Sarah sent me an e-mail saying some roads are closed due to flooding. I’m sure there’ll be more closed, since it’s still raining, and it usually takes a day or two for all the runoff to reach the lower areas. I frequently ride on many of the roads listed, including:

• Anderson Road
• Bottom Road
• Fluck Mill Road
• Miller Road
• Mount Pleasant
• Shilo Road

Surprisingly, the local newspaper, the Herald-Times, has an article on their site about it that doesn’t require registration to read it (they almost always restrict articles to subscribers payday loan store in chicago,alabama loan payday store,loan payday storefax free loan paydaycash loan payday untiladvance cash cashing champaign,champaign check,advance cash cashing check gary,gary,check cash advancecash advance detroitno faxing savings account cash advance,1000 advance cash faxing no,advance cash faxing nocash in advancecash advance company,advance cash company loan,advance cash company scamsnational cash advanceadvance cash loan payday softwareadvance card cash creditscams on cash advance company,advance cash companysavings account cash advance no fax,georgia no fax cash advance,advance cash fax noadvance cash fast loan online payday,advance cash fast loan online,cash advance loan onlinecash advance loan illinois,5 advance cash illinois loanadvance advance america cashno fax cash advance for bad credit,bad credit cash advance,cash advance for people with bad creditcash loan payday tilfirst choice cash advance,first time cash advance,first cash advanceinstant cash advance,account advance bank cash instant without,advance cash debt free instantfast cash payday loan,payday us fast cash loanquick cash advance,quick no fax cash advance,instant quick cash advance loanlawsuit cash advance,lawsuit settlement cash advance,advance cash lawsuit loanloan oneclickcash paydayadvance cash loan payday today,payday payday loan cash advance loan,advance cash loan paydaybusiness cash advance,business cash advance loan,cash advance for small businessblack jack downloadrules of crapsonline roulette gambling,best gambling online roulette,roulette gamblingonline video poker gamebest online casino bonushow to win at rouletteonline casino wageringcasino gamesplay casino blackjack,free blackjack casino game,casino blackjackplay free casino game online,casino game,play casino gamemultiplay video pokerbest casino bonusgambling game slots,casino slots gambling,slots gamblingonline casino guidenewest online casinofree online slots game,play free online slots gamegambling craps,online gambling craps,casino craps free gambling onlinesecure online casinocasino online free blackjack,free online blackjack,free blackjack gambling onlineplay backgammon online,online backgammon,free online backgammonmultistrike video pokerfree online roulette,free roulette,free roulette strategy10 best online casinoonline casino betting — even about school closings). I hope they will continue the good will exhibited here. Here’s the complete list of flooded roads:

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/03/19/news.qp-6280324.sto

I fell behind in blogging, mostly because while I did ride late last week, I simply did my Mount Gilead Road route a couple of times. I ride that route frequently, and there wasn’t much to report. Then I was working from home, so I missed some commuting opportunities.

Anyway, on Saturday I called my friend Chris, who I’ve known since at least high school, if not middle school, to ask if he wanted to go for a ride on Sunday. We had only hung out once in recent years, and we used to ride together a lot in high school. He said he was available, so we planned to ride.

I rode over to Chris’s house at the appointed time, and he showed me his new bicycle, a GMC Denali-branded bike his brother got him for Christmas. It turned out this was going to be the bike’s maiden voyage. It’s a pretty sharp-looking bike, but a few features surprised me. It’s a road bike, but it has grip shifters — something I’d never seen. And it has deep section rims but schrader valves. I don’t see any inherent problem with this, it’s just unusual.

We headed out, at first intending to do my Water Works route. But then I learned that Chris’s work schedule had changed and he had more time than I realized, so we decided to ride down to Fairfax State Recreation Area instead.

Rolling hills on Snoddy Road

Chris hadn’t ridden a bicycle in about 5 months, but he works out regularly, and it shows. He rode quite well. We rode at a conversational pace and caught up during the ride. Chris has always been a walking trivia book, but that’s even more true now, since he has driven tour buses all over the country and worked as a tour guide in Las Vegas for a few years.

It was a beautiful day to ride, in the mid 40s or so, overcast, and breezy. We had the roads mostly to ourselves, although we did see some other cyclists and some light traffic. We rode really close to some turkey vultures on Snoddy Road and saw several deer frolicking by Harrell Road.

Some rain late in the week washed a lot of the sand off the roads, except for Strain Ridge Road which was in pretty bad shape and had thick layers of sand in parts. There’s a pretty long downhill section, and then a big climb. Chris and his new bike handled both pretty well, although he did have a few shifting problems. I’m sure that some derailleur adjustments will help there.

Strain Ridge Road

The bridge in the above photo goes over a creek, which was very high, and there was some flooding off to the left side. If we get the heavy rain that’s predicted in the next couple of days, things could get interesting in this and other low-lying areas in the near future.

Smithville Water tower


Riding

Before long, we reached Fairfax. The office wasn’t open yet so we got in for free. We rode down the big hill, nearly hitting 40 mph on the downhill. I’ve ridden this much faster in the past but with bulkier, warmer clothing 38.5 was as fast as I could get. We rode to the end of the road, which is on a small peninsula on Lake Monroe.

Lake Monroe

Chris’s GMC Denali bicycle

My bicycle

We saw a few boats, a houseboat, and we also saw a flying boat take off from the lake and fly by overhead, but very low in the sky. I tried to get a photo but it was out of sight before I could get my camera ready. We hung out by the lake for a while and caught up some more. It was a great day to be outdoors with an old friend. I’m used to riding being the primary focus of my rides but in this case it was something to do with a friend. Conversation and riding alternated as the primary objectives.

Chris checking his tire pressure

Chris and me

We stopped at another place near the lake and watched the seagulls, ducks, and geese, then rode back. Chris had some more shifting problems as we climbed toward the exit to the recreation area, but after that his bike did pretty well. We took our time on the way back and stopped a little more frequently.

It was a great day to be out riding, and cool to ride with Chris. We hadn’t ridden together in probably about 10 years, possibly more. Hopefully we can ride together again soon. At the end of the day we rode a bit over 30 miles. This gave me almost 90 miles of riding for last week, and I’ve already ridden more in March than I did in February. I can see my mileage increasing already, and it feels great.

Saturday afternoon, Sarah and I went hiking with my friend Dave. We brought our dog Rob and Dave brought his two dogs. I wrote about Dave’s mountain biking accident before, and it’s past time for an update. Dave suffered a spinal cord injury and for a while thought he was going to have to have surgery. When he got a second opinion, that doctor said they should wait for him to heal more first. And now it looks like he probably won’t be having surgery. His condition continues to improve, and now he needs to do some hiking and riding on the trainer to get back in shape and continue healing. The main remaining symptoms for Dave are some pain and numbness in his arms.

We went hiking with Dave a couple of weeks ago and he had trouble with even small hills, but now he’s climbing very well and in fact was moving at quite a clip on Saturday. He even did well bushwhacking through a difficult section with a lot of brush (more on that in a minute). He’s still got a ways to go before he can get back on the bike, but he’s getting there and looks better every time I see him. His progress is very encouraging.

Anyway, we had talked about hiking and Dave suggested the Shaw Lake hike in Yellowwood State Forest. Shaw Lake was drained back in 2002 because the dam was deemed unsafe, but the trail is still more or less there. We arrived to find a lot of logging has been going on there. Mitch Daniels, our current governor, has increased logging in our state forests by 300%, and it’s been quite evident on some of our hikes this year. Apparently, there’s a public input session in a couple of weeks about the logging in the state forests. I hope we can do something about it.

The trail was more like a logging road, really, and it was fairly easy. Dave said he’d been cross country skiing there in the past, and I can see how it’d be great for that. There’s a long, gradual downhill slope that curves only gently.

Heavy logging

Once at the bottom, we found a clearcut meadow, and there were some of the only aspen trees in Indiana, which unfortunately were dead and falling over.

Clearcut area

After a few minutes, we reached the spot where the lake once was. It was really cool to see it and imagine how it would’ve looked full of water, and then to walk in the former lake bed.

Shaw Lake was once here

This creek is all that remains of Shaw Lake

We headed up the opposite side of the ravine and found more logging had blocked the trail. We managed to get through all the brush, but it was pretty challenging.

The only upside, I guess, is the logging gives you a good view, if you can look past the carnage.

All in all, it was a fun hike, but it was discouraging to see how much logging is happening in our state forests, which I thought were intended to preserve the forests, not cut them down and sell them.

The weather was gorgeous here all weekend, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-40s. Yesterday, Sarah and I headed down to Jackson-Washington State Forest to do some hiking. We have gone camping there before and wanted to go hiking, but didn’t have time. With some help from my friend Dave, we decided to hike up Mount Baldy, which apparently has been renamed to the more-redundant “Pinnacle Peak.”

This was a difficult hike, but very beautiful.  It started with a long climb up to where an old observation tower used to be. The trails were quite muddy, so traction was poor and we were slipping and sliding much of the time. I felt like we were doing some damage to the trails but it was too late by the time we figured out how muddy everything was. The climbs were pretty steep and difficult, mostly going straight up the side of the hills rather than winding up gradually like many trails do.

Steep climb

Sarah

Sarah and Rob standing where the old observation tower once was

Support from the old observation tower

Another observation tower support

Sarah photographing Rob

There was a pretty good view from the observation tower, as it was on top of a big hill. The view was obscured by trees somewhat but you could still see quite a distance.

The observation tower’s remains look almost like a cemetery from below

After reaching the old observation tower, the trail goes steeply downhill and follows a valley for a little bit before beginning and even bigger climb up to Mount Baldy. It was quite challenging, and the mud got worse. We ran into two other groups hikers during this portion of the hike, the only other people we would see all afternoon. It was great to have the whole place basically to ourselves.

Eventually, we reached the top of Mount Baldy. True to its name, it had a rocky surface with few plants growing on it — as well as a fantastic view.

View from Mount Baldy

Another shot of the view

Before Sarah could catch her breath, I hugged and kissed her for a few minutes, then on bended knee, pulled a ring from my pocket and asked “Sarah … will you marry me?” She had no idea this was coming whatsoever — I could see from the look on her face it took a moment for her to process what was going on and realize what I was asking. She was smiling but crying and hugging me and muttered some things, prompting me to ask, “Is that a yes?” She responded with an emphatic “YES!” My heart very nearly jumped from my chest. I knew this would be a great moment, but it was even better than I had envisioned.

The ring I chose has three round-cut stones, the middle one bigger than the other two. It looks even better on Sarah’s finger than it did by itself. The light was perfect for the occasion, the winter sun low in the sky and casting long, beautiful shadows despite being mid-afternoon, and wrapping everything in a warm glow.

The ring

Us

Does she look happy or what?

The trees below us

We spent a long time on Mount Baldy talking about everything and enjoying the scenery and each other’s company. It was amazing to have this beautiful land all to ourselves. The dog got to feeling a big neglected, but he got over it. Eventually we headed back. It was a long trip down the side of this huge hill, but it didn’t take as long as it did on the way up. In part our exuberance made it go by faster.

Sarah and Rob

Looking into the valley below

Another great smile

The trail

Beautiful light

Back at the observation tower

We thought about hiking some more on a trail that connects to this one at the observation tower, but it was getting a bit late in the day and we were tired enough already. We’ll just have to go back soon to hike more of these trails.

Muddy trail

The road back

Our trip back was excellent. We sure have a lot of new things to discuss now. By the end of the day, my face hurt from smiling so much, my ankles hurt from the hiking, and more importantly, Sarah and I felt closer than ever. A great way to feel after a perfect day.

For the first time in quite a while, I got to go on a real bicycle ride on Sunday. By “real” I mean a longer recreational ride — riding purely for the sake of riding. I’ve been commuting, but that had been the extent of my riding for the past couple of weeks.

I headed out to ride around Lake Lemon but decided en route to do it “backwards” (clockwise). I usually go counterclockwise, but I felt something different was in order. This also allowed me to ride Shilo Road in the fun direction, one of my favorite roads in this area. It was a warm day, in the upper 30s or lower 40s when I started, and it warmed to about 48 degrees. The roads were clear, but there was still some snow and ice in the surrounding areas, which made for some nice scenery.

Frozen waterfall on Mt Gilead Rd.

I noticed Mitch Rice, another local cyclist/blogger, post an almost identical photo from one of his rides. During my ride, the ice on the creek was melting and water was gurgling as it flowed beneath the ice, making it feel like a spring thaw.

Barn near a partially-frozen creek
Soon I was moving again and made the climb up Mt. Gilead. I expected it to be harder than usual given my steadily declining fitness, but I did well. I took 45 over to Tunnel Road and descended on Shilo, having a lot of fun with it. Traction was good except for a few places that had too much sand on the road.

Shilo Road

I stopped for some more photos by Beanblossom Creek.

Beanblossom Creek

Me, with my bicycle

I took Anderson Lane over to North Shore Drive. I’ve always considered this to be the harder way to go around Lake Lemon but during this section I started wondering if that was really true as it was pretty easy. Soon, though, I reached Northshore and realized I was definitely right in my thinking. There’s just a ton of climbing in this direction — long, sustained climbs, whereas in the other direction there are a few short, steep climbs. The climbing pays off with some nice views, though.

View from North Shore Dr.

My bicycle near Lake Lemon

Docks

The climbs had me breathing pretty heavily at a few points. I’m looking forward to warmer weather and longer daylight so I can get back in shape. On the other hand I stopped a little more frequently than usual on this ride and took advantage of those stops to take extra photos. A reasonable tradeoff. And once you get through the first half or so of North Shore going in this direction, the rest is easier.

Railroad tracks

On my way back to South Shore on 45, I saw a frozen area of water where it appeared people had been driving. I found this rather surprising and half expected to see a place where the ice broke and somebody fell in — but I guess the ice was thicker than I thought, because it seemed to have held.

Car tracks on the ice

Climb on State Road 45

As I rode across the lake on South Shore, I enjoyed looking around and seeing the partially-frozen lake. I’ve ridden here many times before but it was quite different this time. I felt particularly lucky that I got to see it in this state while it wasn’t terribly cold outside.

Riding across Lake Lemon

On my left

On my right

After that I had the tough climb up South Shore back to Tunnel Road, although I climbed better than I expected this time around. I really took my time getting back from this point and enjoyed more leisurely riding through the countryside. A great ride, especially for January, totaling over 35 miles.