With less than a week to go, I am no longer nervous about the trip. Three things today made it seem OK.

First. I woke up and, while still in bed, I reached for my iPhone to check the weather. Instead of a high of 60 and threatening winds (not a fun biking day), it was going to be high of 64 and little-to-no winds. Yes. Then I checked my astrology app and read May’s long horoscope, which I hadn’t yet done this month. I lay there, squinting one eye to read the tiny type without my glasses, and was told to be assured that all my travel this month, especially work-related travel, would go exceedingly well. My bike ride just happens to be work-related travel, so in my head this means that it will not rain, because that will make it an exceedingly good trip for me. But who the heck cares. Even if it rains, my trip is gonna be awesome. I am ready psychologically.

Second. I had woken up nervous because I had my first 50-mile ride today. It was the longest to date, and I was worried that I would poop out 3/4 the way through. However, with the weather picking up and my happy horoscope, I was ready to ride. Running a few minutes late (thanks to laying in bed reading the month’s lengthy horoscope), I got to Cheri and Nick’s house 15 minutes late and didn’t see anyone. Worried that two other friends, Amy and Sue, who’d never met Cheri and Nick, had already come (and maybe left if they didn’t see me), and that Cheri and Nick had already left because I was so late, I scrambled to unhitch my bike and catch up. But, of course, I shouldn’t have worried. This group is too kind to leave a person behind. They were all inside getting to know each other.

We set out soon afterward, heading down a much-needed (for me) different route than the previous rides to Lake Bloomington. This time, it was Lake Evergreen first, then Lake Bloomington second. We headed into the wind, taking the trail to Northtown Road, then left for a few miles, with the main road eventually turning to country. Right at Mabel Road for a ways, with wind at our sides, we passed a house with a Golden Retriever laying ontop a picnic table. He stood when I said “Hey Dog!” and he had the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a Retriever, and just smiled and wagged his tail. We turned right by the house built into a berm, then left onto the road into Lake Evergreen and stopped at the gravel lot for a rest, a pee, and a snack. 14 miles in, and it felt like 10. Easy.

Back on the bikes, we left the gravel lot and I noticed a guy sitting, looking pretty out of it, in a pickup. Neither he nor we said anything. (Usually bikers or hikers will nod or say hello, I’ve learned. Unless they’re super-racers.) It was an odd time of day to be hanging out in the Evergreen parking lot, but whatever. We headed around the lake, and it was a quick ride to Green Gables (30 minutes, minus the tractor we had to pull over to let pass). It was much quicker than I’d realized — a breeze, and only 21 miles by that point. We looped around the inner and outer Lake Bloomington roads, then headed home with the wind at our backs most of the way. The clouds were lovely and puffy, the sky was blue, the temperature was tempoerate, and before I knew it, we were back at Cheri and Nick’s, who treated us to chocolate soy milk, toast and jam, and all sorts of yummy after-ride snacks. They are quite the hosts. The ride only ended up being 40 miles, but everyone keeps telling me that you can ride double whatever your longest ride is. So if I can do 40, then 65 on Day Two will be totally doable! I am ready physically.

Third. We headed out from Cheri and Nick’s (in our cars) for the Bloomington Cycle and Fitness Open House, because all I could think of while riding was getting back to the shop to eat a brat. They always have brats and dogs at the open house, and Laura was the grillmaster. Amy beat me to the shop and had Laura prepping a brat for me. I ate two without hesitating, and a third before I left. I was *hungry* from the ride!

Reflecting on the day: a beautiful and easy ride thanks to great host/esses, new friends who are enthusiastic about my trip, bike buddies who will ride to Moraine View on Day One (with a possible a dinner being cooked for us while we bike…), kind people who are willing to loan me gear, and brats. I love brats. I am ready emotionally. (And also nutritionally, hehe.)

I’m pushing to do longer and longer rides, and Marcy (one of my long haul accompanists) jokes that I’m overtraining.

To wit: Last Saturday I rode about 20 miles to Lake Bloomington, to watch the runners in the Lake Run, then drank two beers and caught a ride home with some friends. Ooh that was easy! Then Sunday, I turned around and did it all again, except we made the return trip as well. Adriane invited me on Saturday and I invited her on Sunday, and it was a great weekend! The Sunday run was with Cheri and friends was spectacular; we did the inner and outer loop at Lake Bloomington, and Cheri and I brought up the rear with our slow-but-steady pace while everyone else got their cardio on by pacing ahead. It was great having two levels to ride at, and I felt strong and steady the whole time.

Cheri mentioned that there’s a run which takes us around BOTH lakes in town — Bloomington *and* Lake Evergreen. It’s 50 miles from her house (which is 10 miles RT from mine). We’re gonna do that one this Sunday. It’ll prolly be the last loong ride I do before the big ride, which is in — GASP — 10 days! OMG. I’m gonna drive to Cheri’s house this time, just to save that extra 10 miles. But we’re headed to the bike shop afterwards for the Open House, where we’ll partake of brats and massages. Sounds like the perfect Sunday. (Oh, and it’s Mother’s Day, so I’ll call mom that evening!)

In other news, the camp ground won’t need us to reserve a spot for Monday night’s stay since (1) it’s Monday, and (2) it’s early May. No one around much. I’ve talked with Caryn at the bike shop and hope we can get some folks to ride out with us. We’re leaving the shop at 5pm-ish on the 17th, and it’ll take about two hours to get to Moraine. We’ll eat and, hopefully, Scott from the shop can carry folks home that night (those who don’t want to camp and return Tuesday morning) in the big bike shop van. I think Caryn will post details at the shop, or such. But let me know if you’re interested. (If you want to camp it’s $20 a site, including showers, and a site accommodates up to 4 unrelated individuals or two tents.)

Also, I found a great set of cycling maps for Indiana, and it’s true what I suspected: A good portion of western Indiana has no paved roads! So the route will be a little odd, starting in the south (near the hotel, with hot tub, in Danville where we’ll stay on Tuesday night) and moving northeastward towards Lafayette. It’ll be hilly, but scenic, and I’m hoping the route turns out to be about 40-ish miles, maybe a smidge less.

It’s getting close. Very exciting! We’ve all agreed to do the big day in 20-ish mile spurts, so I think that’s totally doable. Poor Joyce (our SAG wagon driver) will be teaching online while carrying us around. Wish her luck as well!

Last Sunday, against the better advice of my horoscope and sense, I rode 20 miles to Downs, IL to buy salad and farm-fresh eggs from the guys at Epiphany Farms. Sue and Laura encouraged me to take the trip, even though I was limited on time and the route ended up being not-the-most-direct due to (once again) bad Google bike-route directions. (note to self: Abraham Road is not a useful cut-through because it leads to a major highway and the only other cut-off is — yet again — a gravel road.)

I was ready to turn back about half-way there because the winds were pretty crazy and I didn’t have the time to ride all the way there and back. (Had to drive the bike route to the Indiana border again that afternoon.) They convinced me to keep going and that Adrienne would give me a ride back in her car. (She was meeting us there to bring our eggs back.) So that’s what I decided to do. I made it all the way to Downs, which was pretty exciting, and felt awesome. Somehow, the ride rejuvenated me, made my shoulder feel better (!), and the soreness I was experiencing from falling down three times while testing my clipless pedals during Ladies Ride the previous Friday was gone. Jennifer FBed me and said that I’d passed an endurance milestone. w00t! (The mental stress turns to “maybe I can do this!”) I also learned the important lesson that I really don’t like backtracking in my route; I prefer one-way rides. Don’t like to see the same scenery twice. Good news for my big ride; bad news for the training rides! lol.

Once I got home and showered, I hit the road (in my car) to map the route to Indiana for the third time. I guess it was charmed (finally!) because every turn seemed to work out — no gravel. And a good portion of the route leaving Moraine goes through the local wind farms, which is kinda exciting to me. I love me some windmills.

BIG thanks to Trauman for letting me “borrow” his MapMyRides account to see if I could figure out the route when GoogleMaps ultrafailed.

The problems started, however, the second I hit the state line. I wouldn’t presume that Indiana is any more rustic than Illinois, but having at least one paved country road in that state would be nice. I drove about 20 miles into Indiana and *no where* could I find a back road that wasn’t gravel. This is a problem. (Or a blessing, if Dickie and Marcy and I decide to have Joyce just pick us up and drop us off in a different, non-gravel, and perhaps slightly-closer-to-Purdue location Is that cheating?? Or is it smart and the only seemingly viable option that doesn’t involve riding on a major state route.)

If there are any cyclists who can recommend a route that’s no more than 45-ish miles, from the central Illinois/Indiana border to Lafayette, I’m *all ears*. Plus, it would save me driving almost two hours to map the route for two hours, and driving back another two hours. Weekend time is getting precious. Also, if anyone has suggestions for (1) how to practice riding in the rain when you have glasses, and (2) how to remember your route when you have to turn every 1-2 miles… I would be eyes *and* ears!

PS: Team Estrogen stuff arrived. Shirts and biker shorts that Kristin recommended rock. The skort and capri skort were so oversized that they were literally falling off, so I have to send them back Oh well.

After Kristin’s recommendation to my post yesterday, and confirmation from two other cyclists at Ladies’ Ride, I went to Team Estrogen‘s website to find a huge selection (meaning more than 3 pieces) of Plus size athletic wear.

Cycling gear is expensive enough and plus size always adds a few bucks (what, like that extra two inches of fabric really breaks the bank!). I dropped a gawd-awful amount on a padded skort with built-in capris (thanks Barb, for the heads up on those!), bike shorts (via Kristin), another skort, and two UV-protection tops (to avoid the “Sunstroke, Cheryl-style” as Laura likes to call it) for the 2.5-day ride. Sheesh/Yay.

Now, like any good non-profit edutainment outlet, I get to list my sponsors:

This purchase was supported in part by The Allgood Family Trust.

Thank you and goodnight.

One of my goals for this weekend is to *finally* find a bike route that will take me and Dickie and Marcy to our halfway-ish stopping point. This whole route-finding thing is taking a LOT of time, excaserbated by GoogleMap’s poor bike routes (to be rectified when I have time to actually email them the errors) and MapMyRide’s noncompatability with my GPS system; plus, you can’t just print the maps you’ve spent two hours making on the site, which is kinda unfortunate when you don’t know that to start.) I have so much overdue work to get done this weekend, but I can’t scrimp on time to route this route, so I’m going to try to cram it all into Sunday, with another ride to Lake Bloomington, and then an overnight trip to Champaign. Ugh.

In case you missed the reason why I have to reroute this trip (this weekend will be the third attempt), here’s a message from the Facebook Ride2CW group that I posted after the first misadventure. It’s elaborated on slightly, here, since the first time I wrote it, I was on a train to Troy using my iPhone to type the whole message. The question is: How many obstacles did I encounter in trying to Map My Ride?

First. I used the google bike route that Joyce had mapped which takes us right to the hotel in Hoopeston. Problem is half the routes are gravel roads so I had to do some creative driving and writing. [At one point, I was holding my iPhone in left hand on top of steering wheel, shooting video of the road, while holding the googlemap printout in my right hand on top of the steering wheel, anchoring it into place while writing with whatever old ballpoint I could find in the car. I narrowly avoided two ditches and three cornfield incidents.] I noted the bad routes to remap them later to try a different route on Saturday. [That was last Saturday, btw. More on that second attempt in a moment.]

Second. That hotel in Hoopeston, which was supposed to be our halfway point? Doesn’t exist. Literally is a plot of ashpalt where the hotel used to be. B&B also not around anymore so there is officially nowhere to stop in Hoopeston. I stopped at the convenience store where the attendant confirmed that the closest lodging is 15 miles to the north or south of Hoopeston. That’s not the direction we want to go in. We want east or west. Ergh.

Third. Because of the hotel snafu (not being able to find it, and then realizing that it doesn’t actually exist) and because the sun was starting to set by this time in the route-mapping adventure, I took the truck route to Pine Village, Indiana, which is the next stop east of Hoopeston, to check out terrain before dark. There is also no hotel between Hoopeston and Lafayette, and the terrain gets pretty hilly, as suspected, for those last 30 miles. This means that the only place to stop, on the route, which #4 notes, won’t work.

Fourth. Drove truck route home in the dark and found Paxton Inn on the route (but off the bike route). However, it’s only 50 miles into the flat flat part of the ride. Can’t do 50 flat and 70 hilly the next day. Would die.

Conclusion. Either we take Joyce and Jim up on driving us to and from our stopping point or we find a much longer route that takes us through Danvile or whatever is farther north of Hoopeston. That town’s not the kind we can just drop stake in. Although Suzanne and I did discuss calling the mayor and making an event out of it. Hahaha.

So, this route fact-finding mission took place on Easter Sunday. I scheduled to do the follow-up on the next Saturday, and enlisted Shamira into navigating and writing down errors. I love that she will do anything. We got a new GoogleMap bike route that would have us bikers going to Moraine View State Park on Monday night (a short 17-mile-ride), camping, then going 70 miles southeast to Kickapoo State Park on Tuesday, camping again, and then riding 50 hilly miles north to West Lafayette. Although

1. the Google route was remarkably better than the previous one (only two 1-mile stretches of gravel roads that would need avoiding, and some — to be expected — roads on the map that weren’t actually roads, which we had to route around), and
2. both camp grounds were LOVELY and I can’t wait to camp there (at some point),

the 70-mile ride between Moraine and Kickapoo was about the most boring two hours driving that I’ve ever spent. And I love driving. Long distances. And I can’t blame Shamira — she kept me entertained trying to translate my thoughts about the route onto the googlemap, so we could adjust them later. This route would have us riding 150 miles, and I just can’t do that. Especially not since, the next day after this, I did my first Lake Bloomington ride, as mentioned in the previous (“I didn’t die!”) post.

All of this is to say that I believe I have confirmed two things about the route:

1. We will start on Monday night (May 17) and ride to Moraine and camp, and that Bloomington friends are welcome to ride with us and/or meet us there for a cookout or such. (I still need to find a route that will get us out of town, tho. Randy at the bike shop said that’s one of the most difficult directions to get out of town, but I think I have a plan that involves a 3ish-mile detour on the Constitution Trail).
2. We will need to employ the SAG Wagons to pick us up on the direct-ish route and drive us to Danville for immediate hot showers after the second day of riding 50 or 60 miles. This does give us some flexibility in how long/far we ride that day, so that’s good news. I’ll have to ask Jim how “on board” he wants to get with this whole SAG Wagon thing. I hope the answer is “Boy Scouts,” which is code for he’s game

In the meantime, it’s Ladies Ride tonight and I need to find some XXL biking shorts and UV-protected shirts so I don’t get a little overheated like I did last week.

Alright, people. So much to report. Let’s start with the not-dying part!

I had been planning for a while to do one of my first “longer” rides today, and when I mentioned it during Friday Night Ladies’ Ride (courtesy of Bloomington Cycle and Fitness), Caryn suggested that Sue should go with me, with Sue eagerly agreed to do. She has lots of long-distance experience and she’s kind enough to share that expertise with others. (Or, as she said, “I’ll ride *anytime*!” Yes!) We planned to meet at noon at the Amtrak station (one of my other favorite things on Sunday, and three other gals (Laura, Amy, and Adrienne) joined us for the ride out to Lake Bloomington.

I was excited to make this trip because I haven’t been to Lake Bloomington yet, it’s closer than I thought, and I was excited to get my first longer ride done. The 10-mile Friday rides and other trail rides I’ve done have been a breeze, so I was ready for at least a 20-miler. The lake ride was around 22 miles, although we ended up doing closer to 25- or 30 (not exactly sure — note to self: buy one of those computer thingies for my bike). By the time I got home, all I could do was shower, eat, and lay on the couch. Uh-oh.

So, the adventure:

On the way out to the lake, we took Constitution Trail to the end in North Normal, and then hit the country roads for the rest of the ride. I decided I wanted to lead a little while, so I zoomed to the front of the pack and proceeded to be proud of myself for the next mile and a half. But by two miles in the lead, I knew I’d done myself a disservice, as I was already starting to feel the hills a little. Thankfully there was little wind or sun on the way out (it was kinda overcast, but at least no rain). The wind did pick up a little once we were out in the fields, but the roads were clear and we didn’t have any trouble with cars or gravel or getting lost (thanks to Sue and the others who knew the way).

I was still having a great time, and great conversations with new and old friends, all of whom admired my awesome paniers (saddlebags), which I’d attached to get use to them and to carry my wallet, sunglass case, cell phone, and keys — stuff that I usually either leave at the bike shop or carry in my purse while I ride. No carrying the cute purse on the long haul, tho, so the paniers it was. I swear they slowed me down a smidge. And everyone else has road bikes, which go faster than mine. Oh, yeah, and they’re all in shape. Haha!

Approximately 12 miles in, we stopped at the “porta potty” spot, which has good views of the lake. I could feel my legs burning a little (which had never happened before), and then I ran out of water. Other ladies had their tiny water bottles, and I’d already gone through both of mine… I shoulda known because I’m such a water hog — renowned for it, actually. So we stopped by the potties, ate the chewy things Caryn gave us (which were initially weird tasting but they grew on me as I began to feel my energy rebound), and rested for about 20 minutes. At that point, I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to make it all the way home, let alone do a 125 (or more) mile trip in a MONTH! Ugh. But this was just a freakout because of being outta water. The ladies, however, were thinking smartly and  they took me by the Green somethingaruther (which supposedly has good cheeseburgers) to refill my water bottles. Done!

We started on our way home and I immediately felt a weird burning in the back of one knee. Being the hypochondriac that I can be, I immediatley jumped to the conclusion that I’d sprained my ACL (I think because Sue and I had been talking about snowshoeing and, also, snowskiiing, which I never tried because everyone I know who has has torn their ACL doing it). So, yeah, I was being crazy. It was just a muscle burn because I was CYCLING MY ASS OFF. I’d forgotten that it might make me hurt a little. lol.

I resigned to go slow, be at the back of the pack, and take my time cuz there was no point in getting hurt on my first big trip out. The muscle cramp worked itself out quickly enough. I knew they might have to wait for me at all the stop signs (which aggravates me because I think I’m holding people up, even though these ladies would never think of it that way; they are all so sweet!). I was just grateful that I was still biking and not bitching, even though I was starting to get really scared that there was no way I could be capable of this trip IN A MONTH. The ladies kept me distracted with conversation, which helped me to not obsess. I’m not sure if they know that I am a worrier (welcome to Virgo-land), but four hours after the ride is done, I’m remembering that it was hard, but I’m remembering MORE all of the new tidbits I learned about these gals: Amy does curriclum stuff for an online university, Sue loves winter and has done a lot of traveling in upper Minnesota, and Adrienne has a crazy sense of humor. Laura, as always, is just incredibly supportive without being overbearing (unlike me

In the end, you know what? I DID IT!! And it was longer mileage than I was expecting (only by a few miles, though). And I didn’t die. And I didn’t injure myself. And I didn’t get dehydrated. And AND AND… it was still mostly fun. I confirmed two things: I have to do my own pace. Although I really had fun pushing myself a few times today and trying to keep pace with the other ladies.

The second thing I confirmed was that there is NO WAY I can take the bike route that Shamira and I mapped yesterday (more on that in another post). It would add 30 miles to the overall trip, making the Ride2CW 150 miles long. Nope. Too long. Not prepared. Wouldn’t be fun. SAG Wagon it is, at the little-more-than-halfway mark, and I’m now OK with that. Before I thought it was a cop-out. Now I see the Wisdom in the Wag’. Uh-huh. And in immediate, hot showers after our longest day of riding to Purdue.

Oh, and the third thing I learned? To keep lists in my head of things I still need to rectify before the big ride:

• buying wicking pants with better cushioning (let’s just say that numb unmentionables isn’t part of my goal)
• carrying more water in my paniers
• buying a mileage computer thingy for my bike so I know how far I’m going and how fast
• yelling more at my podiatrist (although the gals with bike shoes also complained of numb feet,,,, hmm…)
• buying bike shoes and clippy pedals will significantly enhance my power

Gotta get on that to-do list.

As I mentioned in the previous post, there’s quite a new development on the Long Haul Ride to C&W. Two developments, actually:

Dickie Selfe agreed to join me on the ride (or, rather, was coerced into it — abeit didn’t need much coercing — by his lovely and lively wife, Cindy). This happened over my 18-days-away in March, during a stopover I made in Columbus. Over dinner, I was telling the Selfes my insane cycling plan and, as I recall, Cindy said to Dickie, “You need to go with her.” Initially, it sounded like a protective ultimatum, and I told Cindy that my mother was worried enough about me, but that I had Joyce as my SAG wagon, and so I wouldn’t be “riding” alone. But then I (and Dickie) quickly realized that it wasn’t about my riding alone, it was about getting out and doing it — a reaction-action that Cindy is renowned and well-respected for. “What?” she says, “There’s an opportunity for new, exciting, important work to be done that we’re not doing yet? I’m on it!” (That’s what her brain sounds like in my head

So Dickie is coming with me. Or, rather, as I am now calling it: “the ride.” He’s driving five hours with his bike to Normal, IL to ride from Normal to Purdue. It’s nerve-wracking and exciting. I’m thrilled that he wants to join me, and it does make me feel less like I’ll be out there on my own (even as Joyce won’t be very far away). But Dickie has been riding his bike, as a commuter and I think in some long-distance rides, for years. YEARS. I don’t think he’s as crazy as I’ve heard Ridolfo is, like biking to work in the snow, but I have seen Dickie face rush-hour traffic in line with all the cars on High Street in Columbus, in the rain, in about 40-degree weather. Nope, not for me. At least not yet. So I was nervous that Dickie would want to ride fast on this trip, but he has been nothing but reassuring. This will be, as he described on our scholarly community listserv, TechRhet, a leisurely wind-at-our-backs ride through the prairies of Central Illinois and Indiana. Slow and steady wins the race, er, ride. I’m down with that!

With the addition of Dickie, this ride also became more public. It’s like that part of the lyrics from Alice’s Restaurant that I like to quote so much:

And the only reason I’m singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if you’re in a situation like that there’s only one thing you can do and that’s walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in and say “Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant.” And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin’ a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it’s a movement.

Yeah, it’s kinda like that. (Except for the “faggots” part. That’s just ugly and discriminatory, although given Arlo’s discussion of the military… true. At least for a few more weeks The point is: with Dickie joining on, and Jim Ridolfo doing the ride from Cincy to Purdue, and Marcy Bauman maybe saying she’s interested, and Bill H-D considering the trip from Lansing, and Jim Kalmbach offering to drive a second SAG wagon…. friends, it’s a movement! Which adds a little bit of pressure to me to actually complete this trip, and which brings me to the second development…

At the Bedford party during CCCCs in Louisville last week, I was telling Suzanne Blum-Malley (with whom I bonded over Danskos and DMAC) about the trip and that Dickie, just a week earlier, had agreed to join. I’ve never seen anyone move into “go” mode so quickly (with the exception of Cindy and possibly Joyce). Suzanne told me that the ride needed to be a fundraiser for the Graduate Research Network Travel Fund, and I agreed on the spot. By the next morning, she’d set up a website with a PayPal donation account. The GRN travel fund supports graduate students and adjuncts to travel to the Computers and Writing conference every year. Folks in the field try to raise money for it whenever possible, including at least two sets of book editors (that I know about) donating the proceeds for their Hampton Press collections to the GRN Travel Fund (Heidi and Danielle’s reearch collection and Jim and I’s RAW collection, which will be out any day). The bike ride was an easy way to get folks invested in contributing. When it was just me riding, it seemed silly to make it a donatable event, but with a movement happening, everything seems possible.

So, go check out the website where you can make donations to the GRN Travel Fund and the Facebook group, where we’re also doing some planning for the trip, so you can follow along on the minutae as well. It’s gonna be a fun ride! And a good cause. What could be better?!

After 18 days of what felt like straight driving (intermittently also sitting in Ford dealerships), I arrived back home two days ago, bike safe and sound on the back of my car. There are many cycling-related adventures to report from that trip, but I’m going to work my way backwards, starting with today, the absolute official must-start first-day of get-my-seat-in-the-bike training for the Long Haul to C&W. Why the sudden kickstart? That would be due to two three things:

1. It’s time.
2. The weather in Bloomington is beautiful this week and the trails are finally clear.
3. Suzanne started a fundraising site where people can place bets as to whether I’ll actually make it to Purdue.

More on the latter in another post, but suffice it to say the money’s going to charity — the GRN Travel Fund, to be specific. Don’t say I never did anything fer ya

Today is another matter. I got to ride my bike for the first time on Bloomington streets! I rewarded myself after finishing a review by taking Greta (yes, I named her Greta; it came to me on the way outta town a few weeks ago) out for a little Blo-No spin. I decided to try the Constitution Trail in the long direction I hadn’t been yet. I was surprised by how many people were out today, although I shouldn’t have been. It was around 60 degrees today. I headed out at 4:45pm and arrived back home at 6pm, and only had one minor accident along the way when I fell off my bike trying to stop it, which happened right in front of Laura’s house (a coincidence since her house is right at the trail entrance, but boy was I hoping she wasn’t looking out the window!!)

It’s pretty flat around here, so I did fairly well. Got to practice a few middle gears on some small hills, but the headwind and sun in my eyes (despite sunglasses) did take a toll on the way home, slowing my return trip from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. (Well, that and the fall, which make my heart race a little so I had to stop for a few minutes and catch my breath. Now would be the time to start betting I won’t make it to Purdue…). From my rough estimates, I think the RT was only about 7 miles. I went from the lower graduation cap symbol (in the middle-left of the map; where Wesleyan is) to #17 (Tipton Park) and back, along the red route where I could pick it up by Laura’s house (where the red, purple, yellow, and blue lines all nearly intersect, below #5).

Constitution Trail map

It’s certainly not my best time (I did better in Chesapeake, in a post to come), but it’s a start, and also I had to go a little slower than I could because of all the pedestrian and cycle traffic. Oh, and one pair of rollerbladers who were hauling a rolly suitcase behind them. That was special. I’m pretty sure they were Wesleyan students on the way home from the Amtrak (w00t!) station.

Besides falling off my bike on my way home, the only other news to report is that I got a “Hey Cheryl!” somewhere near #12. It was another cyclist, going quite fast in the opposite direction, a man. But otherwise, I have zero clue who it was. How he knew it was me (except that I have a long approach, going so slow ), I will never know, given that I was wearing sunglasses and my helmet. Maybe I’m just easily spottable — I was wearing a dorky outfit and my dorkmeister tennis shoes. More likely, though, he recognized Greta. She’s such a flirt!

I just returned from picking up my bicycle from the shop, where Adam helped me install the rack. Seeing the bike on the rack on the back of my little Escort made me want to throw up a little bit. It’s so nerve-wracking to have this attachment on my car, but I knew it was only because I’d never done it before (driven with anything like that) that made me nervous.

Now, I can drive all sorts of vehicles and have a particular expertise for 16-passenger and cargo vans, but somehow, the thought of my bicycle hanging off the back of my car, on a rack that *I* had strapped down and that was all that was holding it on the vehicle as I careen down I-74, I-65, I-64, and so on, at 80 mph… well, that’s what made me a little nervous.

I came home, then realized I’d forgotten to take some dry-cleaning to the store, so I decided to go for a little ride with my rack. It kinda stymies me that I chose to do this before actually riding the bike on a street, but since I had to take the rack off once I got home, better now then later. I headed directly for I-55, which offers two quick exists within a few miles — a good test circuit, at 65/70 mph. I was surprised that the wheels didn’t spin around, nor the handlebars move too much. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, when the wind kicked up and started to rattle the bike. That was pretty nerve-wracking.

It also doesn’t help that the bike looks like it sits crooked on the rack and that the back tire hangs a little over the side of my car. But, all in all, I did manage to drive while looking forward and not staring into my rear-view mirror. I (and the bike) arrived home safe and sound, where I promptly checked the straps and all seemed firm. Okey doke. Practice makes perfect.

Now I am officially one of those people who travels with bike. I’m kinda happy about that.

It’s been a while since I posted because we didn’t have a training ride last Sunday, and I missed it, so it’s been nearly two weeks since I last rode the bicycle (which still needs a name…). I can’t stand it anymore, so I’m going to pick her up today. I don’t care how cold it is, a short ride is in order. Besides, I have to ride her on the road in town before I leave town for three weeks next Thursday. (And I’m taking the bike with me — just bought a rack and a helmet on Thursday!)

It’s been a busy work week, so I’ve also shirked on the working out, which is, of course, not a good thing, but I do have some route updates.

I went to UIUC early last week and met some colleagues, friends, and grad students for dinner. I got to have a long conversation with my colleague’s husband, who rides, as well as two grad students, who also ride extensively. Apparently Tony (the husband) didn’t know that Joyce (his wife) had commissioned him to drive the route with me this spring. He knows now. And all three of them agreed that the route I had chosen was a bad idea. “Trucks” was apparently the only reason I needed. I was a little bummed because it means taking routes slightly off the direct one, which adds mileage to the trip, and I was worried that too much mileage would put me over the edge.

They all recommended I go to this website called mapmyride.com, but I hadn’t had a chance to do it until today. I’m still figuring out the site, but I was able to map two versions of possible routes to C&W — both of which avoid Route 9, aka “Trucks,” and the total mileage is only about 5 more than my ‘direct’ route. All told, I’m looking at about 120 miles, with not too bad elevation. So, it still looks like I’ll be stopping in Hoopeston, IL, about 75 miles in. (Turns out that Scott from the bike shop grew up in Hoopeston! Funny

I cross-checked the mapmyride route with the Illinois DOT maps that suggest which roads are safe for cyclists. Sure enough, one block off ‘Trucks’ is a safe and direct route, at least to the Indiana border, at which point all info seems to be MIA. Let’s just say that I cannot find anywhere on the Indiana DOT website where they have a similar map for safe cycling rides. Which means the pre-route check will be important. I guess I’d better plan that route-scouting trip to Purdue pretty soon.

But, it’ll have to wait until (1) the snow has cleared, and (2) I get back from my crazy Louisville–>Cbus–>Fairfax–>ORF–>RCI–>Louisville–>Lansing trip in late March. And that’s why I’m taking my bike with me. Three weeks without sitting on the seat? Can’t happen. Time is creeping away, and I wake up every morning wanting to ride and not being able to. To me, that’s a good sign. I’m eager. I just hope the weather is warm enough (say, 50s would be nice) in Lville, ORF, and RCI to get a short ride or two in. Oh, and as for the newly sheduled stop in Cbus on the way, I have another chance to convince Dickie and Scott to ride their bikes and meet me in Lafayette this summer hehe.