Today the neighbor and I planned to ride to Battleground with a co-worker of his. However, the co-worker wasn’t available, so the two of us talked about going to Delphi, the seat of Carroll County. (My mother’s family name is Carroll, so I wonder if any relatives were involved in the naming of the county.)
At my suggestion, we rode through Lafayette on Ninth Street and along North Ninth Street Road to Battleground. I could tell that he was uncomfortable riding on the four lane portion through town, even though the Saturday morning traffic was light. We got to Battleground and stopped at an art sale where his wife was participating. However, she hadn’t made it there yet, so we pedaled on to Delphi.
Our route followed Pretty Prairie Road and Bicycle Bridge Road to Delphi. Bicycle Bridge Road is very scenic and quiet. We passed a group of five cyclists heading towards Battleground and possibly Lafayette, including one rider with long grey hair and beard like Leland Sklar – James Taylor’s bass player.
Once we got to Delphi, we stopped at the Dairy Queen for a slushy drink – Arctic Rush Lemon Lime. As she made the drinks, the clerk talked about her 22 year old son who had recently lost 100 pounds and was getting ready for his first ever organized bike ride which would be 10 miles. (I think my first was the Orchard Country Ride in LaPorte County – 18 miles.) We both got nasty ‘head freeze’ and then headed back.
It was easy to track our time back to Battleground by noting all of the road kill that was left along the road like a grizzly trail of breadcrumbs. We saw raccoons, squirrels, opossums, birds, and a fox, but no wolves. We were fortunate to see a deer out in a field running with us. He was a lot faster.
It didn’t take long to get back to Battleground, partially because of the slight tail wind, but mostly because Delphi is closer than I imagined. There were few hills of any difficulty, and the route was easy to follow and not very busy. I think I’ll do this ride again.
As we browsed around the now busy art sale, we noticed ‘Leland’ and his buddies heading back north. I wonder how far south they went.
To head home from Battleground, we headed west on 600N, County Farm Road, 500N, and 400W to home.
Miles Ridden: 50.1
UPDATE: Speaking of Bicycle Bridge Road, a commenter named Robert tells me that the bridge in the Highland Park neighborhood is called ‘Bicycle Bridge’. Thanks for the info.
One Response to Delphi