Logistics:
We of course paid no attention to our 5
nor 5:30 alarms. We finally got moving around 6:30 just as some rain
drops were heard on the RV rooftop. The forecast called for
scattered storms so we were hoping we could dodge them today. We
quickly gathered what we needed to put in the Jeep including the dog
trailer! Yes with temps in the mid 80's, Zin was anxious to go
today, she did not want to be left behind. We had made arrangements
at our next RV campgrounds called Tall Sycamores to park the jeep
there until we check in on the next day. The park was 50 miles away
and our ride was a planned 55 miles so we grabbed a b-fast sandwich
on our way to the park. We got parked, checked in with the manager
and prepared all of our biking paraphernalia. Kevin was a bit
anxious as he saw the time slipping away in all the prep. It was our
latest start yet and he did not want to be out in the mid afternoon
heat, he would melt! Theresa had spied one of the first turns out of
the park and crap it was gravel. This day will truly be a challenge
with lots of map checks.
The Route:
Since Tall Sycamores is about 13 miles
off the American Cycling Assoc. Northern Tier route, Theresa relied
on Google to help select the route for the day. It seemed like a
fine and reasonable route, however little did she know that Google
bike routes (in beta) do not distinguish gravel roads. Luckily
Indiana roads are set up on 1 mile square grid, with each road named
100, 200, 300... so if you hit a gravel road you can go left (or
right ) to find another paved road then another jog right (or left)
and continue in the same direction. Our direction today was
generally East, unfortunately, the cooler front was bringing in
winds from the NNE. There was some light cloud cover at first which
kept the temperature reasonable. Theresa started out to pull Zin,
she had scoped out an alternative to the initial gravel so we headed
for 700. We did not find that road so the alternative was 800.. Here
we go. Theresa pulled for 8 grueling miles, the terrain was rolling
hills with speckled farms amongst Corn and bean fields. She used
every gear the Green machine had, yes even granny on the triple.
Kevin could see that she was getting weary and even slower as it took
her 1 hour to get 8 miles. He was thinking it would be 5pm before we
would get back to the RV. Kevin took over and pulled for the next 14
miles. We headed north a bit and could see very dark clouds moving
into the area, we saw some lightening in the distance and later some
thunder. Crap we are going to get wet. Some sprinkles started to
fall so we stopped and put the plastic cover on Zin's trailer. Once
again Theresa validated which x00 road we were looking for next with
her iPhone. We plugged along with light rain keeping us cool, then
we noticed that the storm was moving faster than we were peddling!
It did leave a nice cloud cover that was a blessing from the heat.
Then anticipating a nice long stretch on 900 we came to an abrupt
halt. Crap another gravel road. Quickly out comes Theresa's iPhone
and thank goodness there was enough bars to find an alternative path
on Church St. How appropriate for a Sunday ride. Theresa had long
since disregarded the Google maps printout she charted last night as
who could tell what roads would suddenly turn to gravel. Her last
glance at the map indicated a road that would take them all the way
thru to Huntington where the RV park was. That was a long way but
they would not have to worry about making lots of turns. Theresa
once again pulled a short 7 miles to give Kevin the slightest relief.
We at this point were running low on water and were looking for any
place we could get a refill (and oh yes some food would be nice!) We
saw a church at an intersection that was filled with cars, surely we
would not disrupt a Sunday service if we snuck in and used the
facilities and helped ourselves to some water? SAVED! There was a
fire station on the other corner from the church which would suit our
needs and not interfere with any devotion that was underway across
the street. We pulled in and asked the two firemen if we could
refill our water bottles. The went above and beyond offering us
bottles of ice cold water that really hit the spot! They even let us
use the restroom and offered us advice on how best get to our
destination. They warned us to stay off of 16 as it was a 2 lane road
and very heavily traveled. Taking there advice we continued on our
spontaneous route. There were no sign of any town and we had long
since devoured our granola bars and the remains of yesterdays PayDay.
Zin was restless as well so we stopped to let her do her thing at a
empty small church on corner. We continued on 700 until once again
we saw gravel. Our only options were to go left 2+ miles out of our
way or go right 1 mile to the forbidden 16 and take it all the way
in. We opted the shorter route in hopes Sunday would mean less
traffic. Once we turned onto 16 we were thankful that is was a
smooth road which was a relief to our backs and butts. We paid
attentions to oncoming and traffic behind us. There was not much and
for the most part gave us our space. The road rolled and flattened
then returned to rolling again. Kevin's stamina wa wearing thin as
the sun was now out and beginning to suck any energy out of his
being. Theresa checked her iPhone one more time and reported 6 miles
to go. Thank goodness most of those remaining miles were flat with
of course the finish one last climb into the campgrounds. Google
really failed us on today with the initial directions but we were
sure glad we could get directions in route. Technology did not fail
us.
Stats:
Day 10 of riding, 58.5 miles, 11.1 mph
avg, total trip miles 514, and 3201 calories burned for the days
ride.
Kevin's Garmin:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/197218360#.T_oGbQv6xdc.email
After the Ride:
We downed ice water and beer and eat
leftovers. Theresa began to look at the next days route. She
struggled with Google for a while trying to find a good place to
stage the Jeep. Once she had a Walmart she honed in of how to get us
back on the ACA trail. Abandoning Google she got on MapMyRide to see
if that was any better. It seemed to be so she charted the almost 60
mile route for tomorrow. Finally done she went to print and the ink
in the small printer in the RV is dry and she could barely read it.
Good thing most of the route follows the ACA maps that have stood up
very nicely to all the folding, weather and other abuse.
Tomorrow's plans:
One thing good about MapMyRide is that
it will give you the elavation for your route, for tomorrow it looks
fairly flat, so we will see. We have lots of logistic tomorrow as we
need to get the RV to the campsite and then take the Jeep to the
start of the ride. Kevin has crashed many hours ago and Theresa just
needs to get this posted and get some rest so that she can get moving
in the AM. Kevin will not get to read this and make his normal
embellishments so you will just have to live with Theresa's factual
account. Good night.
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