Tim and David and I were supposed to head down to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky for a weekend of cycling and camping the weekend before last, but it didn’t happen. I was completely worn down and on on the verge of getting sick and Tim got sick, also. So I’ve been fighting varying degrees of sickness on and off for a couple of weeks now. Finally it blew up into a nasty cold over the weekend, but I’ve still be chugging along on projects and such. I hope to get a little bit of a break tonight, but otherwise my workload looks like it will remain intense for a while.

I haven’t even had much desire to ride, which is a weird feeling. It shouldn’t surprise me, because it happened last semester too, and then I did a lot of riding over the summer. I just can’t do everything at once, I suppose.

Thanksgiving weekend brings the Gravel Grovel, a metric century gravel grinder. I’m planning on riding it with Tim and David and Timothy (all Louisville people). They seem to be training for it more than I am, and treating it more like the race that it is. I am a little nervous about it, given my lack of training, but I am looking forward to a good day on the bike with friends, so I’m trying not to worry.

The upside to the days I take the bus is that I get to walk more, once I get to campus. I love walking, sometimes even more than riding, although it’s not practical when getting from point A to point B quickly is necessary. But walking allows you to slow down more, make more observations, and brood. Brooding is something I do well, and enjoy. I like to listen to music and just live inside my head. It’s wonderful and therapeutic.

I do have one rather significant bit of news to report, and that is that I’m quitting my job, where I have worked for two years. My course load is picking up to the extent that I just don’t have enough time available to make it worthwhile. I’ll do some small contract projects when I have the time, but that’s it. Actually, I’ve had some projects on hold so now maybe I can pick those back up again.

Despite the stress and workload, school is excellent. I love academia, I’m learning a lot, and every single one of my classes is interesting. I’m spending by far the most time on my photography class, but it is extremely rewarding.

Now we seem to be in a middle ground — in the upper 80s the next couple days, lows around 60.

This weekend was a total loss though, I spent Saturday throwing up and otherwise feeling miserable due to what must have been a nasty combination of a hangover and food poisoning. It was truly awful. Sunday I was much better, but still dehydrated and weak … I tried to keep it a restful day, spent recuperating, with a little cleaning around the house.

My mountain bike is now fixed again, I ended up having the shop upgrade my rear brake to an Avid BB7, instead of the BB5 I had before. I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but I’m excited.

I had a couple hiccups with the LHT, the first being a flat tire. I lucked out — I walked out after work and found my front tire flat. It was hot that day but I just sat in the shade and calmly changed the tube, rather than fighting with it by the side of the road. The hole was right by the valve stem, so there was no patching it.

The shifting is getting fidgety on the LHT, as well. I’ve made some adjustments, but the problem seems to be getting worse. So, I just threw my barend shifter in friction mode, and it has been a lot better. In fact, I’m rather liking the improved control I get with friction shifting.

Unfortunately, I think my cassette may be wearing out. The brakes are also not quite right, and my front shifter is stiff. The bike needs work, and it may need a professional’s touch at this point. I’ve done a good job of keeping it tuned up for a while, but it’s getting to a point where it just needs more than I can confidently do. At this rate, I’d say it definitely needs a good solid tuneup before winter strikes, if not sooner. That’s probably a good idea, anyway, I suppose.

I didn’t feel ready for school to start, but I’m getting back in the swing of things pretty quickly. My classes are all interesting, and once again, as a General Studies major, I get to take a variety of classes:

• Social Informatics
• Roman Culture
• Production
• Photography

In addition to being interesting topics, my production course is actually hands-on this semester, which is exciting. We got to see the TV studio where we’ll be doing some of our work, and it’s very impressive. I can’t wait to learn how to use some of the crazy equipment they have there.

Photography is in the darkroom this semester. I’ve done darkroom work before, but it’s been a long time, and I’m very excited.

The Social Informatics class is a prerequisite for another class I want to take, but it looks interesting in itself. It looks at how technology shapes society, and vice versa.

Roman Culture fulfills a cultural studies requirement. I chose it because when I was growing up, we always studied the Greeks, with promises that we’d cover the Romans later. But, we never did. The topic isn’t as fascinating to me as some of the others, but it is interesting, and it’s cool to have such a different kind of class. It’s going to involve a lot of reading, and I’m actually looking forward to some of it. Also, the professor seems engaging, which could make a huge difference in a class like this.

I’m trying a different approach to carrying my junk to campus this semester. Last semester I used a milk crate, and it worked OK, but it was a little cumbersome having the weight so high on the bike, and it took a good 10-15 minutes to get the crate on and off.

I looked into some messenger bags that could attach like panniers, but they were all expensive and I wanted something more flexible. So, I bought a grocery pannier. I ended up with an Axiom Hunter model, I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, just picked up the best one the shop I visited had. They had a Blackburn model that seemed sturdier, but it was smaller and less flexible, and I’m pretty sure my backpack wouldn’t have fit. Here’s my new setup:

It’s not perfect. Sometimes my foot hits the bag (though I think I can adjust that problem away). And it’s still cumbersome sometimes, but it’s a lot easier to get the grocery pannier on/off when needed, and the weight is lower, even if it’s a little unbalanced. We’ll see how well this setup works out.

My day starts with a climb. Not incredibly long or steep, but it can be a jarring way to get moving in the morning, immediately going into a climb.

Then I turn a corner and I get a great downhill.

Well, it’s great unless I get caught at a red light halfway down the hill, which almost always seems to happen …

Then I turn onto the Bloomington Rail-Trail, which has a reasonably smooth crushed limestone surface. The trail is nicely shaded and cool, and follows Jackson Creek part of the way.

Then I cross a busy road. I don’t normally ride over this pedestrian bridge, but I went less than half a block out of the way to get this photo.

It’s sort of a gross creek, but I still like it.

Now I turn onto another rail-trail, but this one is paved. This is part of the B-line trail. It’s not officially open yet, but they aren’t trying to prevent people from using it, either.

This trail is usually wonderfully quiet, although I wonder if that will continue, once it’s officially opened. By the way, I found another trail that parallels this one, that’s unpaved. It’s fun, but there is a big tree down that makes it difficult to use the side trail the whole way.

The B-line trail feels remote at first, then hits an industrial area.

The Grimes Street Bridge is still under construction. This thing seems ridiculous to me. Grimes just isn’t that busy, and the trail has road crossings at busier roads. This bridge is huge and is costing somewhere over $2 million, if I remember correctly.

I should point out that the concept art for this bridge is rather hilarious.

What are they going to do, replace Grimes Street with a canal?

This machine shop always catches my eye. It’s actually quite a production with several buildings just like this, all lined up. What’s he building in there?

I’ve also noticed there are some other industrial buildings that appear to be vacant. I dream of buying one and converting it into a high-tech company, or an art gallery. Hmmm …

There’s definitely some blight along the way …

But, once you get closer to downtown, things improve. This bridge over Third Street is useful, and really cool, if extravagant. Notice the Monroe County Courthouse is visible on the right side of the image.

The downtown section of the B-Line trail has quite a bit of public art — more than I can go into here.

Just a few more blocks from here, and I”m at work.

It’s a great new route option — I am very glad I discovered it. The B-Line trail is really coming along. It’s incredible how long it has taken to get here, and I think it could have been done a lot more efficiently, but  I’m so glad to see it’s finally becoming useful.

It started out well enough. We finally had a break in the heat, after something like 23 days with 90+ temperatures. My morning commute was downright cool, and the lower temperatures were just wonderful.

However, less than a block from work, a truck nearly hit me. They ran a stop sign, then, as I was signalling for a left turn, they passed me literally about six inches away. They nearly hit me, and it made me mad. I had to keep going straight, actually veer off further right, to avoid being hit. I was mad enough to file a complaint. It was an IU Physical Plant truck that cut me off. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the truck number or license plate, so there was little they could do. In all fairness, the manager seemed to take it seriously.

So, I wasn’t hurt, but the close call certainly highlighted the dangers you face when cycling, even if you’re doing everything right. In fact, the incident reinforced my habit of not hugging the right edge of the lane. I was about in the left tire track when this happened, which meant I had plenty of room to move over when the truck got too close. If I had been close to the curb, it could have been much worse.

My commute home was uneventful, and pleasant.

In the evening, I met up with a guy at Brown County State Park. He had a spare 29er wheel, and we had arranged to meet there so I could buy it from him. I bought the wheel, and brought tools with me. He helped me install the cassette, and I got the disc brake rotor installed just fine. Then I managed to get the brake and shifting adjusted adequately — all of this in the parking lot. For me, this is quite an accomplishment. I’m getting a little better with a wrench.

My friend Dave met me at the trailhead, and we headed out for a ride, once I was ready. We had planned to do a night ride, bringing lights and everything.

After we rode for a little while, we came across some EMS personnel in the woods, hauling gear with them. They told us they received a report that a rider had crashed, and they were looking for him. We rode on ahead to find him.

Unfortunately, we rode quite a ways, passing some more emergency folks, before we found the rider, nearly 4 1/2 miles into the woods. There were quite a few other people at the scene of the accident, and one EMS guy had made it there, and had the rider immobilized. I couldn’t tell what had happened. We rode back and forth a couple of times, trying to lead the paramedics back to the rider. We heard talk over the radios that DNR was sending a four-wheeler down the fire road to try to extract him.

I was glad that we could be of some help. But, one time when we stopped, to walk back with the EMS people, I smashed my toe on a root, really hard. Then had to walk a while, in bike shoes. My foot hurt, but again, I was just glad we could help a little, somehow.

Eventually we felt like we had done all we could to help with that situation, and had a decision to make. We had hoped to ride the new Green Valley trail again, but it was getting later than expected and I felt a little spooked from not one but two safety incidents in one day. We decided to head back, though we did take the long way back to our cars.

Despite the drama, we did manage to fit in some fun riding, and it felt great to ride my 29er again. So far, I haven’t heard any more about what happened. I’ll post an update, if any more information becomes available. I hope the rider is OK. I really have no idea what happened, or if his injuries were severe.

These incidents both served as a reminder that cycling can be dangerous, and we are all vulnerable, even if we’re doing everything right. So, let’s try to be extra vigilant out there, OK?

This image is from yesterday afternoon. Then, this morning on my way to work it was already hot, not as high in terms of ambient temperature, but just incredibly muggy.

As I’ve alluded to in a few recent posts, I’ve been taking a different route to work. It’s a little shorter and significantly flatter, but with the heat and humidity like this, I’m still very sweaty by the time I get to work. Kind of annoying, but I can deal with it.

The new route is very pleasant; it starts with a bit of a climb, but then there’s a long downhill. There’s a stoplight halfway down, but if my timing is right, I can fly all the way down the hill without stopping.

Then I turn onto a rail-trail, which I take most of the way to work. Part is paved, and part isn’t. There’s a lot of variety, in terms of scenery, even though the trail is flat and mostly straight. I travel through woods, by a creek, through open fields with grasses and wildflowers, industrial zones, and part of downtown.

I don’t take the same route home. The nice long downhill that I start with in the morning, turns into a traffic-laden climb on my way home. Really, the traffic is the worry, not the climb.

Plus, I like to take a hillier route home, so I get more of a workout out of it.

Overall, it’s good to have options. I’ve been fairly critical of Bloomington’s rail-trail and B Line trail, and a lot of those feelings haven’t changed, but now they’re finally turning into something useful. Right now, there’s a long section that I have practically to myself, as it’s not officially open yet, but I wonder how busy it will be once more people discover it.

Wildflowers flank trail
An unknown beauty pops up
Heat makes me move on

I can’t believe it took so long
To consider this route
Finally came to my senses
Commute is revitalized

Smart phone enables
New morning route pays rewards
Post from road or trail

Even though I’m only taking one class this summer (and working, of course), I’ve still felt a lack of time, energy, and even motivation to ride. That “motivation” part is weird to me — the past few years I’ve wanted to ride as much as possible whenever the opportunity arose. I’m not feeling that way right now, though the rides I do manage are always enjoyable. For now I’m taking things as they come. But I’m definitely looking forward to my class ending. Hopefully the rest of the summer will be a little more relaxed, and maybe I’ll have more time, energy, and motivation to ride.

I did get out and ride last weekend. It was a little on the hot side — maybe mid-80s. Probably the hottest ride of the year so far. I used to hate heat, but I have learned to deal with it better, and on this day, I actually enjoyed it. I headed out with a sort of vague plan to ride east of town, an area where I rode a lot when I lived on that side of town, but haven’t ridden as much lately.

It was a beautiful day to ride. I felt pretty good, though I did notice that my fitness has declined a bit. I struggled on the hills a bit more than I would have liked. A strong headwind on the return trip certainly didn’t help, though it did cool me down somewhat.

I replaced my rear tire. The old one was worn through the outer casing and a weird purple layer was showing in many places. I’d say I wore it out — it only lasted about 1700 miles. The new tire is also an upgrade to a Continental Grand Prix 4000 700×25. I’ve read that these are more durable than the Conti Ultra Race I had before.

Oddly enough, the GP4000 700×25 is significantly wider than the Ultra Race 700×25 I had on the wheel previously. Before, I could put the wheel on and off easily, but now I have to deflate the tire to do it. As far as I’m concerned, this is a good thing. The extra volume leads to a slightly cushier ride.

I got rained on, on my way home, but the cool rain felt good. Naturally I had just washed the bike, which is now a grimy mess again. I took a road through town that I normally avoid, but on a Sunday afternoon it was quiet and pleasant.

I rode 33 miles, and I felt quite refreshed. I’m hoping to be able to do a longer ride over Memorial Day weekend. I’d love to stretch my legs for 50-60 miles or more. We’ll see!