Bicycling in Bloomington

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I hoped to do a mountain bike ride in Brown County State Park on Sunday, but the pervasive Bloomington rain prevented it. Saturday morning was rainy but late morning and all afternoon were bright, sunny, and warm. When I got home from work on Saturday, I adjusted the mountain bike for off-road (dropped the seat and lowered tire pressures). Saturday evening, I went to a show at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. During the show, the lights went off and on and it wasn’t part of the light show. Various booms were heard that were not part of the music. A very strong storm came through. No mountain biking.

Sunday morning was cool, crisp, and sunny. It was my first ride of a route I did a few times last year – 45,  Bethel, Boltinghouse, Old 37, Anderson, through the Morgan Monroe Forest, Old 37, Chambers, Dittemore, Bottom, and home through town.

The roads were fairly dirty with a lot of blow-down. Broken branches blocked at least 1/2 of the road in 5 places. It was a day when riding into corners or shadows called for caution.

The pace was fairly good based on how little riding I’ve done this year. At Kinser Pike and the Bypass, the average was 15.3 (~37 miles). It was 15.0 when I got home (42.7 miles). From the Bypass to home, almost every corner seems to have stop sign or traffic light.

The hill in the Forest seemed a lot steeper than last year. All hills seem to require more than I did at the end of last year. I measured by my heart rate at the top which was consistently in upper 140s to low 150s on the big hills.

Little traffic as usual. Three pickups passed me on 45. From Bethel through to end of Bottom, 3 cars passed me. The county roads on Sunday morning are a bicyclist’s pleasure.

When I’m riding alone, I don’t shift often. I categorize my climbs sorta like the Tour, based on the rear cog. I generally ride in the 6 cog (I’ve never counted the teeth). There are two 4 hills on Anderson, the Forest hill and Old 37 are category 2. Climbing from Bottom to 37 is a category 3. I don’t think I shifted 10 times during the ride.

The rain prevented a mountain bike ride but the road ride but the road ride was darn nice, anyway.