Biking the Hoosier Uplands, Summer 2008

No photos, I couldn’t find the the camera this morning, and Jojo was out of town. It was cool, in the 30’s and raining lightly. I rode over to Bloomingfoods east and found that though I was damp, I wasn’t wet, so I kept going east on SR 46, it is quite empty on Sunday. I was dressed in several layers all over, heavy gloves, and extra socks.

I rode past Kerr Creek Rd and road down Pike’s Hill, past Getty’s Creek Rd, and then stopped on Friendship Rd, but it was not there, there was only the highway apron leading to the water, it was a lake. I checked the lake level, it is at 555 feet AMSL, the spillway is at 556 near the dam.

From there I rode SR 46 to Brummett’s Creek Road, and the highway was like riding on the causeway at Lake Monroe, water on either side all the way to Brummett’s Creek. I turned north up the valley, even though there was a “Road Closed” sign, I wanted to see how far I could get, which was not too far, a half a mile at most.

I saw a hundred ducks swimming in a corn field, and 2 red-tail hawks, and a pair of geese swimming right next to the road. I saw my second pair of mallards, they were swimming near the road.

The flowering trees in town are in full bloom, but not yet the native dogwood and redbud. Many trees in town are budding and have a faint pink or green glow, but in the countryside, all is still brown and gray, and I expect this will change with the warmup next week.

I rode back to SR 46, and then west back to Getty’s Creek Road, which I then took north the Mt. Gilead Rd. I took Mt. Gilead back to SR 45 and then to town and a big protein rich lunch at Bloomingfoods.

Summary: 22 miles of wet flooded roads, light sprinkles the whole time, gazillions of birds, and a warm feeling knowing I got my miles in weather or not. I found that riding in the rain is really not so bad, I kept my blood sugar up, and just kept pedaling, and my glasses worked like little windshields on a car. Seems like this will be the last cool-cold ride of the year, from now on I will be removing layers and leaving them at home.

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