Bicycling in Bloomington

 Not the Hilly Hundred weekend, of course. But I rode just about as far as the Hilly (96 miles total) on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, I rode the 60K version of the Hoosier Hills Tour. I chose the shorter ride because I was going to the IU football game at noon. My computer showed 40+ miles but it’s longer partially because I rode to and from the start at Jackson Creek Middle School.

I started fairly early. I might have left the school before 8. I ride the course regularly, so I knew it well. It seems that there weren’t many riders. I passed only a few before the first rest stop at Chapel Hill and 3 riders passed me. From the time I turned on Chapel Hill until I reached the school, I didn’t see another Tour rider.

The lunch stop was moved this year from the Monroe Lake overlook to an elementary school. I wasn’t paying attention, so I went to the old lunch stop. Surprised to see no one there. I was the first rider to reach the lunch stop at about 9:30 or so. It’s not lunch time at 9:30 so I didn’t eat much.

Overall, the day was pleasant (cool to start; warm at the end), the traffic relatively light although heavier than a Sunday morning, and I wished I had time to do the longer ride.

Sunday, I rode about 56 miles. I rode a typical course through the Morgan Monroe forest. It seems that a bike race was happening in the Forest sometime on Sunday but later than when I was there. After leaving the Forest, I crossed 37 and continued the typical route. At Denny Rd, I turned right to stay on Ditmore instead of going straight onto Denny (another place where the road takes a right turn). My map indicates that Ditmore would join Bottom, so it was an alternate way. I was curious.

However, I found myself on Buskirk Rd. Buskirk has a very steep hill that was unexpected. Then, I determined by the sun that I was going north instead of south. Eventually, I reached Burma Rd and became aware that I was riding the Sunday Hilly route backwards. I continued on the route using Salem and Paragon Rds to reach 37, crossed to Old 37 and climbed back up to the Forest entrance. Then, for the second time, I went down the hill and up to Hindustan (for the second time). From there I continued on Old 37 to Bethel Ln, turned onto the Griffey Lake Rd, up the hill from the Lake and home.

Like Saturday, the weather was pleasant. I don’t think I felt warm until after the Griffey climb. I saw some interesting animals, such as a lone turkey in a field. (I’ve always seen turkeys in groups before.) I saw chickens loose on Bethel Ln but that’s not unusual. Some deer on Anderson Rd. Traffic was light

Counting Thursday’s ride, I rode the following big hills over the weekend - Stipp, Mission Valley (the Alps), Ramp Creek, Bean Blossom, Hindustan (twice), Buskirk, two hills on Old 37, and the climb from Griffey. Buskirk seemed the most challenging but maybe it’s because it’s the first time I rode it.

I monitored my heart rate on the hills when I started and it seemed to be lower than previous rides. I also increased the gears a little. I rode the last mile of Bean Blossom in my “4″ gear which I’ve never used before on the hill. I rode up to Hindustan in the “3″ gear for the first time. On both climbs, my heart rate was lower than earlier in the summer despite the bigger gears. However, when I rode the hill to Hindustan a second time about 1.5 hours later, my heart rates was about 7-8 bpm faster but I used the same gear.

I saw many bicyclists going the opposite direction - I’d guess 50 overall with 2 larger packs. Very unusual to see so many. But, it’s not surprising. It was a nice day for “enjoying” the Monroe County hills.

In this post, I describe three rides. These rides are different from previous rides and they were done partially to gather current data on road conditions in Monroe County outside Bloomington. In the subsequent post, I describe the road conditions.

Sunday Ride

After 4 weeks, I was able to ride again on Sunday. I rode around Monroe Lake: S on 446, west on Chapel Hill; some unmarked roads to the dam. Instead of going north on Stain Ridge, I continued west, under 37, into Harrodsburg, Popcorn Rd, Rockport Rd, That Rd, to Clear Creek, Schacht Rd, Handy Rd, Stipp, Moore’s Creek, Rhorer, and Sare. It was a pleasant morning. The ride was a little slower than usual but I didn’t feel too bad after a month off. A flat on Moore’s Creek Rd took some fun out of the day. It was about 52 miles.

I started at first light and it was very cool, especially going down to the causeway. Climbing out from the causeway, I could smell my sunscreen cooking, so I knew it would get warmer. But, I wasn’t pushing hard because my HR was only 130 at the top. Chapel Hill isn’t a very interesting part of the ride but there was little traffic. Further into the ride, there are some nice farms in north Lawrence County. When the farms end, the climb up “The Alps” begins. It’s not incredibly long challenging. Seems a little less challenging each time I ride it.

Typically, I head home on Stain Ridge but I wanted to add some miles so I continued west to Harrodsburg (locals pronounce it Harrisburg). It’s a nice rural community. On all previous rides, I’ve come from the north (downhill) into Harrodsburg. Sunday, I rode to the north and climbed a long time on both Popcorn and Rockport Rds up to Kirksville.

I like the Kirksville ride going in the other direction (north - south) in the winter because from the high points near Kirksville, it’s possible to see long distances to the south when the trees are bare. To see the vistas travelling north requires looking a little over the right shoulder.

After Kirksville, Rockport Rd becomes a series of steep hills - downhill at 35 mph+ and uphill in big cogs. The road conditions vary from rough and potholed to relatively smooth but fortunately, it’s relatively lightly travelled. On one downhill, I hit a pothole so hard that my hands bounced off the bars. The bike started wobbling and I panicked for a few seconds until I got it under control. After that, I went down hills more cautiously.

Overall, traffic was lighter than I expected. A little more traffic than riding north of Bloomington but not enough to make any part of the ride uncomfortable. I was much more uncomfortable riding up and down the Rockport Rd hills.

Monday Ride

Monday (Labor Day), I did an intermediate ride. Generally, in the summer, I try to get in relatively long distances (for me) on Sundays and short rides in the morning.  On Monday, I rode about 27 miles on what I term the “airport” ride. I go north through town, leave town heading west on Vernal Pike, Vernal Pike west for a relatively long distance, Oard Rd, SR48, Kirby Rd past the airport, Leonard Springs, cross 37, That Rd to Clear Creek, Schacht, Harrell, Rhorer, and Sare.

I often do this ride in the winter because I know it can be done in 2 hours and that’s enough on cold mornings. The ride isn’t very long but both in Bloomington and on the county roads, there are a relatively large number of traffic lights and stops signs. I decided to ride faster than normal so after crossing 37, I picked up the pace. Unfortunately, Vernal Pike is under construction. I thought that it might be easier to walk across the construction gravel than take the detour that adds a couple miles. Big mistake - I walked a long way on gravel in bike shoes. An unpleasant experience. But, I finished the ride in less than 2 hours, so I was pleased. 

Most of my rides have little traffic but Monday’s ride had even less. I’ve noticed that traffic is especially light on holidays.

Wednesday Ride

Wednesday morning, I did a different morning ride than usual - I rode out to the water treatment plant on Handy/Shields Ridge Rd. Out on Sare, Rhorer, Harrell, Moffitt, Handy to the plant and turned around. When I got back to Moffitt, turned right, down Stipp and up Moore’s Creek to Rhorer and then Sare. I didn’t measure the distance but it took 1 hour, 10 minutes. I did a number of sprints to keep my heart rate up but it never exceeded 150.

It’s a pleasant ride. On weekday mornings, there can be a fair amount of traffic depending on the time. 7:30 - 8 is especially bad. There wasn’t much traffic on the ride today. Sometimes on the coldest winter days or when I don’t have much time, I do variations of this ride, along with old 446 for my Sunday ride. I often add a loop through Clear Creek.

My usual morning rides are about 50 minutes. Since I need to train for Hoosier Hills and the Hilly, I’ll try to do this ride at least once a week for the next month.

Next - road conditions on the county roads.

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.

 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.

 I will get to the subject of the post below.

I did not ride Thursday through Saturday. Thursday, I was away all day; Friday, I ran a few miles; Saturday, I had some things to do and wanted to watch the time trials in the Tour. Sunday, I rode about 45 miles. A typical ride, a version of the orchard ride - Smith Road, 45, Bethel, Boltinghouse, Old 37 to Hindustan; Chambers, across 37, Dittemore, Bottom, Kinser into town, Rogers to Clear Creek south of town, Fairfax, Schacht, Harrell, Stipp, Moore’s Creek, Rhorer, and Sare. I wanted to ride about 3 hours and be back to see the end of the Tour.

It was a relatively nice morning. The second part of the ride felt cooler than the first. Traffic was very light as usual. I tried to keep my HR in the 130 - 145 range to get some training effect. I focused on relaxed shoulders, feet and knees in the proper position, and keeping a steady pace. However, I regularly lost focus and just enjoyed riding.

The ride was a mixture of training and recreation. It wasn’t torture. I thought about the differences because of some symbols painted on the road for an organized ride. The symbols are similar to Dan Henry’s except they are H’s with the direction coming from the top of right side of the H or from the bar in the H. The symbols are orange. I assume it’s an organized ride but I don’t know what it is. I asked some staff at my LBS about it last year, and they didn’t know.

The ride seems to have all the bad hills in it. For example, it goes up Boltinghouse which is very steep. The ride would not be a lot of fun, except for those who consider torturing themselves as fun. For me, I can make myself train by choosing challenging routes, pushing hard, and doing sprints. But, most rides are mostly recreational - fun to be out on the bike. Choosing a ride that is mostly steep hills wouldn’t be fun and it wouldn’t be training. It would be torture.

But some rides are closer to torture than I might admit. This morning, I rode Old 446 with 10 60 second (more or less) sprints. Each sprint, I went as hard as could so that by the end, I was struggling to keep pace. Most ended with my HR in the low 150s. The last few sprints were very hard. Maybe I do torture myself at times.

 Saturday,  July 14 Saturday, I rode a little more than 81 miles. It was at least 10 more miles than my previous long ride. I rode it with my daughter who is training for an Ironman and needed to ride 90 miles on Saturday. She rode a loop before I joined her. Our average speed was 14.8 mph. The distances were PRs for both of us, so the average speed was good (in my opinion).

The ride was similar to one we did earlier this summer, except when we got to the Forest, we went to the Forest headquarters to get water. My water bottle flew out of the cage when I hit a bounce at the bottom of Boltinghouse. It opened and the water spilled. We also added an out and back on Clear Creek Trail and we didn’t go out to the water treatment plant. At the end, we added my standard Old 446 ride (about 13 miles) to reach the target miles.

For a summer ride, the weather was reasonable. It was cool when we started but it got warmer over the morning. The heat was tolerable. The traffic was much heavier than any recent ride. Saturday mornings have more traffic than Sundays, when I typically do my long rides. However, at no time did the traffic affect our ride. We both enjoyed the ride.

My summer rides are aimed towards being prepared for the Hoosier Hills Tour in September and the Hilly Hundred in October. I plan to ride both this year.

For the past 3 years, I started training for these rides in late July or mid-August. Last year, I had only one 40 mile ride by this time and didn’t have any 50 mile rides until the third weekend of August. Since I’m already ahead of previous years, I can do a few off-road rides between now and Hoosier Hills. Next Sunday (weather permitting) - either Wapehani or Brown County for an off-road ride.

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.

 I have similar and overlapping reasons for the two types of riding I do - commuting and recreational.Commuting. I much prefer to ride to campus than drive. It gives me time each day to be outside and experience the weather. It provides some exercise on days when I don’t have time for other forms of exercise.

Cars are great tools and I enjoy long trips in cars. But, for travelling to campus and getting around Bloomington, I much prefer a bike. Parking on campus and downtown can be challenging. I know that travelling by bike from my office to other campus or downtown locations is generally faster by bike because of parking issues. In addition, traffic problems seem much less frustrating when on a bike.

And, there’s a sense of accomplishment, uniqueness, and doing good for the world that comes from using a bike instead of a car.

Recreation. I like my recreational rides for two complementary reasons. First, it’s a good aerobic exercise. It uses many large muscle groups and contributes to my overall health and fitness. Second, and more importantly, I enjoy being outside and on the bike. It really is “recreation.” I like to be part of the weather, feel hot and cold, see the scenery, and think about riding and not about other things. Of the two reasons, the latter is more important. The fitness and health is just a benefit of spending time on the bike.

 Each year, it seems that I have one ride in June that is almost perfect for weather. It comes after a rain so the trees and other green things are really full and green. The day is clear with low humidity and a little cool. I call it my “June Day” because it happens most years. I don’t think it will happen this year. 

Today’s ride was close but not it. I rode about 47 miles. Kept a reasonable pace. I rode a version of the ride I’ve been doing lately. I didn’t go down Anderson Rd and up Bean Blossom into the Forest. Instead, I stayed on Old 37. For the Hilly riders, it’s part of the difference between the 40 and 50 mile Sunday ride. In my world, I call it the Orchard Ride.

At Vernal and the Bypass, my average was 16.2.  I added a section so that I would get a few more miles. I turned right on Harrell, went to Moffet and Stipp, down to the Lake, and up Moore’s to Rhorer. At the end, I averaged 15.2. I slowed for the last part because it was darn hot and because I wanted to cool down.

I rode reasonably well. I kept my HR at 135 or below for most of the ride. When I was over 135 it, I eased up. I’m still building my base. 

I counted the cars passing me on the ride until I got back to Bloomington. Only 6 cars passed me until I reached town (about 29 miles). In town, a bunch passed me. However, from Batchelor Middle School until I reached Rhorer, only 2 cars passed me. The low traffic volumes make riding so much more fun.  

Bloomington has many good days to ride. Some are really nice, some are fine. Some winter and summer rides allow bikers to feel the extremes of weather. But, there are only different kinds of good weather. The bad weather days aren’t so bad and they make the good weather days feel so much better.   

  It was a relatively good biking week for me. Fifty miles on Sunday, about 12-13 miles on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and a four mile run on Wednesday. Through all, the HR was low and the base is building. Tomorrow - Friday - is usually my day off. I need it this week. Today’s morning ride and my commute were affected by the wind. There was a relatively strong wind from the south and southwest. This prompted to think about how little wind affects riding in Bloomington.

I’ve lived and biked extensively in four places - the Washington DC area; State College PA; Hartford CT; and Bloomington. In DC and Hartford, the winds were not often a problem. In State College, I considered wind conditions for every run and ride. It was rare when the winds were calm. My daughter has complained about the winds on most rides she’s done in the northern IN and southern MI area this spring. In Bloomington, windy days happen but they are unusual. Today was unusual.

In general, the winds in Bloomington come from the north, west, and south. Northwest and southwest are typical. Winds from the east are rare. In my riding season which is roughly April through October, winds affect my ride no more than 10 times. I commute year-round, so I know the winds are often strong during my non-riding season; mostly from the north and northwest in the winter.

Since most winds come from the north and west, my rides tend to start into the wind. I try to go north then west and go home south and east. But, because the winds are not generally strong, I don’t plan my rides around them. However, I don’t know many rides south of town, so when there are south winds, I often finish the ride into the wind.

For most casual riders, wind is not likely to be a serious consideration on most days. Another reason why Bloomington is such a nice place to ride.