Bicycling in Bloomington

 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!!

 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.

 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.

 This morning, I changed from using my morning rides as preparation for the season to training for the season. My season is the Hoosier Hills and Hilly Hundred. I will train until the Hilly in October which means I will have a training focus on most morning rides.

Instead of riding Old 446, I went out the same way but after finishing the first part on Old 446 (Knightridge), I turned onto 446 and rode south to Swartz Ridge. Down Swartz Ridge and back up Moore’s Creek to Rhorer, Sare, and home. It’s a little shorter than Old 446 but it has a substantial hill.

I will try to ride this route at least 1/2 of the mornings to practice riding hills. This morning, I focused on tai ji/yin-yang pedaling up the hill. A short explanation - focus on the important parts of the foot and making sure that the yin starts before the yang is expended. It also means that the upper body is relaxed as much as possible when not needed on the steeper parts of the climb. I’ll practice this for a few more rides.

I also used the big ring for riding the flats. Typically, I use the middle ring (3 and 5 cog (17?) for commuting and the middle and 6 cog (15?) for my morning rides. (The 8 cog is an 11, so I’m guessing about the sizes.) This morning, I used the big ring (4 and the 4 and 5 cogs for most of the ride.

This ride has almost no traffic on most mornings. From the time I turn onto Swartz Ridge until I reach Rhorer, I usually see one or two vehicles. It’s a very pleasant ride from the end of Swartz Ridge until the climb begins on Moore’s Creek. This morning, I had to slow because of a fawn at the side of the road. I often see deer, turkeys, and an occasional coyote on Moore’s Creek.

 Sunday, I went to Brown County State Park to ride the mountain bike trails. It was fun to do something different on the bike.

I’m not sure how far I rode. I started on the North Gate Path to the North Tower Loop. I rode the east (windy) side to Aynes Loop. Rode Aynes Loop but returned on same side of North Tower Loop. Then back on the North Gate Path. This combination of loops is about 9.3 miles but because I took the longer way twice on North Tower, my ride was longer.

I met a number of riders, especially since I might have been going the wrong direction on North Tower on my return. But, it was far from congested. I’m never sure on mountain bike trails if there is a preferred travel pattern. If I was going the wrong way, I apologize to the other riders whose rides I impeded. 

The trails are in great shape and allow for good riding. They are well designed and have the appropriate levels of challenges. The Aynes Loop has a long climb, little tighter trails, and a few more obstacles than North Tower. I would have tried Hesitation Point but I don’t know what a classification of “difficult” means. If it’s a steeper, harder climb, I would try it. If it’s much more technical, then I wouldn’t because my riding skills need to improve to ride more technical paths.

After the ride, I noticed that my hands were more tired than my legs - braking too much. I plan to go back at least once more this season.

Postscript

Monday and Tuesday I rode Old 446. The mornings were very cool for the summer. It’s a pleasant change from hot weather riding. The traffic seems to be increasing indicating vacations may be over.

After a week off, I lose some biking skills, especially pedaling. I found that Tuesday I was much better able to spin than Monday. It’s good to be back in the normal daily routine.

This was an easy week for riding. Old 446 Monday and Tuesday, a run on Wednesday, and hill repeats and a little detective work on Thursday. I’m off today because a 75 mile ride is scheduled for tomorrow.

Yesterday, as part of the ride, I tried to follow a Bloomington Bike Route that goes from nowhere to nowhere, as far as I can tell. It starts at the corner of Jamie and Rhorer, winds through Sherwood Oaks, and appears to end at Sherwook Oaks Park.

 It might go up the hill to Olcott Park but no sign indicates it. At the exit of Olcott Park on Canada St, I found a sign that indicated the Route goes along Canada but it was facing the wrong direction. The Route ends at the intersection of Sare Rd and Canada St. There is no apparent reason why it would be considered a bike route except to increase the bike route miles and spend money on signs.

After the 58 mile ride on Wednesday, I rested yesterday. I didn’t ride but I took a long walk and I biked to work. I guess it qualifies as a rest day. Today was a recovery day. I took an easy Old 446 ride and biked to work. The distinction between rest and recovery is not clear.  

To me, rest days are days off the bike. Recovery days are on the bike but little effort. I much prefer recovery days because I enjoy the time on the bike. Rest days are needed when I’m tired but I miss the time spent on the bike. I am in no way addicted to riding. I am off the bike for long periods for a variety of reasons. But, when the weather is nice and I have the time, I often regret that I need a rest day. 

Today had some unusual weather – patchy fog. However, the patches were no more than 100 yards long. In the fog, my sunglasses got wet; in the sun, I needed them. And both could happen in a 1/4 mile.

Today was also unusual for the traffic – much heavier. In fact, I had to make a jug-handle turn from 446 to Moore’s Pike (right, u-turn, and cross the road). I’m usually willing to take the appropriate position on the road to make left turns but the heavy stream kept me from finding a place to get to the left side of the lane.   

Overall, it was nice to have a morning ride.

I was away for five days and it was wonderful to get out for a ride on Monday morning. It was the standard ride - Old 446. The morning was cool. When Indiana started observing DST last year, the weather was cooler most mornings because I was essentially starting an hour earlier. After the summer equinox, the movement of the earth creates a little different pattern of sunlight which affects the rides. There’s more shade and the morning heat is delayed.

I rode a little slower than usual but I have always found that I am slower when I take off more than a few days. And, I felt like I was pedaling squares for the first part of the ride.

I set a new morning commute speed record this morning - 27 mph. It was in the place where I ride hardest but rarely get over 23 mph.

On Tuesday, I did some hill repeats in Sherwood Oaks/Jackson Creek. I wanted to practice riding up hills at a steady pace and relaxed. The hills are not long and each is different. Sherwood Oaks is steady up and Jackson Creek has relatively flat spots. Neither is long, so it’s easy to ride them a number of times.

Bloomington has a number of places that allow for repeats without traffic disruption. Old 446 is relatively flat and it’s a good place for sprints. Sherwood Oaks has 2 short hills that allow practicing for hill riding and sprinting is possible.  

 Tomorrow I leave for a short vacation, so I won’t be back on the bike (except for my commute home tonight) until Monday. This morning, I did my usual ride - Old 446 but it was both cautious and quick.

Cautious first - a few years ago, I crashed my bike and broke my collarbone on the day before we were scheduled to go on vacation. It was during a period when I was doing more off-road riding. I was testing my skills by riding at the edge of a road that had a curb and trying to keep the bike within a foot of the curb. Going down a hill, I saw an unexpected road hazard (it shouldn’t be unexpected in Bloomington). I swung out to avoid it but quickly remembered that I hadn’t been monitoring the road for approaching cars. I swung back and caught the wheel in a little crack. It caused me to go into the curb and over the handlebars.

I broke my collarbone. I walked home (about .75 mile), and drove a manual transmission car to my doctor’s office. It was challenging to shift without being able to move my arm. But, it’s not nearly as impressive as Tyler Hamilton who rode most of 2003 the Tour de France with a broken collarbone.

So, I rode cautiously today. I waited a little longer before crossing intersections, and I didn’t make any quick decisions. I experienced a very considerate driver today. Travelling west on Moore’s Pike, I needed to turn south on Smith. I kept looking back for a break in traffic but there were many cars behind me. A driver slowed to let me pull across the lane for the left turn. I wonder if he was also a rider who could see what I needed to do.

Quick second - I did the ride in about 45 minutes, which is as fast as I ever ride it. I think it was quick because my legs weren’t tired from a long ride on Sunday. Also, I put air in the tires. I’d guess that I last put air in them in April. Yesterday, I stopped on my ride to work to see if the rear tire was flat because the rim was almost on the road.

My speed was consistently over 18 mph and my HR was in Zone 3 which is about 140 - 150 for me. The ride was essentially 6 - 8 long sprints. The speed was about 2-3 mph faster than my typical ride. I’m already looking forward to getting back on the bike on Monday morning.

I didn’t ride yesterday (Sunday) because of the weather. I was up very early to be prepared to start early but the rain was heavy and thunderstorms were predicted. So, I attended a tai ji workshop. I attended the workshop Friday night and Saturday but was going to miss it Sunday so that I could ride. It’s a shame when interests are in conflict but sometimes having multiple interests allows me to have alternatives when needed.

This morning, I dropped the car off for an oil change and other maintenance at a shop at the far end of town from where I live. I used my new bike rack for the first time to transport my bike to the garage.  I combined my need to get home with a morning ride. 

I took a long ride home - about 17.5 miles. I went south on Curry Pike which becomes Leonard Springs Rd. (More in a later post about how often roads change names unexpectedly in Monroe County.) Then, — That Rd, Clear Creek, Schacht, Harrell, down to Lake Monroe and home. I reached the highest speed ever on the commuting bike - 46.2 mph going down the Moore’s Creek hill.

The ride reminded me how the weather can differ across Monroe County. It was moist and misty on the west side of town and much drier down by the Lake. Usually, it’s just the opposite - wetter, cloudier near the Lake and sunnier near town. 

Weather can also change fairly quickly. I wore clear lens this morning and it worked for the ride. Other times, I’ve started with clear lens but after an hour or so, I wished for dark lens. The morning fog and clouds often go away about 9-10 AM. At least for me, it’s rare when the ride starts sunny but ends cloudy and raining.