the other and back.

Come and join us for a leisurely pace. No one will be left behind.

Next Sunday we will ride on the B Line. We will meet at the Showers Parking lot (where the market can be found on Saturdays) at 1:30 pm. For future City Trail Rides check the BBC ride calendar.