Bicycling in Bloomington

My period of little bicycling continues. It’s been more than three weeks since I last did a long ride. Yesterday (Sunday), I didn’t ride because I was in Louisville watching my daughter participate in the Louisville Ironman. She finished and I am very happy for her. She’s been training for a year. In earlier posts, I described some rides we did as part of her training.

While she was on the bicycle segment, my son-in-law and I rode between two points of the course to cheer for her. The ride was about five miles each direction. We were on a rural road and the traffic was relatively heavy. More importantly, the vehicles were going very fast. I appreciate riding Bloomington more after the experience.

We also rode most of the run segment (2 out and back loops on the same street). The course was on a wide street with wide sidewalks. While I rarely ride on sidewalks, we did on Sunday because we did not want to interfere with the runners. We likely rode an additional 20 miles on the course. It was fun both to ride and to be able to cheer for her especially in the later parts of the “run.” Actually most were walking more than running by that point.

The course was on a wide, 4 lane street with sharrows. In my previous post, I mentioned that I found the sharrows on North Walnut difficult to see and interpret while driving and suggested that a sign would help drivers to interpret the sharrows. Louisville has these signs and I think it’s helpful to drivers.

 I spent much of this morning (Saturday) in downtown Bloomington. There was a substantial amount of biking activity. Many people were using bikes to go to farmer’s market. (Notice that the website has a picture of a bicyclist at the market.) Others were doing what appeared to be various shopping trips and errands on bicycles. A very positive sign. I hope that more people will use bicycles to replace cars when possible.

I also drove to north end of town to get a map at AAA and returned on North Walnut. Sometime recently, the bike lane on North Walnut has been widened. It now essentially takes a full driving lane. The wider designation helps drivers because previously the number of driving lanes was not clear. It could have been 2 or 3. And, it allows bicyclists to travel farther to the left of parked cars.

I can think of no good reason for a bicyclist to use the bike lane on North Walnut. It doesn’t connect any locations that bicyclists might want to go and there are better streets for bicycling parallel to North Walnut. However, the bike lane sends a message to drivers coming into Bloomington that bicyclists have a place on the streets and it makes clear the 2 driving lanes. So, overall, the bike lane serves two purposes but bicycling on it is not one of them.

I also drove further down North Walnut in the lane with the sharrows. I found that it’s harder to see and interpret them as a driver than as a bicyclist. Earlier this week, I had to travel downtown for some business, and I used a sharrows lane. I found it easy to see and understand while biking. Perhaps a sign on a post would help drivers understand the sharrows.

 I did a standard morning ride this morning; the first time in over 2 weeks that I was able to ride. It was a warm morning and I didn’t make a strong effort to push myself. After 2 weeks off, it seemed better to spin than push hard.

Traffic conditions in Bloomington have changed significantly since my last ride. I had to wait longer at stop signs this morning both on the ride and on my commute to work. There are many more cars on the road. But, it’s really closer to the normal pattern for the year.

The start of the local school year brings an increase in traffic and school started last week. Today is “move-in” day for Indiana University, so there’s a lot of traffic and many people who aren’t familiar with Bloomington road patterns. The city and campus deploy 75 police officers to direct traffic around the university today and tomorrow. It’s necessary.

For a bicyclist, it means that more caution is needed. In general, the increased traffic travels slowly but drivers sometimes find themselves in situations where they need to make bad decisions to get where they need to go.

Next Monday, the first day of classes at IU, it will be worse for bicyclists. This week and the following two weeks, bicyclists beware!!

 I have not posted for 10 days mostly because I have not been on the bike much for the past two weeks. I don’t want this blog to appear to be abandoned so I’m posting today without too much to say.

Last week (August 6-10), I did some standard rides on Monday and Tuesday morning. Wednesday and Thursday, I ran in the morning. I commuted each day. Friday through Tuesday, I was travelling to/from the meetings in New York and attending the meetings.

This week (August 13-17) I didn’t ride but did commute Thursday and Friday. I’ll be away again until Tuesday, so no riding this weekend. I hoped to do some off-road riding on Saturday but it won’t work out.

Today, I was riding on Pete Ellis drive heading towards the Post Office when I noticed a sign by the bike/pedestrian trail that parallels 10^th St east of the IU campus (2^nd map; east of Eastgate Lane). It said Polly Grimshaw TR. I need to find more information about it because Polly was a colleague and friend. I complained about the poor condition of the trail in an earlier post.

Students are returning to campus now. Bicycling is a little more challenging with many new people in town trying to figure the goofy Bloomington street system.

 Sunday, I rode nearly 60 miles. I rode what is now becoming almost a pattern for me - through the Forest, Bottom Rd, through Bloomington, Clear Creek, and a long way home (more detail). I had an 11:00 AM curfew for the ride. I got out about 7:15 or so and was back at about 11:05.

I won’t have another weekend ride for perhaps a month. The road bike is hanging on the garage wall and will likely be there until Labor Day weekend. I’ll be travelling for the next few weekends. It’s not unusual for me to have extended periods without riding. But, I think that I’m ready for the Hoosier Hills and the Hilly with just a few more rides.

The ride conditions were good but not great. I was sluggish but it might have been because of the weather - hot and humid. I noticed while riding through the “corn canyon” on Bottom Rd, that I was going about 2 mph slower than the previous week. But, the overall average time was not much different.

Traffic was very light. Hardly a car anywhere outside of town.

Some observations -

Boltinghouse Rd Hill - Earlier this year, I was getting more courageous in going down the hill and letting myself go. Then, three bad things caused me to be more cautious.  1) I use the middle of the road because it’s smoother but on a recent ride, a truck coming up was using the same part of the road. 2) I got to bottom okay but then I had to cross some unexpected gravel at a speed that was too uncomfortable for me. I used the principles of motion to get through it but it scared me. 3) I hit a hole so hard at the bottom that it caused my water bottle to fly out of the cage and burst open.

Sunday, I decided to go slowly because the Saturday night evening rains had caused a lot of gravel and other stuff to come out on the roads. A very wise decision. About 1/2 way down, there was mud and muck but not too much to handle. About 2/3 of the way down, far more mud, muck, leaves, branches, twigs, etc. than I think would have been able to manage at full speed. I’ve learned over the years to be cautious after heavy rains on rural roads in Monroe County. It paid off on Sunday.

Shirtless recumbent trike rider - I saw him again on Bottom Rd. This time I passed him going in the same direction. He has what looks like a beer cooler on the back. Even better, there are a bunch of flashing lights on the container. Interesting bike. Bloomington has some interesting characters riding bikes.

Big ring - I tried the big ring during the last 1/3 of the ride. I have rarely used it and generally considered it a weight that I carried around. I found that it is useful to ride through quick changes in slope. It was especially useful on rollers because I it allowed me to get into the spin more quickly than going down one rear cog. Because Bloomington is relatively hilly and I’m not a strong rider (I can rarely spin out the little cogs and the small ring), I didn’t see a value in going to the big ring. Now, I see how it can help improve my bicycling skills.

Saturday evening, I watched some bike racing in downtown Bloomington - the Bloomington Cycling Grand Prix. (Indiana Daily Student article) These are fun races to watch because it’s all amateurs, they go fairly fast (especially the cat 1/2 riders), and the course is laid out so that it’s possible to see many parts of the course. Another nice event that Bloomington has to offer for bicycling.

Sharrows, again - On Monday, the Herald Times reprinted the press release about Sharrows that the City released last week. Mitch Rice’s blog has a copy of the press release. Unfortunately, a subscription is needed to access the article. The HT, unlike other newspapers, discourages use of its website.

The article is merely a summary of the press release. Nothing creative in the HT. However, the article generated 84 (mostly) relevant comments. Many comments are thoughtful about the conditions for bicycling in Bloomington. It’s a shame that these comments cannot be more widely disseminated and discussed.

 Bloomington weather is generally fine for bicycling but during the warmest parts of the summer, it can be uncomfortably warm. We’re in that period of summer now. So, sweating is part of every ride.

Sweating is important for maintaining body temperature and inevitable when active in warm weather. For example, today the bank time / temperature sign on College Mall Road reported that it was 88 when I was riding in to work. It doesn’t seem possible to ride a bike in this weather and not sweat. So, when I arrived at work today, I was wet.

Sweating doesn’t bother me. Over a lifetime of sports, recreation, and work that generates sweat, it’s not a big deal. But others think it’s strange that I don’t feel uncomfortable when wet. I usually try to stay in my office for awhile after I arrive.

Last Saturday, I watched the end of the Tour de France time trials. I noticed that the Tour riders and I are similar in one way. We sweat a lot from our faces when riding. My road bike has about 6000 miles and sweat has caused the paint under the top tube to blister. Previous bikes have rusted significantly on the top tube and the connection to the seat tube.

It’s been a good week for riding for me. Monday and Wednesday I did Old 446 with 10 60+ second intervals and a number of shorter intervals. Tuesday and Thursday, I rode 446, Swartz Ridge, Moore’s Creek, Rhorer and Sare. On most of the flat spots, I was riding faster than 20 mph and pushed a little hard up the Moore’s Creek hill. I was very sweated when I finished the rides and all finished no later than 9 AM.

Hot weather and sweating are part of bicycling in Bloomington. And, as uncomfortable as sweat might make us feel, I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as cold feet and hands on winter ride.