I rode to Dave’s house before the ride (7.5 miles or so). It was rather foggy, and the roads were wet. It was a weird week; the roads were wet all week, even on days when it didn’t rain. It was just VERY humid. It was also a very warm day, in the 40s. It may have even topped out around 50. It felt luxurious to ride without a ton of layers of clothing.

I got to Dave’s house, and we rolled out, right down a big hill to Lake Lemon. The water level was very low, and we saw a couple of people with a high-end video camera taping a group of riders. I wonder what that video was for. The lake looked especially beautiful, with the fog.

After debating which way to do the loop, we started riding, counter-clockwise. This is the way I prefer to do the loop … but each direction has its challenges. Going counter-clockwise, there’s one VERY steep hill, but it’s over before long. Going the other way you suffer for a lot longer, even if it’s not as steep.

We rode across the causeway.

After this, we rode around to the other side of the lake, and over some rolling hills. Then, up the very difficult hill described above.

As we made our way along the north side of the lake, Dave suggested we make a trip over to the spillway. I’d never been to this part of Lake Lemon before; it was rather small, given the size of the lake. We saw a couple of Great Blue Herons and some geese, and had some nice views to other parts of the lake. I had ridden very close to this spot many times before but never knew it was there.

We headed back toward the main road.

Once there, we had a few more hills, and then we reached a flat road for a few miles. We enjoyed the easier cruising on flat ground, after all the hills.

But, it wasn’t completely flat.

We turned onto another road, where we had quite a bit of climbing to do. It was very steep toward the bottom, and got easier after that, but it sure was a lot of climbing. Along the way, I took a photo of my favorite sign in the area …

NO TRESPASSING
VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT
SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN.

Once we finished climbing that hill, it was just a few more miles back to Dave’s house, and then another 7.5 miles home. My total for the ride was about 37 miles.

This was a great ride. It was a route I’d done before, but not for a very long time. It was cool to do a road ride with Dave for a change, I love the gravel/mountain bike rides we usually do, but this was fun, too. And now I have a new spot to go to, the spillway.

It felt great to do some more road riding, I haven’t done enough of it recently.

We started on a horse trail, and hiked up a hill. Once on the ridge, we bushwhacked down into a ravine. We saw a creek at the bottom, and worked our way down. Along the way, we saw bare spots where turkeys had made their beds.

We didn’t find a pond, instead, we followed another, very muddy horse trail out to a nice view of the lake.

We turned around and got on another trail … just because we didn’t find the pond didn’t mean we couldn’t hike more.

We climbed a bigger hill on the 10 O’Clock Line Trail, a 14-mile trail that ends in Brown County State Park. Once we reached the top of the hill, we followed some horse trails for a while on some narrow ridges.

We looked through the trees and thought we spotted a pond. Dave got out his binoculars and it was pretty clear there was SOME kind of water down there. We couldn’t tell if it was a wide creek or a small pond, and the ravine was too steep to go down and check.

We got to the bottom and followed the road back to the car, getting some more views of the lake.

Later, we looked at my GPS and realized we had been pretty close to the water we spotted from the top of the ridge. We just turned the wrong way. Next time, we’ll be able to go there and see if there is, in fact, a pond.

It was a fun hike of about three miles, with a couple of good climbs and some great scenery. And it was great to see Dave, I hadn’t hung out with him since before Christmas since he was sick, and we’ve both been busy.

View 2009-11-27 Versailles Black Friday Mountain Biking.kml in a larger map

We started out on the new Shadow Run trail. This is an intermediate trail which begins with a climb. It was in the 30s outside and we were cold when we started riding, but this climb helped us warm up. Once we reached the top of the hill, the trail was much easier; it’s quite flat for a while, but it winds through the woods with many twists and turns. Along the way, we got some great views of Laughery Creek, and saw quite a few sinkholes. Rolling on flat ground for a while allowed us to get warmed up before hitting the harder trails.

You can see Dave in the above shot, if you look closely.

The trail got a bit harder as turned to go downhill. It wound its way down the side of the hill, with more views of the creek and ravines below.

Next, we had to redo part of the Shadow Run climb in order to make our way up to the Cliffside Trail. This trail was more difficult; it skirts the edge of a cliff, and the trail is narrower and rockier. It even crosses a waterfall at one point. We walked this part due to safety concerns. Trail conditions were mostly good, but parts were muddy enough that traction was poor at times. We had more great views of the creek this whole time, but we had to stay focused on riding, so it was hard to take in the views, except when we stopped.

This shot taken by Dave. The iPhone shot looks nice here!

Stone bench along the trail

Dave took this shot of me with his iPhone

Next was the Center Loop. This went by really quickly. It was a fun trail, with some twists and turns and a bit of climbing, but it was over just as I was getting into it. It mostly serves as a way to reach the Grandview Trail, which at six miles long, is the longest trail at the park. When we reached the Grandview Trail, we saw this sign, which we promptly ignored, pointing us back to the trailhead (photo by Dave).

The Grandview trail is aptly named, as it offers views of a bend in Laughery Creek some 150 feet below, as well as some nearby hills.  These views would be much obstructed during the summer, but with no leaves on the trees, we could see quite a bit. This trail has some fast, flowing riding for a while. Conditions were much better than the last time I rode here. Back on Black Friday of 2006, the trail was covered in several inches of leaves. This year things were considerably better; the trail was fairly clear and those leaves that were there had been compacted. We had only to worry about the occasional muddy section.

Last time I was here, the Grandview Trail was also much shorter. At that point, it had a few minutes of fun, flowing riding, then a climb back to the start. We rode it twice in a row, last time. Now the trail is over twice as long as it used to be. Instead of turning back so soon, it goes down almost all the way to creek level before winding through mixed hardwood/pine forests and finally, climbing back up to the starting point. This gave us another nice perspective of the creek, as well as some extra fun.

The rest of the ride is a blur, we were on Center Loop again briefly, then a fast-but-brief descent on the Creekside Trail, followed by a creek crossing and some very rocky sections.

We finished the ride, right around 11 miles, in 2 1/2 hours of riding. It felt a lot longer, thanks to the climbing, mud, technical sections, and views. We contemplated riding the Grandview Trail twice, but we were tired and hungry.

The trails at Versailles are just awesome. Each has its own character, but they are all extremely fun, and all are very beautiful. I’ll definitely be returning.

I slept much better than I usually do when I’m camping. I mostly attribute this to the fact that I brought a real pillow AND a smaller pillow with me. For whatever reason, I’ve got to have my pillows! I did wake up a couple of times during the night, but I fell back asleep right away.

I woke up, squinting as the sun was shining brightly. I heard the pitter-patter of a mouse running around my tent. I had no sense of what time it was. It felt like I had slept in, and I hoped Dave hadn’t been up and waiting for me for too long. It turned out it was 8:30, and Dave had also just gotten up.

Dave started a small fire and I heated water for coffee and oatmeal. We also had donuts … which were quite tasty, but surprisingly cold.

I’m a coffee lover, and I had purchased some Starbucks “VIA” instant coffee so we could try that. It was extremely convenient, as it was just instant coffee in pre-measured packets. I thought it was pretty good. I preferred it with cream and sugar … if it had been a little bit better, I would have had it black. I wouldn’t buy it all the time, but it was perfect for camping — no need for a percolator or French Press or other device, and we still had good coffee.

Anyway, after we had breakfast and coffee, we headed over to the fire tower area for some hiking.

We were doing the Old Axsom Branch hike in the Deam Wildnerness area.  I had never done this hike before … most of it is unmaintained or has no trail at all. It seemed like something that would work better with a guide. Dave has hiked this trail numerous times and knows his way around, so this worked out perfectly. Here’s a map.

View 2009-11-08 Old Axsom Branch Hike in a larger map

The hike started along a fire road on top of a ridge. We then turned off onto a trail that followed another ridge for a bit, before descending into the ravines below.

A tree with arms

Once in the valley, we followed a creek for a bit …

And bushwhacked through a meadow to this old cabin. As you can see, a tree fell on it recently.

Soon, we reached Lake Monroe. Apparently if the water is high, the part of the hike down by the lake can be quite difficult, if you have to hike on higher ground with more shrubbery. The lake looked beautiful, as always, and we hiked alongside it for quite some time.

We saw some killer campsites along the way …

… and some very interesting rocks, under water

Soon, we started a long climb up to the top of a ridge. There was no trail, and the first section had a lot of brush, making for a challenging hike. At the same time, leaf cover made it difficult to avoid rocks and other obstacles.

We had some nice views of the lake along the way …

… and saw a see-through tree ….

… and several “sweat lodges” …

… and a bent tree, apparently this was an Indian technique to indicate a turn in the trail.

We followed the ridge for quite a while …

… and eventually reached a spot with some great views of the lake

… and the terraced land, carved by glaciers.

We decided this was our lunch spot. Dave had brought some pita bread, salami, pepperoni, and leftover steak from the night before. This made for a delicious lunch.

We rested for a while and ate some lunch, enjoying both the cool breeze and the warm sun.  We looked out above the water … way, way above the water … above our position on the ridge, even … in time to see three bald eagles soaring across the sky. It had taken a lot of work to get here — bushwhacking through brush, and hiking up to the top of the ridge. But it was well worth it.

After lunch, the hiking was varied. We had more ridgetop hiking, some bushwhacking, and followed a faint horse trail for a while.

We reached Terrill Pond, which Sarah and I have visited a couple of times before. It’s always beautiful, and on this day, the lily pads were changing colors. Just lovely.

Soon, we were back on the fire road and headed back out of the woods. But we had a couple more miles to hike from here. We checked out a few campsites along the way … there are lots of great options for backpacking in the Deam Wilderness.

At the end of the hike, we’d gone about six miles. It was a lot of work, but it paid off.

We returned to our campsite to pack up the car. We got all ready to go, and Dave’s car wouldn’t start. The battery didn’t have enough juice. After a few failed attempts at finding someone to jumpstart the car, I called Sarah and she agreed to come pick us up. She had to buy jumper cables, but I’ve been meaning to get some for a while. I’m glad we have some now. Dave’s car started right up when we jump-started it. We headed home … what an awesome camping trip!

Anyway, I haven’t been completely inactive. I do have a little catching up to do. Back on January 10-11, a friend of Sarah’s, who came to our wedding, came to visit with his girlfriend. We hiked about 2.5 miles on the 10th at Frances Slocum State Park, and a bunch of snow fell during our hike. We did a shorter hike on the 11th on the Levee Trail. When we weren’t hiking, we played some games and generally hung out.  Great times. I’m not going to go into more detail about the hikes, but here are a few photos.

Saturday

1. Found out that my riding buddy, Dave, had a wreck and injured his spinal cord (he is recovering very well, and is back to riding the trails)
2. Got engaged
3. Had my wisdom teeth removed
4. Celebrated Sarah’s graduation from grad school
5. Took a trip to North Carolina and Virginia, to explore some job possibilities for Sarah.  While there, I was hit by a car (which then “ran”). I had some scrapes and a broken/dislocated finger, which still hurts sometimes (it happened in June). Then our car broke down. We did manage to see some beautiful sights while we were there, but the trip was pretty much a complete bust. Sarah did not get either job. Actually, we thought she was getting the one in Virginia, and just as we thought they were going to make an offer, they told us they had a hiring freeze, and could not fill the position.
6. Got married
7. Moved to Pennsylvania, since Sarah found a job here. I kept my job, and have been working from home.
8. Found out I’m getting laid off from my job. December 31 (tomorrow) will be my last day.
9. Took steps to form my own company providing Web development and other services. This is the first I’ve mentioned it on the blog, I’ll say more later.

Friday

Friday was a day off work spent making preparations and hoping the rain would stop. It rained most of the day and was really quite disgusting outside. We even bought a bunch of candles and some oil lamps so it wouldn’t be too dark in the tent/shelter, if we had to have our ceremony under them. Friday evening, our families finally met for the first time over Italian food. Good times and good food were had by all, and everyone got along very well.

Friday night

Friday night we had planned to get a campsite, and invited everyone to make s’mores around a campfire. Since it had rained all day, we instead opted to use a fireplace in the shelter where we were getting married, in case it started raining again. We showed up late (this would later become a theme, and I felt terrible about it each time). We weren’t sure anyone would show up. Who would be crazy enough to drive out to the middle of nowhere, after a day of nothing but rain, in the dark, through dense fog, to sit around a fire?

About 20 people, as it turned out. In fact, a few people were already there waiting by the time we arrived. It was extremely muggy, but everyone enjoyed themselves nonetheless. I built a fire, which went a lot smoother than I expected (it’s hard to build a fire with people watching). We made a lot of s’mores, had both cold and hot apple cider (with optional rum) and spent about 2 hours catching up with friends. There were a number of people there who I hadn’t seen in years, and it was great to talk to them.

Once things were winding down, Sarah and I took a minute to go down by the water just the two of us. The fog was extremely dense and the glow of the moon made it possible to see the lake slightly. It was truly beautiful and I was glad we got a few moments to ourselves.

Yellowwood Lake in the fog, at night

After that, Sarah and I parted ways, not to see each other again until the wedding. I went back to the cabin we rented with my groomsmen, Michael and Josh, my best friends from when I went to Northwestern University, and Michael’s wife, Laurel. We stayed up late hanging out at the cabin.

Saturday

Preparations

We had been worried it’d rain, as it did in the days leading up to the wedding, but we had a gorgeous sunny day. It was a bit warm, in the upper 80s, and quite humid, but that sure beat rain, and the wind kept everyone a little cooler and added a certain dreamy atmosphere to the proceedings.

The groomsmen and I were running a little behind schedule. Josh and Laurel and I went to set up signs directing people to the wedding. At one stop I started driving before Josh was all the way in the car — he ended up hopping alongside the car as I drove off, yelling at me to stop. I stopped just a few feet later, and felt really bad I’d done that. He wasn’t hurt.

We got to the wedding site a little late and did a few photos before the ceremony, but we weren’t able to do as many as we’d hoped. I talked to the minister to make sure everything was in order, and asked him about 50 different questions about how the ceremony was supposed to go. I was nervous, not about getting married, but about being up in front of everyone.

Yellowwood Lake

The Wedding Ceremony

Before I knew it, things were under way. Everything was perfect. The chairs were set up in the best possible place near the lake, the musicians sounded amazing, the wind made the leaves rustle in the trees. I escorted mom down the aisle and to her seat, and went to stand at the front. My groomsmen were close behind. I looked up and could see Sarah and Sammy, the flower girl walking together. They were still fairly far away, but their gradual approach made me anticipate Sarah drawing near even more.

Me, with mom

Anticipation

Sammy, who is four, was being very shy and holding Sarah’s hand. She dropped all of the flower petals in one spot, rather than dropping a few as she walked. I swear, she is the cutest kid ever, and while dropping all the flower petals in a pile wasn’t exactly what we had in mind, she was performing her #1 task of being adorable.

As Sarah approached, I was just stunned by her beauty. She looked incredible. Her dress had several layers of sheer fabric, and while her veil hid her face slightly, it just made me want to see more. I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to pull her veil back, and she had to remind me. A smooth move on my part.

Sarah approaches

Getting started

Bridesmaids and flower girl

The minister gave an introduction, after which my sister delivered a touching speech about what love is, and how we embody that, and how both of us looked to our grandparents (who are no longer with us) as a source of inspiration of the ideal marriages. It was a little difficult, as we really wished our grandparents could have been there, but it was the best way to honor their memory.

My sister after her speech

Next, my mom played a piece on the cello with one of the musicians, who she taught to play. I was glad they played something a little upbeat, as it might’ve been too much to handle otherwise.

Mom playing the cello

The rest of the ceremony itself is a blur. I had the various parts of the ceremony compartmentalized in my head (sermon, vows, rings, presentation, benediction, etc) but it all flowed together very nicely. I was glad it was so coherent, but it was a bit dizzying how quickly we went from one thing to the next.

All this time I could do little other than gaze at my bride. She’s always gorgeous, but I’ve never seen her looking this beautiful. Her veil blew in the wind, at times getting in the way, but seeing the long fabric flow was very pretty. And the sun reflected off her veil, illuminating her face with a soft glow. She was breathtaking.

Sarah looked beautiful. Apparently, she couldn’t keep her eyes off me, either.

Soon we got to the vows, and at first my voice was very shaky. I had to make a conscious effort to regain my composure and to my surprise, it worked. I stood up as straight as I could (which was more difficult than you’d think, as we were on the side of a hill) and delivered my vows with more confidence. I looked at Sarah and listened to her delivering her vows. She was crying as she did so. I’m not sure if she realized how close to tears I was.

Exchanging vows

Somewhere in here we exchanged rings, and this went smoothly also. The minister said some other stuff, but to be honest I wasn’t really paying much attention anymore. I had said at several points leading up to the wedding that the kissing the bride part was really the part I was looking forward to, and the minister alluded to this, saying “NOW, you may kiss the bride.” As I kissed my wife for the first time, I was completely overwhelmed. This moment had finally come. It was fantastic.

Kissing the bride

Walking out

Groomsmen, and another new wife of about a month

We walked out down the aisle, in hindsight we probably just about ran out of there. We were moving at a good clip, I think. We set ourselves up for a receiving line but were still reeling from the whole experience. We greeted everyone, and then spent some time taking photos.

Photos

We did a few with the wedding party and our families at the wedding location, and a few with just the two of us in a couple of other places closer to the lake, at the cabin we rented, and by a silo, cornfield, fence, and a bridge.

Food and Toasts

We returned after being gone too long taking photos. Kids were playing by the lake, finding geodes, catching bugs, and throwing rocks in the lake. My nephew (who was the usher) pretty well destroyed his tux — it was great.

Kids playing by the lake

The heat was getting to me, and I was not feeling very well. The food was cold by the time we returned. Fortunately everyone had done as we asked and went ahead and ate while we were gone. We were starving, but I had a hard time eating. It was just too hot. We spent some more time talking to our guests, and soon it was time for a toast — but not before I managed to spill champagne all over my sleeve while opening an overzealous bottle.

Opening more champagne

I gave a brief toast thanking our mothers, the rest of our family, the wedding party, our guests, and above all, Sarah. It was a little generic, perhaps, but I really did want to thank everyone for everything they’d done. Josh, one of my groomsmen, had been working on a toast all day (literally) and while I liked it, a few people thought it was a little mean. He did talk about some low times in our lives, but I think the point was that Sarah and I are strong enough together to overcome just about anything. He may have missed the mark on a couple of points, but overall I thought it was very good — and he put a lot of thought into it. It meant a lot to me. Sarah’s sister (and bridesmaid) said a few words as well, which was very sweet.

Sarah

Hiking

After the toasts, we split up to prepare for a hike. We had been planning a hike after the wedding, but people needed to go back to town to change and get ready for it. I was hoping to get a little rest first, but there wasn’t much time for that.

Most people didn’t return for the hike, and I can’t say I blame them. It was hot, and everyone was very tired. In fact, the humidity was even worse in the woods. I was still not feeling well, but I still enjoyed the hike. We hiked the Jackson Creek trail, which is a little over a mile. After that, we did have a little time to rest, after which I felt much better.

The forest

Evening

We met the wedding party and some other friends at Lennie’s, a restaurant in Bloomington that’s attached to the Bloomington Brewing Company. The food and beer were great, and by this time I felt Sarah’s friends and my friends were interacting well as one group. At first the groups had mostly talked separately, but we had some great conversation at dinner as one larger group.

After that, we headed back to the cabin to celebrate with drinks and a bad action movie. We spent the time much how we normally do when we hang out with our friends, and it was great. We need someone else to get married so we have another excuse to get together.

Sunday

We stayed up late and celebrated. We all went out for breakfast and spent some time just talking more at our apartment. We looked at some photos that Mike, one of Sarah’s friends, had taken. He did a great job, and I hope I can post them somewhere soon.

After everyone left, we went to take down the wedding signs and return the cabin keys. It was an extremely windy day (thanks, Ike!) and as we drove around town there were branches and debris blowing everywhere.

We headed out toward where the wedding was, and I was thinking how amazed I was that everything had gone so well. I almost expected something to go wrong, and well … it did. As we were driving down State Road 46 and around 45 mph, the wind blew a tree over. It fell onto the road right in front of us. I hit the brakes, but couldn’t stop in time. We rolled right over it, but got a flat tire in the process.

Sarah was visibly shaken. I was a little bit too but I quickly got out the jack and spare tire and went to work. Unfortunately, we were on an incline, and as soon as I got the wheel off the ground, the car rolled forward down the hill, crushing the jack beneath it. The car only moved 6-12 inches, but the jack is only designed to handle downward pressure. It didn’t make it.

We ended up having to have the car towed, and later we’d find we did about $400 in damage to the car. Still, I’ll take that over a problem with the actual wedding any day.

I’m still stunned at how well the wedding went. Married life is excellent so far — I feel closer to Sarah than ever. It’s truely been an amazing experience.

Now, there’s a saying that Chicago has two seasons: winter and construction. And there’s a lot of truth to it. Last time we were there, it was winter and the high temperature was hovering around 0 degrees. This time, the drive up there, which is usually about 4 1/2 hours, took over six hours. We hit major construction and traffic on the way there. In fact, every leg of our trip was plagued with traffic jams. The drive back from Green Bay, which was supposed to be about 7 1/2 hours, took more like 10 1/2 hours. Yikes!

I’ve lived in Chicago before, and I have a lot of fond memories there — but this trip served as a reminder of just how much I prefer living in a smaller town. A place where parking isn’t an issue and the roads aren’t packed with vehicles all the time. A town that sleeps. And, a place where getting out of the city doesn’t involve driving for an hour or more. I have re-adapted to a much slower-packed lifestyle, and I love it. During some more frustrating moments, I found myself thinking of the Fred Neil song “Badi-Da:”

I get so tired
Hanging round this town
Oh this old city life
Sure brings a fella down

ba da da da da da
ba da da da da da da
ba da da da da da
ba da da

I sure get tired
Trying to sleep at night
Oh these old city lights
They keep on burning bright

ba da da da da da
ba da da da da da da
ba da da da da da
ba da da

I get so tired
Hanging round this town
Oh this old city life
Sure brings a fella down

ba da da da da da
ba da da da da da da
ba da da da da da
ba da da

On a positive note, Chicago was absolutely crawling with bicycles. I don’t remember seeing nearly as many bicycles when I lived there a few years ago. Was I not paying attention, or has bicycling exploded in popularity in Chicago in the past few years? Even late at night, we saw tons of cyclists.

It seemed like, based on what I saw, Chicago is probably a good place to ride, if you can somehow stay safe amongst all the insane drivers (and there are a lot of them).

I wish I had something to say about Green Bay, but we saw very little of it since we spent almost all of our time on wedding-related activities. It seemed like a nice city, much smaller than Chicago but big enough that it seems to have a lot going on.

The wedding, of course, was fantastic. This couple was the first of my close friends from college to get married, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Sarah and I will be next, in just over a month!

It was a bit odd hiking a trail with which I’m quite familiar from bike rides. It was a completely different perspective, and most of the parts that are tricky on a bike are quite easy on foot. The slower pace allowed me to enjoy the scenery more and take some photos with my good camera, which I never take on bike rides.

We ran into my mountain biking buddy Dave, who was out riding. We talked for a few minutes before he took off. He was riding the trail in both directions, so we expected to see him again.

We saw Dave sooner than we expected. It turns out that the trail meanders so much that there’s a spot where two disparate parts of the trail come within about 30 feet of each other — we just never noticed before because unless someone’s riding on the other part at the same time, you can’t see the trail through the brush. You learn something new every day!

It was a really fun hike. I’ve seen this trail in all seasons and conditions, but always from my bike. It was cool to get a different perspective; we’ll have to go back and hike some of the other mountain bike trails sometime.

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.