Dan on Bike

Today is the last day of the month, and I’m once again behind on my mileage goal. So, my inspiration to ride today was all about numbers, not about fun.

It took me until 9:00 to finally get out of the house, and because of the already strong west winds, I started down Division Road. Not five minutes into the ride, I almost ran over a little bird, who looked like he had just left the nest for the first time. Since he was blending in well with the asphalt, it took a last minute lurch to the left to avoid squashing him.

Farm on 700W
It was tough riding into the headwinds going west, and then up the hills on 700W. (I basically followed the Lilly Road route, except that I headed east on 300S to Shadeland, rather than using 200S.) It was the east heading portion of the ride that got interesting. Those nasty headwinds became friendly tailwinds, as I was pedaling in almost my highest gear without working very hard. For several miles, I was sustaining 20+ MPH. Plus, since most of it was a new road for me, I had interesting things to look at.

Quilters Harvest
Now, I know you probably think that all of my photos look the same (“Oh look, a picture of a horse! What a surprise!”), but I saw some neat fields I wanted to capture, but I was having too much fun moving down the road to stop. Maybe next time.

Which Creek is Cooler?
I had only driven through Shadeland on the highway, but I’ve never stopped before. Today, I learned that there wasn’t much to stop for, and I didn’t hang around long. A quick jog up 250W brought me back to Lilly Road and the normal route.

High Speed Bike Lane
After speeding down the hill on US231, I was back into the headwinds on River Road towards home. However, by this time, I was in a much better mood than when I started.

Miles Ridden: 20.6 (not quite enough)

The neighbor and I planned to get out before work today, but he had to bail because of a sore back. I went solo to the bridge and back.

Miles Ridden: 9.1

Bike Rack’s Getting Crowded

I got caught by the rain once again. I’m starting to lose confidence in Kelly Greene‘s forcasts.

At first, I was upset about having to abort, but then I remembered that I still had a good ride in this morning.

Miles Ridden: 3.5

As we did a couple of weeks ago, the neighbor was planning a ride to Kramer again today. While the ride was nice last time, I didn’t want to hang out there for several hours before returning. So, I told him I’d ride part way, maybe 15 miles, and then turn around. We decided to ride the south portion of the Independence route, so I ended up doing the whole route (clockwise).

Poppies
As I was leaving Independence, I rode past Cicott park. There was a young boy there with his family having a picnic. This little kid had two orange balloons and was running around screaming in joy. When I passed him, he said “Hey, want a balloon?”. I declined, and told him to enjoy his party.

Abandoned House
There was a pretty good headwind on the south portions riding out, and the east portions coming back. My legs were pretty much dead about 10 miles before I got back, but I just kept pedaling. My mind kept rehearsing the phone call to my wife asking her to come pick me up, but I never actually dialed.

Miles Ridden: 33.0

Rode to work, to a meeting on the north side of town, and to lunch.

Miles Ridden: 18.1

My employer ran “Spring Fling” today, which is kind of a field day for adults. My team won the trivia contest.

Miles Ridden: 10.0

The Winter Wheat is Coming In Nicely
I didn’t have much time to ride this weekend, but today I found time to run down to the bridge and the fort. I wish I would have had hours to ride, but I only got 45 minutes.

The River is High

Miles Ridden: 10.2

Today is the official Bike to Work Day in Indiana (not sure who declared it, as there were no local observances), but I celebrated Bike to Work Half Day. Because I didn’t plan ahead well enough, I wasn’t able to ride in this AM. However, by noon it was warmer and drier (and I wasn’t late), so I rode the bike back after lunch at home.

Yesterday’s soaking left the seat on my Trek 820 dripping wet still today, so I took the road bike in. It’s a great bike to ride when wearing the appropriate clothing and shoes, but the Haggar slacks and shiny black leather shoes were not the best ensemble. With just a thin layer of gabardine (and cotton boxer briefs) between me and the seat, I felt all the bumps. Plus, my Rockports were sliding all over the pedals, and my feet slipped off once. Still, I got to work unscathed.

I still can’t bring myself to leave the Pilot on the rack, so it accompanied me down to the office.

I came home on the North Work Route, and saw the Wabash River Cycling Club Friday evening ‘C+’ ride leaving from Burstfield school. They dropped me pretty quickly.

I’d like to send out a big thank you to the drivers of the 4B Purdue West bus route, as they always refrain from passing me on the narrow stretch of Lindberg Road. After about half a mile, I pulled over in a turn lane to let her pass, and found that there were over 10 cars waiting behind the bus. I had to wait a little bit before I could merge back into the lane.

The headwind picked up on that last portion of the ride, but I hammered through and made it home in average time.

Miles Ridden: 11.9

It was a gamble. The local morning weathercaster, Kelly Greene, said that the change of showers this afternoon was low, with spotty showers at best that wouldn’t affect most areas. Instead, at 5:00 I looked at the radar to find the entire 7 county area covered in green, with a large yellow band passing over my town. As I tried to guess when the rain would slow down enough for me to ride home, my wife called from the parking lot in the pickup. There’s no way I’m going to turn down a ride in a pickup with a cute babe for a wet, cold, windy bike ride. It has been raining all night since!

Miles Ridden: 3.5

Rain Out!

Miles Ridden: 0.0