Yesterday, I set out for a road ride after work. The longer days, warmer weather and healing progress are making it easy to do some good riding. I did the Water Works route, but since we moved, my starting point is different. This route is actually shorter than before. However, my longer commute more than balanced it out. With my commute, plus this ride, I rode over 27 miles — not bad, for a Tuesday. I made a couple of other interesting changes to the route, as well.

View 2010-03-30 Water Works + Schacht in a larger map

Spring is well in progress now, grass is getting green, forsythia are in bloom, painting yellow across the landscape, and some of the trees are budding, a few even blooming.  My allergies are giving me some trouble, but otherwise, I’m loving it! But, the best is yet to come.

I tried to make some helmet cam videos, but something must’ve gone wrong, as none of the interesting ones turned out. A shame, as it was a beautiful evening, with great lighting and some fun riding.

Instead, here are a few photos.

Some minor rides

I’ve done some more riding, but I have not had a lot of time to write about it. Wednesday evening, I did a brief ride of about 7 1/2 miles, exploring some new roads just a little off a favorite route, that I had somehow not yet explored. I forgot to put the battery in my camera before this ride, so I don’t have any pictures. I’ll be riding this route more, so I’ll document it later.

I also rode to work on Friday, my first bicycle commute since my surgery. It went well, except for a stiff headwind the whole way to work in the morning that took a lot out of me. I guess mother nature was welcoming me back to bike commuting, and reminding me who’s in charge — lest I forget.

Cedar Bluffs Ride

Saturday was my biggest ride since my surgery — still only about 25 miles, but it was southewest of town, where it’s very hilly. I put together a route that went by the Cedar Bluffs Nature Preserve (where I’d never been) and a brief section of gravel on Cedar Bluffs Road. Some parts of the ride were on Victor Pike and Rockport Road, where I’ve ridden before, but I’m not terribly familiar. Here’s a map of my route.

I took the Bloomington Rail-Trail to reach the area where I wanted to ride. You have to ride on a fairly busy road to reach the rail-trail, but the trail is very pleasant for the most part.

However, the part that goes under State Road 37 was flooded and had signs warning of falling objects.

However, the biggest problem I had was that I intended to take the rail-trail through to Dillman Road. However, you reach a point where a gate blocks access and signs say, “No Trespassing.” From this point, you can see Dillman Road, but apparently they don’t have access to that last bit of land. I went under the gate and through, but I might try to find a different way, in the future. Also of interest, the trail appeared to continue beyond Dillman Road. I believe that portion is not officially open yet, but it looked quite ridable, and there were no signs saying not to enter. This warrants further exploration.

Dillman Road was pleasant. I went the wrong way, briefly, to explore a bridge I spotted.

Soon, I made my way over to Victor Pike, with a nice view as soon as I reached the road.

Victor Pike had a few decent hills before going into a long climb up to the quarry for the Victor-Oolitic Stone Company. I’ve ridden this hill in the past, and it’s a real challenge every time. Fortunately, the scenery is interesting along the way.

The higher I climbed, the more turkey vultures I saw. The hill features a very steep climb right at the end, after you’ve been climbing for about two miles already. It’s pretty harsh.

By the time I reached the top of the hill, the turkey vultures were soaring just 10-15 feet above my head, sometimes closer. It was a windy day, and I was headed into the wind this whole time; I guess the turkey vultures were staying relatively close to the top of the ridge, trying to avoid catching too much wind. It was odd to see these giant birds from below but as I rode up the hill, to get closer and closer.  They’re ugly creatures, but impressive at the same time.

Some of my favorite views from the top of this hill have been blocked since I first rode there, but you can still catch some interesting views of the quarry, and the land beyond.

Victor Pike had some rolling hills in store for me, and when I reached Rockport Road, there was more climbing ahead. It really felt like I was climbing almost the entire time, even though the elevation profile suggests otherwise. I remembered these roads being quite hilly, but they were even more intense than I expected. There were occasional views when the road skirted the edge of the ridge top, but they were difficult to catch on camera. Still, the rest of the scenery was nice, as well.

Eventually, I reached Popcorn Road and took it, briefly. I was not prepared for the views I would have through here, and did not take nearly enough photos. I should have turned on my helmet cam for this whole section — it was hilly and filled with views of rolling fields, hills, and trees, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the hills and views reminded me more of Pennsylvania than Indiana.

I was only on a brief portion of Popcorn Road … there is a lot more to explore, and I can’t wait to do so. It was mostly downhill this whole time.

I turned onto Ketcham Road, another very hilly road that proved quite challenging at times. Fortunately, for a while anyway, it too was mostly downhill. I went by the Cedar Bluffs Nature Preserve, where I would love to return to go hiking sometime. The entire valley here was just beautiful.

Unfortunately, of course I had to climb out of the valley. The next hill made my jaw drop …

It wasn’t quite as bad as it looked, and I turned off before I reached the top, onto the gravel Cedar Bluffs Road, which had some rolling hills, a short, steep descent, and a long, steep climb. Signs warned, “Seasonal Access Only.” In the next shot, you can see how the road goes down and to the right, then swoops back up and to the left. Tough climb!

Even once back on paved roads, I had more climbing to do.

Once I reached the top of the hill, I turned onto Old State Road 37, which took me most of the way home. This was more of a highway, there was very little traffic, but the cars that were there were moving quite quickly. There were a few hills, but they were less intense than what I had dealt with so far. The next 4-5 miles were on this road, and they were the least interesting miles of the entire ride, being on a straight stretch of highway, with easier (but still not easy) hills. I might try to find some alternative to this road, in the future.

At the end of the day, I had ridden about 24.5 miles, but it felt like a lot more, with about 1900-2000 feet of climbing squeezed into that short ride. If I do some regular training rides on this side of town, I’m going to get in great shape. It felt great to be able to go for a country ride, and my foot only complained a couple of times, during steep climbs. It felt fine afterwards. I feel ready to start tackling some longer-mileage rides, and I can’t wait to do so!

On Saturday, I decided to try riding my bicycle for the first time since my surgery. It had been two weeks and one day. I was (and still am) unable to comfortably wear normal shoes, but in my surgical boot, or in sandals I am generally fairly comfortable most of the time now. I set out for a ride in sandals. I figured I’d explore our new neighborhood a bit, and hopefully figure out how a couple of parks interconnect.

Riding felt good. My foot didn’t bother me too much, so long as I didn’t try to put too much pressure on my toes. So, I pedaled with the middle of my foot, and really had no problems. There was one decent hill during my ride, and it was OK, but really big hills would still present a problem.

I did discover how Sherwood Oaks Park connects to Olcott Park. In fact, I had been there before, but didn’t realize I had gone from one park to another. They are separated only by a brief, paved path through the woods, so I thought both sides were parts of the same park.

Aside from the usual playgrounds, tennis courts and basketball courts, the path passes over Jackson Creek and through some woods. For a few minutes, I forgot I was in town.

I also saw some side trails I’d like to explore.

Those two parks form a lovely area; they’re sandwiched between a couple of residential areas, but the wooded area is large enough to allow some escape.

All this is just a little over a mile from our house, and from there, it’s only a couple more miles to my family’s house. Excellent.