Bicycling in Bloomington

 The season is over for me. On Sunday October 7, I rode about 40 hilly miles.  I rode what I call the “Three Lakes” ride. I rode by Griffy, Lemon, and Monroe lakes.

It was a wonderful ride. Nice day, pleasant temperatures, not much traffic, and many hills. I rode slowly as practice for the Hilly.

I did not ride the week of October 8-12 because I was out of town most of the week.

Last weekend was the Hilly Hundred. A good end to my biking season. The weather was fine. It was cool on Saturday. It started in the 40s and ended in the 70s. Sunday was warmer. I took off my jacket at the 2^nd rest stop. It’s not often that I ride the Hilly in short sleeves.

The course as challenging as ever. A little change to the Sunday ride added a hill and made the Sunday ride about 2 miles longer. Mt. Tabor was tough for me, as always. Water Tower hill is at the end of both days and it’s an appropriate end to the rides - challenging but doable.

Some thoughts about the Hilly:

• I would not be able to eat fried chicken at lunch and ride the hills without discomfort. The peanut butter sandwiches are enough for me.
• My typical complaint about long rides - the lunch should be at the third stop instead of the second. For those who start early, lunch is very early.
• The ice cream bars are the real treat of the Hilly. It’s at both lunches and at the vendor tent on Saturday. I don’t eat ice cream often, so I really enjoy them.
• It seemed like more riders walked the hills this year.
• The Hilly didn’t seem as crowded as previous years. At times, my daughter and I didn’t have other riders within 100 yards front and back.
• The ride was extremely well-organized as usual. Many sag wagons, enough food, water, port-a-johns, etc.
• The roads seemed better than the past years.

For those who haven’t done a Hilly, it’s fun and you should do it.

Next stage - at this point, I stop riding and start training for a 10K in Niles MI on Thanksgiving. I’ll still commute, so my posts will be more about commuting than road riding.