IT IS OVER!

I have been planning to do the Ride across Indiana for about 3-4 months. This is the bike ride that starts in West Terre Haute at the state line and travels across Indiana mostly on US 40 to Richmond which is close to the Ohio border. I started out training with gusto to the point that I dreaded going for a bike ride. I then decided that I would just do my regular bike riding and do the RAIN ride as well as I could.

When the day came I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. I was hoping to travel to Plainfield which was the 2nd stop. At the least I was hoping to get to the 1st stop. But not to be. I got a cramp at about 34 miles. A cramp in my right thigh. I didn’t think it would be worth the consequences to continue. I did that with the basketball game and have paid ever since. So we called Mary, who was waiting at the 1st stop, and she came and picked us up.

The ride was a strange experience. We arrived at the starting area and all that was there was a bunch of cars. Most of the riders apparently had already started. We parked about a mile and half from the starting line and we could see all of the cars but few riders. The riders that we did see all appeared to be set for competition. They had better bikes, high speed clothes, and appeared quite capable of making the ride without a problem.

We did very well at the start. We were averaging 12 mph at one point. The thing that disappointed me the most was the noise. Traffic. The tires on the road were just loud. We were traveling on US 40 so the cars were traveling very fast. One thing that I like about bike riding is the quiet. And it didn’t happen with this ride.

35 Days left

35 Days left

June 10, 2006

I am not doing a very good job at training. The last time I rode was 2 weeks ago today. I rode 25 miles that day. I had an arthritis attack all last week. All of my joints were unable to function. That lasted until Monday. I am going to have to get going on this training. I wonder if I could put some wheels on my big comfortable Lazy Boy and let Sara pull me…

54 Days left

54 Days left

May 22, 2006 Monday

It has been a rough training time. We had rain for about 10 days and it was quite cold. I didn’t get much training during this time. I did get going again over the weekend. On Saturday I rode around Coxville. Rode from Coxville and around some of my ancestor’s places. I will put the pictures on the blog later. This ride had a lot of hills and I spent a lot of time pushing the bike up hills. I passed a pack of dogs at one time. About 10-12 dogs. It is always scary when this happens. You just don’t know what they are going to do. This ride was 5.23 miles.

On Sunday I rode past Pa’s farm and then on past several ancestor Cottrell places. This ride had a lot more blacktop than yesterday which was all gravel. It was cooler than yesterday and I wore a sweat shirt. This was 15 miles.

68 Days left

68 Days left

5/8/2006 10:32 PM Monday

No ride today. I rode on Saturday and Sunday and I thought I would take today off.

I still haven’t heard from RAIN. I thought that they might read their email over the weekend. Guess not.

Today is Liza’s birthday. She is 3.

69 Days left

69 Days left

5/7/2006 8:13 PM Sunday

I rode 18.31 miles today. I started at home and rode north. I crossed 63 and followed CR 300. I stopped and watched the Norton Creek for a while. Continuing on I took some picture of a landscape. I rode north until the road stopped. I then went east on CR 800 S. then north on 275 E. to 775 S. I went east on 775 and crossed 63 and on to Alta. Just outside of Alta I was confronted by two dogs. I could see them about a ¼ mile ahead just standing in the road looking at me. I thought this might be my downfall but I kept going. When I got close one of the dogs came running to me but did nothing except try to lay his head on my foot as it came around on the pedals. It was weird but it was better than him trying to bite me.

I rode south on a little used rode paralleling 63. At least I thought it was little traveled. I rode for a while and stopped to take a drink. A car came up behind me and a car approached from the other direction. The car behind me stopped and then the other car stopped beside the one behind me. They talked for a while and then the one passed me. I traveled on and met another car.

I stayed on the road and smelled a most wonderful smell. It was black locust blossoms. Beautiful smell.

I went west to 63. I got on 63 and rode on the shoulder to home. It was not too bad riding on 63 but the shoulder was a little hard to ride on. I was not able to get up the speed I thought I would have. There was loose gravel along the shoulder that made riding a little stressful. I had to concentrate on the road to make sure I did not spill. The traffic did not bother me as I thought it would.

70 Days left

70 Days left

5/6/2006 8:20 PM Saturday

Today I rode. No expectations. No goals. Just a ride. It was the most enjoyable ride this year. The ride across Indiana has been messing with my enjoyment. I decided yesterday that I may not do the ride across Indiana and that made the difference. So this is the way it is going to be…I may or may not do the ride across Indiana. If I do the ride I may or may not finish. I will do what I can. I had planned to build up to a 160 mile ride but I am not going to do that either. I got the bike to ride for enjoyment and if I become obsessive about it, it fails to serve the purpose for which I got it. I like to ride and sometimes stop and look at the birds or flowers. I like to ride slow and maybe sometimes a little faster. I probably don’t have many more rides left so I just want to enjoy them.

I rode about 12 miles today. I stopped and watched some birds at the wetlands south of town. I didn’t see any eagles today and really there were not many birds out. I guess I was later than I should have been. My watch stopped and it was later than I thought. I rode on down the road and tried to ride up Syndicate Hill. Made it about half way up and had to walk the rest. I rode on past Bella Lakes and stopped to see Terry Lewis. He is building a new house and he gave ma a tour. I left and traveled on seeing some birds along the way after that. Bluebird, Indigo bunting and some other song birds that I could not identify. I rode on up to Hazel Bluff road and across and on to 163 and across. I rode on to 63 and stopped. I got on to 63 (along the shoulder) and rode down to Pike Street. It was weird to have cars pass me going 60 MPH.

I enjoyed the ride.

71 Days left

71 Days left

5/5/2006 10:25 PM Friday

Well…I didn’t ride today. I intended to ride but I was going to mow first. After mowing I was not in any condition to ride. I am just taking too long to recover from such things. I am beginning to think I will not be able to make the ride. I will see how it goes in the next few days.

72 Days left

72 Days left

5/4/2006 7:08 PM Thursday

Had a ride of 3.74 miles today. I intended to have a much longer ride but after about a mile I realized that the layoff time had taken a toll. My legs started to tighten up and so I decided to reduce the length of my ride. I had intended to go across 63 and out into the open spaces but with the problem I had I stayed around home and rode up and down and around the streets near home. After about two and a half miles my legs began to relax and I continued on for another mile.

I haven’t heard anything from RAIN yet about a situation of bringing up the rear of the pack during the ride.

74 Days left

74 Days left

5/2/2006 9:27 PM

No ride today.

This is getting to be a habit. I mowed the yard. It really needed to be mowed. I also had to rake but I could only do the front. Riding that mower seems like I am being jiggled until my vertebrae are compressed. I then have to go in a stretch out on the floor to uncompress. I get stiff but after about 30 to 45 minutes I am fine.

I emailed RAIN yesterday to find out how they treat the biker at the back of the pack. Haven’t heard anything yet.

I am hoping to ride tomorrow.

75 Days left

75 Days left

5/1/2006 7:38 PM

No ride today.

The weather is not good for riding. It has rained and is cold. Tomorrow is supposed to be better but I may have to mow the yard. The neighbor mowed while we were gone but it needs to be mowed again. I also have a lot of office work piled up from when I was gone. Training is a full time job and I already have too many jobs…mowing, real estate, planting flowers, opening pool to name a few. Boo hoo hoo.

76 Days left

76 Days left

4/30/2006 5:59 PM Sunday

Well, we just got back from a week in SC and I didn’t do any training other than take a couple of walks and a hike in a state park. I have a long way to go. After all that I ate, I figured that I would have gained a great deal of weight but I only gained one pound. That made me feel a little better.

It has been raining most of the day today and anyway I didn’t feel much like riding. I think it is supposed to rain tomorrow also. I have a lot of riding to do.

84 Days Left

84 Days Left

4/21/2006 8:33 PM Friday

No ride today. We are getting ready to visit Stephanie. I took the afternoon off and cleaned out the car and packed some things. We are going to pick up Sara and Jeremy is going to be there too. It will be just a little reunion.

Liza is going to stay home and Mary is afraid she is going to miss her quite a bit. I think Liza will be fine.

I won’t be riding any this next week. I will have to hit it with a vengeance after that. And I have to get some shorts.  

85 Days left

85 Days left

4/20/2006 8:22 PM Thursday

No ride today. This is not good. However I did think about the ride. I checked out some shorts to control the numbness problem. Wow! Bicycle shorts are expensive. And a lot of them are not big enough for me. I guess most large people are smart enough to stay off a bicycle.

I spent my riding time today pulling weeds in the yard. I also used some yard device that I got a couple of years ago. Some kind of tool that digs into the earth with 4 tines. You twist it. The bending and pulling and twisting is worse than riding a bike. Of course I am not sure if it is worse than riding a bike 160 miles. It might be a toss up.

86 Days left

86 Days left

No ride today. Had to clean up my mess from trimming the preserve. And then I had to mow the yard. We will be going to visit Stephanie so I won’t be riding for a week or so.
When I get back I will be riding to Dana and Cayuga and possibly Danville, IL, for my long rides. After that I don’t know. I need to complete a 160 mile ride before the actual ride.

87 Days left

87 Days left

4/18/2006 9:49 PM

This was another nice day. I rode 11.46 miles at a time of 1:04:13 for an average speed of 10.6 mph. I had to stop for a while to watch an immature bald eagle sitting in a tree. You can check him out at www.lunsfordapril2006.blogspot.com. He wasn’t as shy as the adults I have seen. They fly when you get within a half mile of them. This one just sat in the tree.

I rode through town and out on the river road to the gravel pit and back on Shepardsville road. That road is almost too rough to ride on. It is concrete that has started to deteriorate and there are lots of holes and the smooth surface of the concrete is gone leaving the rocks exposed and making it feel like a washboard when you ride on it.

I rode for a while in  the highest gear that the bike has. It was the first time I have had it in that gear. I was going 17 mph on a flat smooth road. When I put the gears back to where I usually ride it felt like nothing. Guess I’ll have to try that more often.

An article I read said I should be working toward my 160 mile ride with long rides and increasing each ride by 10 or 15% with each long ride. So I have a 20, 30 and 40 mile ride planned. Beyond that I have nothing. I am going to do a long ride on the weekends. This weekend we will be going to Stephanie’s home. She had her baby!!!!!!. Today at 4:15. That will put me behind in my training so I will have to make up for it with a couple of long rides through the week.

Days left 88

Days left 88

4/17/2006 6:54 PM

No ride today. The day wasn’t too bad but it was cold and I was cold. The sun has come out now and it is now pleasant but I am not going to ride. See you tomorrow.

Days left 89

Days left 89

4/16/2006 9:25 PM

No ride today.

We had some severe weather today. It was very nice when I got up around 6. About 8 we had some hail and then it was nice again.

Sara and Sid came and we had lasagna, salad and garlic bread, rhubarb pie, rhubarb and cherry pie. Those things are not helping me with any weight loss. Everything was good. We ate about 3. Then more storms started going through. Sara left before they started. There were storms north and south but we missed the strong storms. Sid stayed until the storms moved on to the east.

I had no ill effects from yesterday’s ride.

Day 90

Day 90

4/15/2006 1:12 PM

THIS ACCOUNT HAS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME

This is another beautiful day. Of course last night there were some very powerful storms that went through east of here. It is supposed to be in the 80s again today. This is also tax day but since it is on a weekend we get a reprieve. Ya who!!!!! I did get mine sent in this year.

I showed a house this morning and then I went for my bike ride. I decided that I would do a big ride. Probably too early but I did it anyway. I rode to St. Bernice and back. I crossed the highway at 4th and turned on Chestnut, then to 3rd. I went up the hill on 3rd. I have never been able to ride up that hill and today wasn’t any different. But that is the only hill I had to push up.

Out past Geneva Hills Golf Course and on to St. Bernice. There wasn’t much traffic so the ride was nice. I pedaled the entire way to St. Bernice without stopping. I usually will coast while I am riding but I wanted to pedal continuously. I got to St. Bernice and realize that my scrotum (I don’t know if this is offensive or not) was numb so I stopped at the park and walked around. I got off the bike and had rubber legs so I didn’t walk too far. I think I will have to address this problem. I am not sure what I will do.

I saw some kids looking for Easter eggs. They were having a great time. I stopped and helped them and ended up with the most eggs and the golden egg. I got a certificate for $50 worth of chocolate bunnies. On down the road I saw a combination Easter egg hunt and skeet shoot. That was a weird site. I decided not to help those kids look for eggs.

Today it seems that no matter which direction I go the wind is blowing against me. I don’t know what that is. Anyway I came back through Jonestown and then on to Sandytown. On Rangeline Road I met another person on a bike. I spoke to him but he kept straight ahead. He had a 2 gallon water jug on his bike so he must be a serious rider. Too serious to speak.

My mileage today was 15.53 with an average speed of 10 mph. I thought I would have a much higher mph. Maybe in the 11 mph range. Most of the route was flat and I was doing 10-12 mph most of the time with up to 14 a lot of the time. The time was 1:32:11.

91 Days to go

91 Days to go

Well today was a lost cause. Last night we had storms and the weather radio went off at one and kept going off all night. They said a dangerous storm was heading to Fairview Park and would be there at 3:05. So I stayed up. It turned out to be not so bad by the time it got here. Lots of lightening and some wind and rain but nothing bad. But I stayed up until about 4:30. I went to bed and then got up about 6:30.

I went to work until noon and then came home. We went to the store and when we came back I took a nap. It looked like rain until about 4 and then I went out and mowed the yard. I also went to the jungle and cut back some of the growth. I cut the tops out of the trees in the nature preserve. I used those long handled pruning shears and by the time I was finished my shoulders were pretty sore.

It was then time to fix Mary’s supper. She always has to have a 6 course meal at 6 o’clock on the dot. If I depart from the routine she becomes unruly. So we our supper and I didn’t ride today.

92 days to go

I am planning to ride again today. It will soon be 90 days from the time of the ride. By the time of the ride I should be down to 140 lbs and be able to ride as if I were being pushed by the gods.

I did get some new shoes but they are not riding shoes. They are hiking shoes but they are the most comfortable shoes I have had since my kangaroo leather shoes I had when we went to Colorado. I have had this uncomfortable feeling on the ball of my foot for about 10 years. At first I thought my sock was wrinkled but after taking my shoe off and straightening my sock for a few years I finally realized it was something else. I got different shoes and still the feeling was there. The minute I would take off my shoe the feeling was gone. Anyway there is just a hint of the feeling with these shoes. I am so afraid that the feeling will come back fully that I am sleeping in my new shoes.

I don't use foot clips on my bike. I am afraid that I will try to put my foot down and forget that my foot is attached to the bike and then fall and break my camera or maybe break me.

I usually take my camera with me on the rides but with the training I am doing now (got to go right now) (I'm back) with the training that I am attempting, I am not having much time for pictures. I am trying to do continuous riding. But probably as time progresses I will stop for some pictures. And if I saw something picturesque I would have to stop.

The weather is beautiful. It is noon an I am at home letting the dog out. I was going to take her for a walk but she didn't want to go far. About half a block is all. She's not much help in my training.

OK. It is now time to ride. Beautiful weather although still a little windy.

Well the ride went well. I am still riding on the streets. I had several stops this time. Lots of traffic. Had to stop at many of the stop signs or risk riding on the hood of a car. The wind was more of a problem than I thought it would be. It was coming more from the south this time and most of my roads are north-south. I didn’t notice the wind much when I was going north but going south it was quite apparent. I rode 7.26 miles and an average of 10.6 mph. This was for 40.23 minutes. I thought I was going to average higher than that but at least it was an improvement from the last time.

Ride Ride Ride

I am planning to participate in the Ride Across Indiana on July 15th. It is a bike ride from West Terre Haute to Richmond and is about 160 miles. It starts at 7 AM and ends at 9 PM. Today is my first day for starting to train for this ride.

I have ridden two other days this year just to "get the feel of riding again." I rode an exercise bike all winter thinking I would be in great shape for the bike riding season. WRONG. Exercise bikes don't prepare you for the real world. I rode about 3 miles and didn't know if I would make it back home or not.

My next ride was much better. I rode about 8 miles but it was a leisurely ride with several stops.

Today I rode for 36 minutes without stopping (except for one time when I was at a 4 way stop and the other go wouldn't go before I got there). I peddled most of the time going up and down the streets of Fairview and Clinton. I just whizzed through all the stops (except as noted). I average 10.1 mph which is what I was hoping. There was a strong breeze from the west and when I would go west my big belly would open up like a ship's sail...just flapping in the breeze. One car came up behind me and had to stop because he couldn't see around my belly. Anyway when I was going west I would get down to about 7.5 mph. I think I'll wear a girdle next time. But I was pleased with the time today. I rode for 6.3 miles. That's a long way from 160 miles.

I was planning to ride again after supper but my legs feel like balloons. So I think I will take it easy. Probably ride tomorrow. It is supposed to be nice again and less wind I think. Supposed to be 80 tomorrow.

Time/Speed Table

Date          Miles          Average Speed          Time
First ride     3
Second          8.30          Unknown          Leisurely ride
4/12/2006     6.31          10.1               :36:39
4/13/2006     7.26          10.6               :40:23    
4/14/2006     no ride
4/15/2006     15.53          10.0               1:32:11
4/18/2006     11.46          10.6               1:04:13