… so I went over to Jackson Creek Road instead, but it was also flooded …

The only other ways of getting to where we were going to ride would either be flooded too, or would be far out of the way. I called Dave and let him know … we pulled the plug  on the ride. He was coming from the other side of the state forest, so I think he was able to get to parts I couldn’t. I think he was going to ride back and forth on the parts that weren’t flooded.

I went home, and headed out for a short (21-mile) but hilly road ride west of town. It was hot, very hot … the heat index probably neared 100 degrees. I had a great, brief-but challenging ride. Here are a few photos.

We did a loop I’ve done a couple of times before. I have done this route in snow, rain … and now heat, too. “What’s next?” Dave asked, and I don’t know, but I’m sure some other condition will come along and I can ride there in it, too.

Sunday wasn’t devoid of bike activity either, I washed the Trucker and did some work on the Bianchi. I ordered some Nitto Noodle handlebars for it, just like the ones I have on the Trucker, and installed them. I did a few test rides around the neighborhood. The Noodles are a big improvement over the old bars.

It was so hot that I was dripping with sweat, just from working on the bike and riding around the neighborhood. I was thinking of a road ride later in the day, but some insane storms rolled in. I’ll ride in most weather conditions, but lightning is one thing that will prevent me from riding.

Working on bikes isn’t a lot of fun for me, but it needed to be done. Hopefully now I’m in good shape for some more long rides. I’m anxious to crank up the mileage again. I’m contemplating RAIN (Ride Across INdiana) on July 17. You ride from Terre Haute, IN to Richmond, IN, in one day — 160 miles. I might need to ride another century between now and then, for training purposes.

Note that it’s the same route that I rode back in February, only then, it was covered in snow. It was interesting to see how different it looked this time.

An 18-mile, two hour-ish ride is by no means epic, but sometimes epic is more of a state of mind. The rain and the muddy, sandy gravel roads contributed to this feeling. I also fondly remembered how the area looked blanketed in snow, and how much harder the ride was then. Hence the “mini-epic” title. I will have some helmet cam videos to share from this ride, but I have not yet edited them.

The road was paved at first …

… but it soon turned to gravel.

The road climbed gently for a while, and then turned sharply uphill toward the small town of Normal. I remembered this being quite a climb, but I was pleased that it felt easier than I remembered. After riding past Norman, I turned back into HNF …

… for more gravel riding.

Along the way, I saw a number of trails for the Hickory Ridge trail system, most of which I’ve never ridden. It was too muddy today, but I am determined to spend more time in HNF this year and further explore the Hickory Ridge trailsystem.

I rode on a ridgetop for a little while, before a wild, multi-tiered descent. It was raining hard and the lack of fenders on my mountain bike meant I got splattered with water, mud, and small bits of gravel. I was covered in water and mud by the time I reached the bottom, including my glasses, face, legs, feet, basically everything.

I rode briefly in creek bottoms, including a couple of creek crossings …

… and snail, wildflower, and geode sightings.

From this point, I basically had a long climb, a bit of flat ridgetop riding, and then another long decent. I was just flying down the hill, and once again got completely covered in muck.

By the time I finished, I was drenched, covered in mud and small rocks, and quite content.

I’ll post some video, when I get a chance.

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!

View 2010-02-07 HNF snow biking in a larger map

My ride started on a paved road, and immediately I was loving the scenery, but for a little bit, I was riding on clear roads, and started second-guessing my choice to bring my mountain bike. But I figured that once I hit gravel, there would be some snow. It was hard to gauge what conditions would be like. We had probably four inches of snow on the ground, but in town and on paved roads, it was warm enough that the roads were clear.

But, the deeper into the woods I went, the snowier it got. The more snow, the more fun I had.

I passed the first of many trailheads for the Hickory Ridge trail system. Bikes are allowed on these trails, and I’ve ridden quite a few of them, but the snow had mud beneath it. No trails on this ride.

Not that I minded. The gravel roads were quiet and beautiful, and plenty challenging in their own right.

I reached a small creek with a waterfall, and then proceeded to climb a large hill. The road went back to being paved, and not as snowy, which made the climb a little easier. I then spent a few minutes on a state highway and some smaller paved roads before turning back into the national forest.

After some momentary confusion about which way to turn, I turned onto a very snowy road and re-entered the woods. I rode over a small log. There were some truck tire marks, but it was obvious only one or two vehicles had been here. I was sort of impressed that they were able to drive through at all, and grateful for their tire ruts, which were well-packed and made for relatively fast riding.  However, some spots were icy, and I had to watch out for those.

The ride became even more beautiful than before. I was in awe at the snowy landscape and the way the warm, angular light struck everything was quite stunning.

I rode on a relatively flat ridgetop for a while, and then the road turned steeply downward. I had ridden up this hill once before, and I sure was glad to be riding down it now.

I stopped halfway down the hill to explore a small pond.

The ruts were slick and icy and I discovered that the best technique for riding down this big hill was to ride in between the ruts, where there was soft virgin snow. This slowed me down, so I didn’t have to ride my brakes, and also offered better traction.

Looking back up … steeeep!

Once at the bottom of the hill, I turned onto a different road, where I forded a couple of creeks and started climbing. I filled up the memory card in my camera. I deleted a few photos and rode on. I took a few more photos after that, but not a lot.

I had quite a bit of climbing to do, but it was divided into a couple climbs, with a slight break in between. Overall, not too bad. Once at the top, it was flat for a while, and then I enjoyed a long descent. This was quite tricky as it was slippery, I just took my time and made it to the bottom of the hill just fine.

Once at the bottom of the hill, I hit paved roads for the last mile or so of my ride. It was still just lovely, and the light became even more dramatic, as the sun was nearly setting.

I rode back to my car, very satisfied with the ride. This was one of those rides where I didn’t expect much going into it, but in the end, I was blown away by how incredible it was. The gravel roads were the perfect place to ride, given the conditions. Some snow rides end up being so hard they’re frustrating; this was a challenging adventure, but it never felt like anything other than a LOT of fun.

One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot since this ride is that even though I’ve spent probably dozens of hours riding in Hoosier National Forest, I’ve just barely scratched the surface of what is there, even close to home (HNF reaches basically all the way south to Kentucky). There are many trails in the Hickory Ridge system I’ve never ridden, and lots of roads that are unexplored as well. I need to ride there more often.

This was a drive and ride situation, I wasn’t sure how the roads would be, and this let me get to the area where I wanted to ride in time to actually do some riding there.

I parked the car on a paved section of road, but it immediately turned to gravel. The gravel parts had snow on them, compacted somewhat by cars, but fortunately not icy.

I reached a lake, and could see that some people had been out on its frozen surface, ice fishers and sledders, and some deer. I walked out a bit on the ice myself to check it out. Some holes had been made and you could see the ice was about four inches thick.

After testing the ice thickness, I went back and got my bike (visible in the photo below, by the shore). I wanted to ride on the ice a little.

I was headed across the lake, on the left side of the below photo. I considered trying to ride all the way across, but I wasn’t sure the ice was uniformly thick.

I got enough of a sense for riding on the ice to want to do more of it. It’s just something you have to be very cautious about. I stayed within the area where others had already been, and there were several holes where I could confirm that the ice was thick.

Making tracks on the lake

After that unique experience, I got back on the road. The route across the lake would’ve been a lot easier, but I just wasn’t sure about it.

After that, I had some more wonderful gravel riding.

I made it over to the area I noted above, directly across that part of the lake …

… and looked over at a ridge on the other side of the lake, which I would later climb up, and then ride down.

I rode on, and the scenery remained quite breathtaking.

I turned and rode on paved roads, briefly, which were relatively clear by comparison …

… before turning onto another gravel road. The sign said “No Outlet,” but that depends on your mode of travel, and your willingness to make your way through the woods on rough fire roads and horse trails. On my bicycle, and abundantly willing, I planned on riding through.

Around this time, my water bottles started to freeze. I had to bite down on the valve to crack the ice, and take frequent drinks to keep them from freezing shut.

The fire road/trail was just wonderful and, riding through the powdery snow was fairly easy, even if it was slick at times. Some places had footprints, but it was wide enough that I could make my own tracks off to the side. In addition to human footprints, I followed deer tracks literally for miles. Apparently, deer use trails, too! Later, I also encountered some ski tracks.

I stopped for another drink of water and noticed the sun was setting over a distant ridge.

At this point, I was almost finished. The trail spit me out onto a gravel road, in an odd rural neighborhood. I saw a very ramshackle house for sale,  with an RV parked near it.

I rode down the hill …

… and soon, I was back at my car. I have to say, this was the best ride I’ve done in some time. It was cold, and challenging, but it was also incredibly beautiful. Riding in the snow is an experience you can’t get any other way.

Many of the unpaved roads within the forest are dusty and narrow, and those driving cars within the forest will often have to ford creeks.

In other words, riding there is lots of fun! It’s also the closest state forest to where we live. Still, I drove there so I could spend my entire ride within state forest boundaries. I did a loop that I’ve done a few times in the past, with some variations. Here’s a map.

View 2009-12-12 Yellowwood Loop in a larger map

I was hoping I could ride with my friend Dave, but he wasn’t feeling well, so this was a solo ride. It was cool outside, maybe in the lower to mid 30s. There were icy areas in some puddles and creeks.

I rolled through quiet, deserted woods and through creeks …

And rode up to the dam to get some views of Yellowwood Lake.

Then continued, on some more gravel roads.

I climbed a hill, and then reached another access point for the lake. It looked even better, from here.

Some rolling hills took me to another, icier part of the lake.

I crossed a couple more creeks, and climbed the one large climb of the whole ride. I noticed some icy creeks and tried to imagine the whole area blanketed in snow. It’s going to be very beautiful once we get a real snow … I’ll have to go back and see it.

I spent a few minutes on a paved road, then turned back onto gravel. This is where all the climbing paid off, in a long descent. But not before I stopped at a favorite spot at Prange Pond. It was icier than the lake, thanks to being smaller and in a shadier location.

After the long descent, which was loads of fun, I rolled on paved roads for a few minutes, and re-entered the state forest. Earlier in the day, I had been disappointed that I couldn’t hit the mountain bike trails. But I was very happy with where I ended up. Rolling through my favorite state forest on a beautiful day on my new bike … what’s not to like?

So, I’ve been in the market for a new mountain bike. I had my heart set on a 29er; I saw a good deal on one locally, and put it on hold. But, then I went up to Indianapolis last weekend to look at other options. Long story short, I ended up buying a Fuji Tahoe 29 Comp from Circle City Bicycles.

When I test rode the bike, I immediately loved it. I could tell that the bigger wheels do indeed roll over things better, and traction is better as well, thanks to a longer contact patch. But I felt stretched out on the bike, and had a bit of trouble pulling the front end up to wheelie over things. I told this to the guy at the shop, and he did a fitting, having me stand in this device that took some measurements with lasers. He printed out the measurements and based on the printout, checked the setup of the bike, making a few adjustments.

I rode the bike again, a little skeptical that this would solve the problems. I was astonished: it felt perfect! No longer did I feel stretched out, and I found the front end easier to lift. Those were my only real reservations about the bike. After consulting with my wife, I bought it.

Shakedown ride in Hoosier National Forest

Naturally, I was anxious to take the bike for its first proper ride on Sunday. Unfortunately, we are having freeze/thaw issues here, so the mountain bike trails were too muddy to ride without damaging them. Instead, I planned a ride on the gravel roads of Hoosier National Forest. I had planned to ride around 34 miles, but by the time I swapped pedals and a few other things from my old bike onto the new one, I was running short on time.  I ended up riding about 22 miles of very hilly gravel, with a few trail sections and paved sections in the mix as well. Here’s a map and elevation profile of my ride. Climbing was about 2000 feet.

View 2009-12-06 HNF gravel roads on new mtb in a larger map

I parked by the fire tower and rolled out. The bike felt great; it definitely rolls better than my 26″ mountain bike. I enjoyed a few rolling hills on relatively smooth gravel.

I misread my GPS and took a side trail, when really I should have ridden further and turned onto a road. But it was fine, this gave me a chance to test the bike on a trail, at least a little bit. The trail was faint and overgrown, but the bike rolled right over the shrubbery with no problem. I hopped a couple of logs, which proved a lot easier than it was on my 26″ mountain bike. I bashed a chainring at one point. At first I thought the bottom bracket was lower than on my old bike, but when I got home, I looked it up. It’s actually slightly higher. I think I just rode over a log that I normally wouldn’t even attempt.

I got back on the road and took a side road that, according to my map, would lead down to Lake Tarzian. I had never seen this lake before and I wasn’t 100% sure I could get to it. I had to ride through the Maumee Boy Scout Reservation to get to it. There were some gates, but they were wide open. I rode right down to the lake, and startled dozens of geese when I arrived.

I had a bit of climbing to get back up to the road from the lake, but it was definitely a worthwhile trip. And once I got back on the road, I enjoyed a blistering descent down from the top of the ridge.

Unfortunately, that short-but-sweet downhill ride was followed by a hell of a lot of climbing. I climbed for the better part of two miles. Some sections were steep, others were gradual. This bike is definitely a little on the sluggish side when it comes to climbing. It’s heavy, and I noticed one other shortcoming: its lowest gear isn’t quite low enough. I think it has an 11×32 cassette, that might need to be replaced with an 11×34 at some point. I passed several different Hickory Ridge trails. It was tempting to try riding on them, but I didn’t have a trail pass, and I had limited time anyway.

I saw something rather puzzling. I saw a dog running toward me, and there was a pickup truck behind it. At first I thought the people in the truck were waiting for the dog to get out of their way, but then I realized it was their dog, and they were simply following him. I guess they were “walking” the dog, without the walking part? Maybe it was too cold (notice the ice, above).

Whatever they were doing, after they passed me, I stopped. I figured I was roughly at the top of the hill, and I wanted to get a couple shots of the bike.

From there, I had a couple flattish miles, mostly paved, to the small town of Norman. I took a few more photos as I rode through/past it. There’s not much there.

Once past Norman, I hit gravel again and rolled down a huge hill. The new bike descends like a dream! It feels very stable and solid, even when tearing down a gravel road. I can’t wait to ride it on trails.

The scenery was very beautiful, down in the valley. I enjoyed some more mostly-downhill riding once there, too. The sun hung low in the sky; the hills, woods, and fields looked gorgeous, and the road followed a creek for some time.

Soon, I turned onto the paved, but very rough, Hickory Grove Road. I knew I’d have a long climb here, and admittedly I was a bit nervous about it. The first 1/4 mile or so was pretty brutal, but after that, the grade let up a bit and ultimately, the climb wasn’t as bad as I expected. I did mostly climb for maybe 2 1/2 miles, but most of it was gradual, and I discovered that the bike really excels at long, gradual climbs. The weight isn’t too much of a factor and once you get rolling, you tend to stay rolling. I also thought the bigger wheels took some of the sting out of the bumps.

At some point, the road transitioned back to gravel. I passed some interesting-looking campsites, and some more parts of the Hickory Ridge Trail system.

Somewhere near the top of the hill were the tiny Hickory Grove church and cemetery.

I rode for several more miles, over some rolling hills and up a long, arduous hill on very loose gravel. This part was no fun — some things suck no matter what bike you’re riding …

I rode back to the car, and those 22 miles felt great. I could’ve ridden more, but it was cold and getting dark. I can’t wait for the next ride on this bike!

We set out down a smooth-packed gravel road; it was raining, and our lights reflected off the rain drops and almost made it look like snow was falling. Within a couple of minutes, we looked ahead down the road and saw two beady eyes glowing back at us. We couldn’t tell until we got within about 10 feet that it was a possum crossing the road. We nearly hit it, but rode around and it ran off.

Soon, we reached the end of the road, and the beginning of a trail. The leaf cover was substantial, and we kept thinking that we were seeing crumpled up pieces of aluminum foil on the ground. Upon closer inspection, we realized that every downturned yellow leaf had water beaded up on the back of it, and somehow the way our lights reflect off them gave off a silvery sparkle.

We rode a long, gradual downhill on the trail, our lights providing enough light to see the trail a bit in front of us, but not much more more. We had to navigate around, over, or through various mud holes, sticks, branches, even whole trees at times. I found it easiest to keep my speed up, it helped me roll over the sticks and through the mud.

We stopped to adjust our lights and when we did, we heard coyotes yipping and yelping and howling, in the not-too-distant distance. We fell silent and listened to them for several minutes.

The trail got rougher and more rutted, but the leaves made it impossible to tell where the muddiest spots and other obstacles were. The harder it got, the more speed I picked up. It seems counterintuitive, but going fast was just easier than going slow.

We turned onto another trail, this one in much worse shape than the first. The trail had been heavily damaged by horse traffic. In places, our pedaling got us nowhere — our tires just spun in the thick mud. I got off my bike to walk and my whole foot sank into the mud. It was difficult to keep moving. At some point the rain stopped and the cloud cover thinned slightly, enough that we could see the moon glowing through the clouds.

But the trail turned steeply downward and this made it easier to ride. But we were still slipping around a lot. Once again, picking up speed helped; at times, I was practically floating across the top of the mud.

Suddenly, we reached the bottom of the hill and the trail spit us out onto a dam. One odd thing about riding in the dark is that you have no frame of reference for where you are. You can’t see more than about 10-15 feet ahead of you, and you have no peripheral vision. So when we reached the lake it felt very abrupt.

We stopped and turned our lights off. The lake looked breathtakingly beautiful. The sky was still cloudy, but the moonlight dispersed through the clouds, and the sky looked surprisingly bright. We could see the silhouettes of hills looming over the lake, the fast-moving clouds, and the calm water reflected the scene. We lingered for a while.

We switched our lights back on and rode on some gravel roads through the forest. We could see a bit better briefly, as the tree cover let up. But soon, the trees covered the road and we had tunnel vision once again. During this stretch, we saw the first car of our ride. We could hear a creek gushing alongside the road. We climbed for what seemed like a very long time. We were riding up a familiar hill, but once again, with no point of reference, we couldn’t tell when we were nearing the top.

Eventually, we did reach the top, and we turned onto another road. After a few rolling hills, we were done. We did see another car along the way, increasing the total number of cars spotted to 2.

This ride was fantastic in so many ways. It was a great combination of fun, insanity, challenges, and scenic beauty. Night rides are always a bit crazy, but this one was especially so, with the rain and mud. I think I was muddier after this ride than I have ever been.

View 2009-10-04 Mt. Nebo in a larger map

Fall is here. It seems like it arrived quite suddenly, as temperatures went from warm and comfortable to a bit chilly, seemingly overnight. It takes some adjustment to get used to this and try to figure out what to wear to be comfortable on a ride. In terms of foliage, even though a few trees started to turn a couple of weeks ago, we’re only seeing a little bit of color right now. It’s also harvest time; I saw several farmers harvesting soybean crops during my ride.

My ride started out on familiar roads, although some I hadn’t ridden on for quite a while. I had a fun, but uneventful trip up to Morgan-Monroe State Forest.

The main road through the state forest follows a fairly flat ridge top. Eventually I came to a point where heavy logging had occurred. I’ve seen this spot before, but never stopped to further explore it. I found a pamphlet explaining the “Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment.”

What will our forests be like in 100 years?

(Hopefully NOT like what they’ve done here)

The pamphlet and Web site make this sound like a legitimate academic experiment, but I have to wonder if it’s really necessary to do all this clear-cutting in order to study its effects. Sounds more like a convenient excuse for some profitable logging to me.

I rode over to Cherry Lake and stopped for a break at a picnic table right by the water. A family (mother, father, and daughter) were having a picnic nearby, their bikes parked in the grass. I lingered for a while, enjoying a contemplative moment by the lake.

Next I had a long, bumpy decent down Rosenbaum Road toward Low Gap Road. This area feels very remote and consists of rugged state forest lands, and once you reach the bottom of the hill, a few homes and many corn and soybean fields.  I took Low Gap to Mahalasville Road. I debated doing a shorter (50-mile route) but decided to go for the full ~65 miles or so.

Suddenly, the land was very flat, but I could see the ridges where I had just come from jutting up in the distance. I struggled with the wind a bit, but it turned out not to be too bad.

It remained flat for a while, and I rolled past farms, lakes, and some surprisingly impressive subdivisions. Lots of huge, new homes with large yards. This remote area was surprisingly affluent. After a tough climb, things got flat again for a few more miles.

I turned onto State Road 252 and had a long climb (for this area) of close to a mile. This was “Mount Nebo.” Not a real mountain of course, but it was a lot of work to reach the top.

This part of the ride reminded me a bit of riding in Pennsylvania: there was a long climb, and as soon as I reached the top, the road turned back downward. And to my surprise, I enjoyed a long descent of probably 2.5 miles, during which time the road went through enough twists and turns to make things a lot of fun — but, I didn’t have to ride the brakes. It was wonderful!

Climbing “Mount Nebo”:

I turned back onto some back roads and pedalled across some gorgeous rolling farmland.

Soon I found myself back on a different part of Mahalasville Road. Another decent climb took a lot out of me … but once again it paid off when I got to ride down the other side of the hill. Fun stuff!

Eventually, I turned onto Bear Wallow Road. The route I had put together had me taking Bear Wallow to Possum Trot Road, but I couldn’t tell from the maps if Possum Trot really went through. Some maps seemed to indicate that it did, some didn’t show it at all.

Bear Wallow was paved for a while but soon I passed a “County Maintenance Ends”  sign (unfortunately, I missed this photo opportunity) and the road turned to gravel. It was flat for a while, but soon I reached a hill. I started climbing and really had no idea how big this hill was. I had already ridden 50 miles at this point, so I was moving slowly up this gravel climb. The hardest part of the climbing was over in 3/4 mile but by the time I reached the top of the hill I had climbed for well over two miles. A few dogs showed some interest in me during this time, but none gave me any trouble.

Once on top of the hill, there were a few small rolling hills and I watched for Possum Trot Road, but my GPS told me I had passed it. I rode back and found a small, muddy, overgrown fire road. This might be fun to explore at some point but bicycles are not allowed here, according to the signs.

So, instead of taking this “road,” I stayed on Bear Wallow Road. My GPS told me this would eventually connect with North Shore Drive, and I knew how to get home from there. I started riding and very soon found myself riding down the other side of the hill. I was hoping to coast down the hill, but I passed several homes that had multiple dogs, and some of them gave chase. One was particularly tenacious and I had to ride hard to get away from him. It was a crazy, curvy 20 mph gravel road descent with dogs nipping at my heels. Even once I dropped the dogs, I was a little spooked and rode hard down the hill. I did stop at Bear Lake, a small, pretty lake which I don’t think I even knew existed before. I didn’t stick around to explore, but it seemed like a good find.

Once at the bottom of the hill, I had a few flat miles of riding and then I connected with North Shore Drive.

I thought about riding across North Shore, which as you might guess follows the north shore of Lake Lemon. But instead, I rode around to South Shore and rode home from there, as that way I would only have one big climb on my way home.

All in all, a lovely ride. It always feels good to stretch beyond my usual riding area. This ride was mostly paved, but there were 5-6 miles of gravel mixed in. I have some ideas for what should be some great mixed-terrain riding that I hope to do in the next few weeks, especially as the fall colors set in. I love fall!