Weekend of Bike

On Saturday, Michael of Ear to the Breeze blog, came up from Bloomington to ride the Bike 101 Lakes ride in Fremont, Indiana. The ride was 106 miles through 3 states: Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The weather was the best biking weather I've experienced this year. The morning was cool, in the low 50's, but warmed into the low 60's by early afternoon. And the wind was light for the first time in two weeks. The only funky thing about the ride was the mass start at 9:00 am.



We passed by these Big Bud tractors - back in the 1970's these were the Cadillac of big farm equipment. The largest farm tractor ever made was a model 747.


Unfortunately my camera battery died, so I was not able to take anymore photos. The ride, however, was excellent. Michael and I cruised at 17mph for mile after mile. About 3/4 of the way, we adopted a fellow who was in need of food and water. He followed us to the next sag stop, where we waited until he was properly fed and watered. Michael and I took turns pulling him for the last 25 miles or so.

You'll want to check out Michael's blog when he writes about his experience on this ride - he is magically able to produce his camera faster than I can blink my eye. He must have taken 100 photos on this ride.

Today, Sunday, I rode the May Madness ride sponsored by Fort Wayne's bike club, the 3 Rivers VeloSport club. The ride started in Roanoke (Indiana) and headed south to Huntington, then over to the small burg of Andrews before heading back to Huntington then back to Roanoke. One thing I like about organized rides are the people I meet and ride with. They all seem to be interested in bikes. Since this ride was sponsored by 3RVS, I knew a bunch of the folks I rode with, so it was a good time. At least until I got to Andrews.

The wind blew us from Roanoke all the way to Andrews - about 38 miles - at a mighty speed. We were cruising at 20 to 23mph! Once we turned back to the east in Andrews, however, great pain set in. The next 20 miles back to Roanoke was a real suffer fest. In addition, there were 3 killer hills up and out of the Wabash Valley. Add in a 15 - 20mph headwind, well, you get the picture. I was passed by two different groups of people I've ridden with before many times. I really tried to keep up with each group, but I couldn't keep up the 17mph pace going into the wind, even with the benefit of draft created by the other riders.

It took longer for me to travel the last 20 miles than it took me to ride the first 38 miles to Andrews. I was happy to see my truck, and I have to say I blinked a couple times when I saw it to make sure it wasn't an apparition. Anyway, as tough as the biking was, it was a good training ride. Now for some rest and recovery.

Happy riding!