The Saturday ride this week was the 57-mile Ellstigospewhi Ride invented a few years ago by current club president Jim Schroeder. It heads out on Vernal Pike, then through Ellettsville, Stinesville, Gosport, Spencer and Whitehall before heading back in on Vernal Pike. It was a somewhat cool, very windy, fine spring day.
Ride coordinator John Bassett organized the group of 20+ at the park and provided a few maps for those who needed them. While the main group probably completed the full route there were eventually at least four different routes taken, accommodating many different time and fitness constraints.
About 10 of us split off at Stinesville, opting for the "official" short 43 mile option. The group included (I think) Clair, Dave, Stan, CE, Ken, Allan, Dan, Martha, Mike and Ben. We looped west and south across 46, eventually T-ing into Hardscrabble. At that point Dave and Clair were anxious to put the wind BEHIND them and headed back east into town. Call them the Ellsti group.
The rest of our smaller group went west to 43 and then south to Whitehall, where we took our last rest stop before heading into Bloomington via Vernal Pike. Like everyone else we were very happy to finally have the wind at our back. Call us the Ellstiwhi group.
Presumably most people did the main scheduled ride. If I hear any more from them I'll add to this report.
Meanwhile Glenn Berger who organized a small group aiming to expand the ride into a century, gives us the following report. You'll see that they must be the Ellstigoscatspe group.
Today as part of the club ride four of us decided to try our first club century. The four brave souls, Paul, Nathan, Klaus and I left the main group after the stop as Gosport. We took off up hill, but downwind to begin our adventure. After a quick detour through a local cemetery(a sign of things to come?) we were off to a beautiful section of Indiana 67 with the wind to our backs! After our lovely ride on 67 it was time to turn off and "face the music" of some of Indianas finer country roads. The scenery was fantastic and the company was good.
After about 10 miles Klaus, the smartest of the bunch, decided to head back towards town on his own; while the three hard heads marched on. We took in some chip and seal and then turned into the wind....ohh the brutal wind. After what seemed like an eternity of riding directly into 20mph headwinds we finally found ourselves descending into Cataract Falls. What a sight! With all of the recent rains the falls were running at full force!
We took in the falls and part of the river along an old walking path(marginal for road bike riding, but we managed) and had a very short climb to the Cataract Falls local store(it's open but for sale if anybody is interested :). The store with the wood stove going was a welcome stop for water and Gatorade. After a short stop Paul T. informed us he had to be home by 4:30....it was 2PM and we had +40miles to go! We started rolling on with the wind FINALLY at our back....oh that sweet wind now!
Another short descent into a stream-lined valley and we road along the stream...down stream that is for a few miles. We climbed out and we knew Spencer was soon to be next. At Spencer we all agreed that due to "time constraints"...aka tired legs it would be a good idea to shave a few miles off. We called Tammy to verify a short cut and headed back to town via the Hilly Hundred route....Hilly yes but we had that wind to our BACKS again :).
What sweet way to end the day with the wind literally at our back and the sun out in full! Oh and we made it back to town by 4:45 PM (not bad all in all!)
Hope everybody on the 57 mile ride had a good time!
For more information about Cataract Falls, Glenn offers the following links:
Indiana State History
Google Map
History of Cataract Falls
Ride coordinator John Bassett organized the group of 20+ at the park and provided a few maps for those who needed them. While the main group probably completed the full route there were eventually at least four different routes taken, accommodating many different time and fitness constraints.
About 10 of us split off at Stinesville, opting for the "official" short 43 mile option. The group included (I think) Clair, Dave, Stan, CE, Ken, Allan, Dan, Martha, Mike and Ben. We looped west and south across 46, eventually T-ing into Hardscrabble. At that point Dave and Clair were anxious to put the wind BEHIND them and headed back east into town. Call them the Ellsti group.
The rest of our smaller group went west to 43 and then south to Whitehall, where we took our last rest stop before heading into Bloomington via Vernal Pike. Like everyone else we were very happy to finally have the wind at our back. Call us the Ellstiwhi group.
Presumably most people did the main scheduled ride. If I hear any more from them I'll add to this report.
Meanwhile Glenn Berger who organized a small group aiming to expand the ride into a century, gives us the following report. You'll see that they must be the Ellstigoscatspe group.
Today as part of the club ride four of us decided to try our first club century. The four brave souls, Paul, Nathan, Klaus and I left the main group after the stop as Gosport. We took off up hill, but downwind to begin our adventure. After a quick detour through a local cemetery(a sign of things to come?) we were off to a beautiful section of Indiana 67 with the wind to our backs! After our lovely ride on 67 it was time to turn off and "face the music" of some of Indianas finer country roads. The scenery was fantastic and the company was good.
After about 10 miles Klaus, the smartest of the bunch, decided to head back towards town on his own; while the three hard heads marched on. We took in some chip and seal and then turned into the wind....ohh the brutal wind. After what seemed like an eternity of riding directly into 20mph headwinds we finally found ourselves descending into Cataract Falls. What a sight! With all of the recent rains the falls were running at full force!
Another short descent into a stream-lined valley and we road along the stream...down stream that is for a few miles. We climbed out and we knew Spencer was soon to be next. At Spencer we all agreed that due to "time constraints"...aka tired legs it would be a good idea to shave a few miles off. We called Tammy to verify a short cut and headed back to town via the Hilly Hundred route....Hilly yes but we had that wind to our BACKS again :).
What sweet way to end the day with the wind literally at our back and the sun out in full! Oh and we made it back to town by 4:45 PM (not bad all in all!)
Hope everybody on the 57 mile ride had a good time!
For more information about Cataract Falls, Glenn offers the following links:
Indiana State History
Google Map
History of Cataract Falls
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