Bicycling in Bloomington

Sunday, I rode a tick less than 59 miles. I planned to ride about 50 miles but during the ride, I decided to add a short out and back to increase the miles and the average speed. I rode out 45, Bethel, Boltinghouse, Old 37, Anderson, Bean Blossom into the Morgan Monroe Forest, Hindustan, Chambers Rd, across 37, Dittermore, Bottom, Kinser Pike, south through Bloomington on Rogers, Clear Creek, Fairfax, Schacht, Harrell, Stipp, out to the water treatment plant and back, Moore’s Creek, Rhoher, and Sare.

Some observations:

Weather - generally a nice day. On Anderson and up Bean Blossom, there was a lot of mist and fog. I had to take my glasses off to see. From Hindustan until I reached Bloomington, the weather was similar to a June Day. In Bloomington, it started to get fairly hot.

Traffic was light. No cars passed me until I was on the road leaving the Forest. Then, a car passed me three times - on the Forest road, at the end of the Forest, and on Chambers Rd. I almost felt stalked. Two cars passed me on Bottom Rd. On the south side of Bloomington, there was little traffic.

Bikers - I saw more bikers today than usual. (I’ve noticed that the number of riders increases when the Tour starts.) More unusual, I saw four bikers riding without shirts. When I was climbing Bean Blossom into the Forest, 2 shirtless riders came down the hill. Both had enough stomach to make me wonder. On Bottom, I passed a shirtless rider on a recumbent trike. On Rhorer, a shirtless rider wearing long pants.

Longer ride, faster pace - this was sorta a “duh” experience. I first checked my pace south of Bloomington. I finished 45 miles at 15.2 mph. Not bad considering Bloomington lights, etc. generally slow the pace. When I got to Handy, I noticed that my pace had dropped to 15 mph. I decided then that if I rode out to the water treatment plant, about 5 flat miles out and back, that I could increase my overall pace for the ride. I kept a steady pace out and back. When I turned off Rhorer at Jackson Creek School, my pace was 15.3 and 57 miles. Because I chose to ride 5 extra flat miles, I was able to have a faster overall pace. If I hadn’t done the extra miles, I’d guess that my pace would have been 14.8 or so. The hills around Bloomington affect my average speed considerably.