We had a very full Memorial Day weekend — we went down to Jackson-Washington State Forest for some hiking, camping, and canoing, and I went for a bike ride on Sunday. I’ll just cover the ride in this post and the rest later.

I had printed a route I found here called the Round Barn Ride. I modified the route a bit so I could ride on Skyline Drive, an aptly-named road through the state forest that climbs a huge hill and has vistas overlooking the farmland below and other big hills in the area. I wasn’t sure I could make the climb, as it’s very long and steep and the road curves a lot while ascending this hill. I brought my commuter (old mountain bike) instead of the road bike, in part for a change of pace, in part so I wouldn’t have to worry about my road bike getting stolen while camping, and in part for the lower gears.

I started riding from our campsite and within less than two miles I hit Skyline Drive, which I anticipated would be the hardest part of my ride. It was a long, hard climb, as I expected. I took photos when I could but many parts were too steep. Even in the lowest gear (mountain bike gearing, mind you) I had to stand and pedal hard — during some parts it was difficult to keep my front wheel from popping up as I climbed. I almost ran out of breath a couple of times, but I managed to make it all the way to the top without stopping.

Up … up …

Up some more …

And more …

Finally at the top … and what a view!

The vista at the top of the hill made for instant gratification and gave me a good place to rest for a few minutes. You can see for many miles from this point some 450 feet above the farmland below, and it’s especially rewarding when you realize you just came from all the way down there.

The farmland below

My bicycle, with neighboring hills in the background

It’s tempting to ride back down the side of the hill

The road has some rolling hills and a little more climbing once at the top, but no more extended climbs. I enjoyed the rolling terrain and stopped at another vista.

Tampico Vista

As I was riding along, despite the fact that I’d gone out of my way to look like a normal human being and not some kind of cycling cyborg for this ride, I heard someone in a van going the other way comment “Look, it’s Lance Armstrong!” I’m still not sure exactly what this means, but I’ll take it as a compliment.

Me, with my bicycle

My bicycle by Tampico Vista

A few minutes later, I saw an unpaved fire road branching off to the side and rode on it for a bit to see where it went, but it soon ended. I saw a few other fire roads but decided not to explore them at this time. Maybe next time. The descent down the other side of Skyline Drive was a sketchy, twisty, steep ride. I kept my speed pretty low — with the tight turns, I had to. And the brakes on my old bicycle don’t work quite as well as the ones on my road bike, so I didn’t want to pick up much speed. It’s just as well. It was still a fun, thrilling descent.

Part of the twisty, steep trip down the other side of the hill

Once I reached the bottom of the hill, the ride got very flat for a while, although there were big hills on either side of me. It was interesting to see how different the topography is in this area, even though it’s only about an hour’s drive from Bloomington. Most of the Bloomington area is hilly, with a lot of rolling hills and some longer climbs. In Jackson County it was much different, with long flat stretches of land but relatively few huge hills spread out.

Riding on flat land near the hills

Barn at the base of a hill

Long stretches of flat land interspersed with big hills

The ride remained quite flat for a while, and I enjoyed this opportunity for some easy riding on a warm summery day on low-traffic county roads. I saw some kids riding their bikes around the countryside, and I was glad I wasn’t the only one out enjoying a ride on this beautiful day. After a while, I came to the Starve Hollow Lake SRA. I went in long enough to get a few glimpses of the lake, but I knew Sarah and I would be returning later for some canoing, so I didn’t stay long.

Wetlands by the entrance

Pines

Starve Hollow Lake

After I left the lake area, I rode by some pretty interesting DNR areas I didn’t know were there. First was the Driftwood fish hatchery.

Driftwood Fish Hatchery

Next was a nursery where, based on glimpses I got of a few signs, they seem to be experimenting with some kind of hybrid tree cross-pollination, and some kind of genetically-modified plants. I should really try to learn more about what they do there, it seemed pretty interesting.

Vallonia Nursery

At some point the ride got hillier again, there were still no big climbs but I enjoyed some rolling hills that let me let loose a bit more on the downhill sides. It was a lot of fun, even though I wasn’t on a fast bike. The scenery was mostly farmland for most of the rest of the ride.

Silos

Small Cemetery

I soon learned why this ride is called the Round Barn Ride when I saw … well, a round barn. It turned out to be one of three I’d see on this ride. They’re pretty odd, and cool.

Round Barn

I also started seeing some Dan Henrys marked “RB” which I figured must be Round Barn. I didn’t even realize this route was for an (annual?) event held here, but having the markings on the road made it a lot easier to finish the ride. I didn’t need my map after this point. Actually there seemed to be 62 and 100-mile routes (I was just doing the 32-mile route).

Dan Henrys

Another round barn

I spent a few minutes on a busier state highway, but fortunately I wasn’t on it for too long. I saw an incredibly huge covered bridge, now decommissioned, alongside the road.

Really long covered bridge

I rode off to the side after I passed the bridge and went back to check it out. There was an access point to the river here where people were fishing. For some reason, the road was covered in straw, which crunched as I rode over it.

Straw-covered road

Looking at the inside of the bridge

Before long I arrived in the small town of Medora

Medora  … home of Mini-Storage?

Medora is looking pretty quaint

You don’t get much more quaint than this.

After passing through Medora (which took about five minutes at about 10 mph), it was back to more farmland. It got a little bit hillier, but not much. I did see some very cool abandoned and/or dilapidated buildings.

Irrigation

Old farm buildings

Decay

Silo and tractor

Power lines

I saw a cemetery on a hill that was pretty strange — the stones were not really arranged in rows or in any other coherent fashion — just strewn about seemingly randomly.

Haphazard cemetery on a hill

Cemetery

As I crested that hill, I was greeted with a great view of more farmland.

More farmland

More power lines

The road

Many fields in the area were flooded; one particular field had a couple of Great Blue Herons in the water, and some white ones (egrets?) further back. Unfortunately before I could get my camera out, a car drove by and they all flew further back.

Herons/egrets in a field

This barn is so dilapidated you can see through it in places

Just a few miles later I was in Ewing and then Brownstown, and I was almost done with my ride. Ewing looked pretty crummy, with mostly run-down industrial buildings.

Building in Ewing

More run-down buildings

Brownstown Locker Slaughtering & Processing

Clock tower

Browsntown

It was interesting to ride through Brownstown, and see more of it than I had before. It seemed like a big city compared to Medora.

Heading back to the campground on State Road 250

This ride was strange because I saw a variety of things: huge hills, a lake, experimental DNR properties, small towns, cemeteries, and of course round barns, in only about 35 miles of riding. It felt longer than that, in part because I wasn’t on the road bike but also because I saw so many different things. At the same time, parts of the ride felt a little monotonous, when there were long stretches of flat farms. Overall, though, there was a lot of beautiful scenery, and I really enjoyed the ride.

I also liked the slower pace my old mountain bike forced on me, as it allowed me to take in the scenery a little better. And being dressed like more of a normal person made me feel more likely to stop without being self-conscious. This worked well, and I’ll have to do more rides in this spirit.

I pounded out a few miles after work in an attempt to take out some work-related frustrations. It worked somewhat, but not as well as usual. Then again, the problems I’m encountering there are bigger than usual. I was in a foul mood and it was overcast and cool, and it rained lightly at various points throughout my ride. The sprinkles felt good, and the dreary day suited my mood perfectly.

Normally, when I’m riding, I’m able to clear my mind. That didn’t happen tonight, but I did manage to take out most of my hostility on the pavement and returned home at least a little bit calmer and with a clearer picture of what’s going on. I still had to rant for a while once I got home, but I had already gotten the worst of it out of my system.

Side note: my bicycle rode well. I took it in to Bikesmiths yesterday to have them fix my clicking bottom bracket, do a tune-up, and replace my chain. It mis-shifted a few times, but I think as I rode the chain got settled in better and things got smoother. I was a little worried the clicking would still be there, as I’ve read that can be hard to track down, but it seems they fixed it on the first try.

This weekend Chris and I did the “Limestone Tour” ride. I did this once last year and while it’s only a bit more than 40 miles, it’s a brutal ride. I tend to forget how many big hills there are out on the west side of town. They can be relentless at times. I gave some background on this route last time I rode it.

We lucked out and had a gorgeous day for riding, in the mid-60s and sunny, but blustery. Getting started was a little rough, as I took a wrong turn on the way out of town that added a few miles to our ride, on a high-traffic road. But before long we were headed out of town and the scenery gets pretty really quickly once you cross State Road 37.

Hill by Bachelor Middle School

Countryside on Victor Pike

Right away, we were treated to a couple of great downhill runs on Victor Pike. The one pictured below turns off to the left at the bottom. I think I hit 38 mph on this hill, and we were riding into the wind.


Big descent on Victor Pike. If you view this large you can see several cyclists coming from the other direction.


Chris


One of many huge houses in the area

Even though there are some great descents, you pay for them with a couple of hard climbs on the way up to the Victor Oolitic Stone Company.


Victor Oolitic Stone Company


Nearing the top of the second big climb on Victor Pike


An attempt to show the scale of what we’d just climbed. I’m not sure it worked too well.

I was looking forward to taking a break at the top of the hill and enjoying the view from the spot behind some rocks that I found on a previous ride (see here). Unfortunately, they’ve really tighted up security and put in a fence preventing access to this area.


Industry meets nature


Rockport Road descent (we went the other way)

After a little more climbing, we were on flat ground for a couple of miles and then enjoyed another great ride down a big hill. We soon paid for it and made the climb up Breeden Road. This is one long climb, it really seems to go on forever.


Farm in the hills

Barns and silos

After meandering through the countryside for quite a few miles, we found ourselves on Rockport Road, which is, as Chris put it, “like a huge roller coaster.” We started by going down a huge hill, but were able to carry our momentum through several rolling hills after that, each with its own fun descent on the other side. In some places the road is fairly straight but sometimes there are turns at the bottoms of the hills, and it is quite a ride indeed. It’s also very tiring. Even though you can make good use of your momentum, it still amounts to a lot of climbing.


Independent Limestone Quarry


NO PARKING VEHICLE WILL BE TOWED AT YOUR EXPENSE

Somewhere along the line, I lost my map of this route. I’ll have to get another copy, or make my own. I have a pretty good idea where the turns are now.

This was a really fun ride. We didn’t break any speed records, but we rode on some great hills and had some excellent conversations along the way. By the end of the ride we’d gone 42.5 miles.