Dan on Bike

Roaring Fork Motor Trail, Smoky Mountains National Park
Hey! Remember me? I used to post here. Actually, I’ve got five rides to document from my weak notes – probably just mileage.

Anyway, I’m out of town this week and not riding, but I hope to get back in the groove on Monday. My family is vacationing in the Gatlinburg, TN area this week. I had planned on bringing a bike, but the logistics didn’t work out. Once I got here and saw the layout, I’m glad I didn’t bother.

Gatlinburg itself seems like a nice place, but we’re not staying there. Our condo is in Sevierville, which is a long drive down the “Parkway” from Gatlinburg. Not since Las Vegas have I seen a more car-centric location. The Parkway is a four lane (plus turn lanes) highway with high speeds and no bike lanes. There are sidewalks that cross a multitude of streets and driveways. Plus, the traffic is thick. I drove my wife and daughter to an outlet mall about a mile away, and it took 10 minutes in each direction! If I had brought the bike, I wouldn’t be able to use it for any travel to restaurants or other tourist spots.

It’s likely that there are alternate routes that would be good for recreational rides, but as a tourist, I haven’t been off the main drag.

Now, I should say right now that I could have done a little research to find cycling routes in this area. First, I should have contacted cyclist, mechanic, blogger, and Boilermaker Gatlinburg Spokejunkie for information. She describes great rides around the area, and I’m sure she would have had some great suggestions. Next time for sure!

This makes me wonder how visitors seen my town. I’ve written often about the great options I have. Since I live in the country, I can get to a quiet county road about 30 seconds from my front door. My commute to work and trips to shopping are easy and calm. I’m a lucky guy.

However, those passing through Lafayette/West Lafayette will see the foreboding traffic and inaccessible roads near the hotels next to the interstate, or the four lane racetracks around the mall – much like what I’ve seen here. While I find riding around campus to be easy, newbies may be intimidated. I know which two streets to avoid downtown to make any ride a breeze.

I guess my point is that there is potential for good riding just about anywhere, but we (especially me) should be more open to a little exploration before passing judgment. Next time I’m on vacation, I’m going to do the homework before hand, and take some rides to find the good stuff.

And, I’m going to give Gatlinburg another chance when we return someday. Also, I’d like to offer the Spokejunkie a chance for rebuttal. Drop me a note or leave a comment with your response.

Miles Ridden: 0

Had to hose down and relube the bike after the ride on Tuesday, and I was able to get out this morning for a quick trip to the bridge.

Breakfast Over the Wabash
Check out the large view to see the swallows

More Birds, This Time in the Dead Tree

Miles Ridden: 9.1

The neighbor and I rode down to Martell Forest this AM, and pedaled down to the lake on the property on the gravel/sand road. There are a couple places on the half to three quarter mile path that were a little dicey for my skinny tires.

It would have been a good day to have brought the camera, as there was fog rising off the lake/pond that looked pretty cool in the sunrise. Maybe next time.

I had to hose off the bike when I got home to get the sand out of the drive train and the brake pads.

Miles Ridden: 12.7

Clouds Over the Golf Course

Miles Ridden: 11.8

Wheat Harvest

At the top of Indian Creek Hill, I stopped in a driveway to catch my breath when the owner of the property drove up. As the driver got out to open the gate, he said that I looked just like a family friend named Bob – his kids were wondering why ‘Uncle Bob’ was on a bike. (This Bob is a lucky guy if he looks like me.)

Miles Ridden: 11.2

After yesterday’s incident, I was a little gun shy today, looking over my shoulder often at each intersection.  Luckily, things went well.

However, I learned today that my road bike isn’t the best for commuting.  I had a couple of on-campus meetings after lunch, and I found that I tend to ride that bike faster, which increases the sweat factor.  I walked into my 3:30 looking like it was raining outside.  It took about half an hour to cool down, and I was very self conscious.  Also, my dockers ended up with many small grease and dirt stains – probably from leaning the bike onto me as I locked it up.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get the flat tire on the other bike fixed tomorrow.

On the way home, during a surprizingly busy burst of traffic on River Road, a lady stopped to ask me for directions.  I directed her to a driveway where we could talk without blocking everyone else’s way, and found that MapQuest had sent her on a wild goose chase that included an access road around the airport through the old gravel pit that closes at 5pm each day.  I found a better way for her to get to her destination.

Miles Ridden: 13.1

That tire that seemed to be holding air so well yesterday was pretty low today, so apparently the slow leak is back. I’ll take it in to the LBS tomorrow to have them find the problem and fix it.

That put me on the Trek Pilot for the ride in. I’ve mentioned before that the seat on that bike is not very comfortable in my work clothes, so I’m glad it’s a short ride.

As I was riding down State Street and approaching University Drive, I heard the black SUV speeding up. It accelerated past me to make a quick right turn onto University in front of me. I was thinking about how close that was when I saw the second car out of the corner of my eye veering towards me. She was following the SUV’s path, but I was there now!

I grabbed the brakes hard as she came over. If I hadn’t, I probably would have bounced off of her door and maybe under the back wheel, but instead my front wheel was grazed by the back fender. I yelled as I tried (successfully) to keep the bike upright. The driver kept right on going.

What would you do in this situation? I was in the middle of the intersection still facing east and quite pissed. My instant reaction was to chase her down. I took off south on University Drive and saw her turn into an alley about a block and a half down. I got down there pretty quickly to see her dart into a parking lot. Once I reaching the lot she was pulling into a spot.

I crossed the lot and stopped about 15 feet behind her car, and it took her a while to get out. By this time I was breathing heavily and the adrenaline was starting to make my legs shake. By the time she finally left the car, I couldn’t hold it still.

I said “Did you know you hit me back there on State Street?” “I didn’t know. I’m sorry” (that was her only line – repeated often). I went on to tell her what happened and just yell a little more, but my voice was shaky and nervous. After 45 seconds or so I gave up, telling her to be more careful and sprinting away.

By the time I rode the last few blocks to my bike rack, I had calmed down, and was left with a big chain grease stain on my pants and a good story to tell my co-workers.

Home again on the south route was again uneventful.

Miles Ridden: 9.0

I changed the flat tire from last week a couple of days ago, and it seemed to be holding air well. My ride in today was a grumpy one, as I had checked my work email before leaving home and was thinking about an annoying problem that I would have to face once I arrived. Luckily, I got things fixed by 10:00 or so.Rode home on the South Work Route without incident.

Weird Sign in Front of McGraw’sMiles Ridden: 8.4

As the neighbor and I were discussing where to ride today, I learned that he did not know about the Cairo Watchtower.  So, we decided to head that way.We first headed northwest on 400W and Jackson Highway to Montmorenci.  A little farther north on US231 brought us to 500N, which is fast becoming my favorite east-west road in the north part of the county.  North on Morehouse Road past the xmas tree farm brought us to 600N.  We then took that road east to County Farm Road (aka 50W).  This intersection has been popular with school builders as we can find a high school and elementary school here, along with the soon to open Battleground Middle school.  While we should have turned north to find Cairo, the neighbor was running out of time, so we instead turned south towards town.  The tower will (hopefully) be there another day.As we reached West Lafayette, we decided to head down the hill on Happy Hollow Road – one of the faster hills in our area.  I hit 35MPH during the descent.We took River Road from the bottom of the hill all the way back home – mostly to avoid the two additional hills on the campus route.Xmas Tree FarmMiles Ridden: 26.4UPDATE: I forgot all about the muppet of the day! Where Kalberer Road meets Soldiers Home Road is a ‘T’ intersection. As we came up to the right turn towards Happy Hollow Road, a lady driving a Honda Pilot came up next to me. She looked to the left, but never to the right (towards me) before executing the ‘rolling stop’ followed by a fast right turn. Lucky for me I stopped when I didn’t gain eye contact with her, or I would have been right hooked. We laughed and made fun of her as she sped off.

Not much time for a ride today, so I took a quick trip on River Road then downtown as far as 5th street.

Big news at my house is that my camera is back. I had sent it out for repair, and I’m very happy that the images are once again clear.

Miles Ridden: 11.0 (including once around the cul-de-sac to round it up)