Nice N Easy Ride to Ellettsville
Bloomington was like a ghost town this morning. It is like the entire town is holding its breath waiting for what the Eclipse will bring. Apparently 450,000 people are on their way to the B. That is almost 5x the normal size of the town. I guess being the epicenter of the Eclipse in these parts brings the people out. I left the house this a.m. for the first and last time today taking Kona on her morning drive and to get my Diet Dr. Pepper at the Circle K. It felt like I was driving in the Walking Dead, no one was out. A normally packed Circle K was empty.
I am not here to talk about the Eclipse though. As much as part of me thinks it has a purge-like quality to it. Where soon as the sun is shaded by the moon that all hell will break out. No, no, I will save that for some type of Sci-Fi writing, an idea stored away for later. No, we are here today to talk about my first bike ride in Bloomington, Indiana in nearly 28 years. That is a lifetime.
Funny the things you think about when the Moon is set to swallow the Sun. Especially, that wonderful T-shirt the man is selling over by the Marathon station, the one that reads, I got mooned in Bloomington, 4/8/2024. I should have bought one of those. However, my mind instead is on the things that I am doing here in Bloomington, I never would have done back in California, or at least that I hadn’t done in California in a very long time.
My mind is on thinking about Dreaming of a Life Less Ordinary. Turning it over in my head. Thinking about it and realizing perhaps I am not really Dreaming of a Life Less Ordinary but more just dreaming of an ordinary life? My life has perhaps been anything but ordinary over the las 15 years. I pretty much had become a 500 lbs. recluse. I came storming back with losing over 200 pounds and getting myself back into the world with the help of my good buddy David (El Beav) and my Trainer Clayton and far too many other people to think of. So perhaps, what I am really looking for is simply and ordinary life where I have friends, lots of friends and people to celebrate my life with: Birthdays, Holidays, Eclipses, whatever it might be.
I have been getting out of my comfort zone. Going out into the world. A little at time. Trying to find my tribe. First, it was the Sci-fi book club. Yesterday, it was an outing with the Bloomington Cycle Club. Yes, I went. I made no excuses. I didn’t let Kona get in my way. Simply meaning I didn’t use the dog as an excuse not to go out for a ride with a group of strangers.
I was jonesing for a ride outside. I like riding indoors on the trainer. I like watching TV as I do it. However, riding indoors does not even come close to capturing the magic of riding outside. If you put cardio workouts on a scale of hell, purgatory, and heaven. I would say there is nothing more miserable or awful than a treadmill indoors that is my person hell. Biking indoors on the trainer would be purgatory. It’s not bad, I can do it, but I would rather be somewhere else. Riding the bike outside, now that is pure bliss and is heaven. It is right up there with swimming laps on a warm summer day. So, after last week’s little teaser of a ride, I wanted another outdoor ride.
I got up and showered Sunday a.m. I don’t normally shower before a ride, but my ride wasn’t until 1:30 and I was going to meet new people, so I didn’t want to be stinky. That is right El Beav, I don’t care if I stink when I ride with you, but new people, let’s have a little class. I had a nervous energy about me. I think Kona could feel it too. She was full of piss and vinegar yesterday morning too. She wanted to play and kept bringing her toy to me and when I reached for it, she would take off and run around the yard. I think my excitement was rubbing off on her.
I had breakfast, took my trip to Circle K, and then went for a car wash. All normal Sunday activities all with my tag-team partner Kona b. Then I came home, it was only about 8 or 8:30 at this point and I started to pack my gear. I told you I was excited with nervous energy to burn. I put the lights on Cylon and the Garmin computer. I loaded my water bottles and CamelBak. I made my ride PB&J. Reloaded my Diet Dr. Pepper with a bottle of it from the fridge and it was like 9:15 and I was pretty much ready to go, only about 4.5 hours before it was time.
I backed Nebula out of the garage. I got Bumper Breaker out of the garage. I slid it into the hitch and got it all locked up. I wish putting Bumper Breaker on was easier. It isn’t. It is a heavy piece of equipment. Then you must line it up just right so you can put the pin in. I have never had the patience to do things like that very well. Now it was about 10 a.m. I wasn’t going to mount Cylon yet though. I just back Nebula out of the garage and came back in.
Then I played with Kona a bit. Played a game of Euchre on the back porch on my phone and relaxed and watched my dog explore the backyard. She loves it out back there, laying the grass and grazing on it like a Billy goat.
I realized I was nervous about going on the ride. I don’t think I had been that nervous since my first Team in Training practice at the Campbell track. LOL, I showered before that one too. No sure why I just thought of that. If the Bloomington Cycle Club could give me a small fraction of the benefits TNT gave me, I would be a very lucky person.
Then before I knew it, it was time to go. I mounted Cylon onto the back of the car. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get to Switchyard Park, or exactly where it was, but it was close and in hindsight I could have ridden there. It is good knowledge to have for the next time. So, Nebula, Cylon, and I headed over to the park. It was getting busy there. There was a symphony practicing there and as I road over to what I thought was meant as the splashpad the symphony broke into the Imperial March. It was sort of fitting me riding up to a new place looking for people I didn’t know with the Imperial March going on in the background. Ha, Ha, I loved it.
Sunday rides at 1:30 are Nice N Easy rides for those who want to take it easy on the bike and beginners. I am not a beginner, and I am not sure if I want to take it nice and easy but as I learn to ride the roads of Bloomington, I think it is where I need to be. I met Allen, the ride lead. He introduced me to Tom, who was also a newbie to the BCC. Tom is a retired dentist from Dana Point, California. Dana Point is freaking beautiful. Stayed there once for the Rose Bowl. Then a couple of other people came in, Grace, and Aaron for a total of five nice and easy riders.
I was nervous as Allen explained the route. I literally had no idea what any of the roads he was talking about were. I was trying to pull the route up on my Garmin. I will probably need to phone a friend or a coach about how to do that. I had it downloaded but couldn’t figure out how to get it up and to have my ride record. I did the sensible thing in my mind and recorded my ride. I could always use my phone to get me home if I got lost. It wouldn’t have been the first time that happened to me.
We basically took the B Line from Switchyard Park. I road in the middle of the pack. People were encouraged to go at their own pace. I had read the route the day before, and I was excited that they said there were no climbs on it. However, I was confused that there were no climbs but there were two downhills. As Brett Lane once told me years ago in Bloomington, whatever goes down must eventually come back up. Also, the ride said the elevation gain was roughly 850 feet, so I knew there would be some climbing and I was more than ok with that. I do love to climb; I am just slow and not very good at it.
The B Line is sort of nice. It’s a path the cuts you through Bloomington’s downtown. What I don’t love about it is that you cross many busy streets on your way through and at some of the stops you are sort of rolling through instead of putting your foot down and stopping as I was taught. Being in the middle, I sort of went with the flow on the way out. It was not super comfortable to me, but people were talking and calling out that the cross was clear.
When we got to Vernal Pike we were faced with our first of two hill climbs. Vernal Pike doesn’t look too difficult, but it also doesn’t look too fun. Translation, it looked like it was going to be a son of bitch. It was a climb, in my opinion. It spiked my heart rate quite a bit. I did it though. I was slow and steady, I didn’t panic, I just kept peddling and I made it to the top. It was a I suggested though a bitch. I was breathing very heavily when I got to the top.
Then we headed for the Karst Trail and Ellettsville. Karst is quite lovely. Good predominately flat riding. You will catch a quick turn here or there, but it is a nice trail. Good riding. You were out in nature with a lot of green surrounding you. At one point you even past what looks like an old ghost town. I have no idea what that old ghost town is, but It looked pretty cool. At another point you pass something called the friendly fort. It looks like an old fort for kids to play in, however, I didn’t trust it. I felt something older and more sinister was going on there. Anything that is friendly doesn’t need to advertise that it is friendly. Maybe, I just have read to many Stephen King novels.
We got Ellettsville and did little loop around a park. We ran into a few more little rollers and a headwind that seemed reminded me my old friend the Wind God hasn’t quite forgotten the cussing I gave her last year and is still out to get me. It wasn’t like a November gust on ole Lake Gitche Gumee but it was in our face and I felt the Wind God promise to be with me the entire ride home and she was.
We stopped for quick break in Ellettsville. I had my PB&J and we talked a little bit. We took the selfie that is posted above and got ourselves ready to head back to Bloomington. Allen gave us the gist of the ride on the way back. Plus, he was going to have us ride around a park he had always wanted to go into. So, off we set for home.
Karst was once again a very gracious host on our way back. Beautiful to be in nature and even with the wind in our face at times, it was never too bad. We toured around the park Allen wanted to tour around. There we met with some kids who jeered us on. They acted nice but were really making fun of us. Part of me wanted to get off the bike and go end of Step Brothers on them. If you haven’t seen the movie basically Will Ferrell and John C Reily beat up a bunch of kids. It is the best part of the movie in my opinion. However, you have to let people’s comments roll of your back and you ride on.
Then it was back to Vernal Pike. I am not sure how this was possible but Vernal Pike somehow looked more menacing on the return trip. I heard Aaron tell someone that this was one of the worst hills in his opinion in the area. I grew quiet and looked at the challenge ahead. Flat Ride my fat ass is what I thought. These BCC riders sure know how to party I also thought. There was nothing for it. It had to be ridden and ridden it would be.
I geared into granny gear. I put my hands on my cross bars, and I started to peddle. My heart rate went out of control and peaked at 197. Holy shit balls 197 really, yes. I got a notification from my watch after the ride like this was some honor or something. I paid the HR no mind. I just peddled moving further up and up and up. I was wheezing like an old goat. My breathing was labored and hard. I just kept climbing. I think the app said Vernal Pike is a half mile 2% grade climb. It felt like a lot more than that to me. Then again, I haven’t climbed since last September or early October, so maybe it was just out of shape. Either way, I didn’t stop, and I made it to the top. I passed everyone else and went to catch my breath as breathing was coming hard after that climb.
The ride back from that point was easy on the B Line. It was just the same way we had come out in reverse. There were more cars and knowing when to stop and when to go through the stop signs were harder. At that point I just decided I would do what my gut told me to do and stop at the stop signs. I just needed to call out that I was stopping or be 100% sure that it was clear before crossing.
Switchyard Park was a zoo when we got back to it. The Eclipse people were in town in full force. People were gathered around to watch the music from the Symphony. You couldn’t move without running into a group of people. We navigated carefully through them on our trusty steeds.
The five of us made our good byes and headed off on our own ways. I thanked everyone for riding with me. Aaron told me I should come out for the Owl Rides on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The owl rides are the older, wiser and a little slower ride, they are no drop rides but not a beginner’s ride. Maybe some day we will get there. Right now, I think I will stick with my plan on going to the Sunday rides and eventually get to Saturday rides.
All in all, it was a great ride and a good experience. Next week I won’t be so nervous to go out with them. I am very happy that I went out and met some folks. I am looking forward to next week already, no matter what the challenge is, I will be ready!
Comments
Post a Comment