Bicycling in Bloomington

Wednesday July 30, 2008

I put my bike on the garage wall last Tuesday after the OWLS ride. I took it down the following Tuesday for the OWLS ride. But, it wasn’t a bad week, even though I wasn’t on the road bike. The weather is now generally good, it’s possible to ride every day. But, sometimes other things get in the way.

Tuesday night’s OWLS ride was a backwards version of my airport ride. The route was a little different but not enough to call it another ride. A new record number of OWLS – 21. I would guess that I have done the airport ride 100 times (5 times a year for 20 years). Some years, I’d guess that one-half of my rides were the airport ride, perhaps with some extra parts. It’s a relatively low traffic ride and I can always accurately judge the time required.

Backwards, I saw things I haven’t seen before, such as the size of the Rogers plant on Oard Rd. The ride seemed a little easier but I suspect it’s because riding with others makes some parts feel easier. As usual, the OWLS were a mixed group but we stopped regularly to regroup. The traffic was light and much lighter than the previous OWLS airport ride. While it was hot, it wasn’t oppressive. Overall, it was a fun ride.

Brown County Mountain Bike Trails

But the highlight of the past week was a mountain bike ride in Brown County State Park on Sunday morning. Sometimes, when I look forward to something for a long time and then it happens, it doesn’t seem as good as I expected. Sunday’s ride was better than I expected.

I rode the North Gate, counterclockwise around the North Tower Loop to the Aynes Loop. Clockwise around the Aynes Loop, then continued counterclockwise around North Tower. At one point (just above the “P” in “LOOP”) the trail splits with no markings. I took the trail to the right and found myself on a paved road. I rode it for a bit looking for another way to get on the trail, and then turned around. When I got back on the trail, I went clockwise around North Tower to North Gate and back to the truck. I estimate it was about 12 miles.

I rode much better than expected. I rode a little slower than usual when I was near obstacles so that I could choose a route through the obstacle that matched my skills. Most times it worked. For some obstacles, I decided that I didn’t know how to do them, so I stepped down. However, I think I stepped down fewer times than I did on previous rides. At the end, I felt very good about the ride and I’m looking forward to going out to Brown County again soon.

Other Activities

Despite not riding, I was fairly active for the week. I managed two strendurance sessions. I ran 8 miles on Saturday. And, I’ve commuted every day except one where I had to drive to Indianapolis. I kept up fairly well with tai ji and yoga.

This is a Biking in Bloomington blog and maybe Brown County isn’t Bloomington and running, tai ji, yoga, and strendurance certainly aren’t biking. But, those help to make biking in Bloomington more enjoyable for me.