Ride to Bloomington

"I hurt myself today"
"To see if I still feel"

Those were the lyrics of the Johnny Cash song that was playing on my ipod this morning as I rode outta my driveway at the crack of dawn. I thought why do we as cyclist do this. I have been annoying my wife all week with my preparations for my ride this morning. I am having her drive down with my kids and a cooler filled water bottles, Clif Blocks, Bananas etc... I have planned and prepared like I am ascending L'Alpe d'huez or the Col de Tourmelet. I have signed up for a 5 hour leg cramping, air gasping, sweat drenched, heart racing, blood pumping suck fest, and I was looking foreword to it. Giddy about it even.
I woke up 1 minute before the alarm went off this morning, I got my gear and pulled my bike outta the garage, pass the minivan that I had packed up the previous night with a change of clothes, tools, a pump, the cooler, toys and books of my son as well as an assortment of other cycling goodies. I cruised down the road away from my home in Noblesville through Carmel (I found the only two hills in Carmel.) I rode past the High School and into the Arts District and made a left turn onto the Monon Trail. I motored down the Monon into Broad Ripple jumped off the trail and headed down Westfield Blvd which takes you to Butler University (and the foot of Hinkle Hill.) A tour through the campus as the sun started to rise I made my way across Michigan road to the Indiana museum of Art. I cruised on downtown passing a myriad of Indianapolis landmarks Major Taylor Velodrome, Marian University, IUPUI, Victory Field, the new JW Marriot and Lucas Oil Field. For the next few miles I cruise down West street motoring past Industrial parks and shipping lots dodging semi trucks and trying not to inhale deep breathes of diesel fumes. If there are any Oakley reps out there this where I for sure could of used a nice pair of Oakley Jawbone glasses trucks kick up dust, dirt and god knows what else was getting into my eyes.
West street turns into Bluff road a the scenery gets much nicer and I traded dodging diesels for Minivans and SUV's giving me a nice wide berth as they passed me. Finally after 40 miles on the bike I arrived at my first stop Glenns Valley Nature Park. Evidently "Nature Park" is code for there is nothing there. I choose this place to meet up with my wife and kids because if they got there before me there might a playground or something to keep them entertained or if I got there first there might be a bench or a picnic table. No such luck on either count.
After a 10 minute stop it was back to Morgantown road and here comes the hills, must have been 3 or 4 good sized hills before I got to Center Grove High School. Made a right hand turn onto Stones Crossing and more hills now they are getting steeper and longer. I finally get to Old 37, Old 37 is a very scenic and rolling highway that once upon a time used to be the way that people drove down to Bloomington. However since the construction of State Road 37 a four lane super highway compared to the 2 lane 35 mph old 37. I rode about 16 miles on Old 37 when I forced to ride on State Road 37 for a few miles.

CRAP FLAT TIRE
State Road 37 has a wide shoulder but it is a virtual minefield of broken glass, rocks, tire fragments, road kill, gravel and huge metal nuts & bolts. No wonder I flatted, I called my wife and she picked me up and headed a couple miles down the road to McDonald's in Martinsville where they had a play land for my son. Our stop was about a half an hour so that the fam could get some lunch and I could fix my flat. Back to Old 37 this part of my ride is truly beautiful and torturerous. The first hill is over a mile long and bends and curves so that you cannot see the top. Finally on top of the hill and now the fun part, especially for us XXL cyclist, the downhill. The descent sweeps left and right and I glance down to look at my bicycle computer to see that I am going 47 mph and I have not even turned the crank yet. After a 60 second descent the road heads back up for almost another mile. Pure agony, I even had to stop about 3/4 of the way up for 10 or 15 seconds. I almost crashed when I tried to start pedaling up the climb again. I eventually got to the top and the road rolls up and down for a few miles and then I see a monster hill that by far is the steepest of the day. I drop into my highest gear and try hammer out a pace that I can maintain up this wall. I don't care about time, I don't care about style points, I just want to get up this thing. I try to channel Lance Armstrong or Greg Lemond and keep ticking the pedals over. Finally I see my wife and kids and our white minivan like an oasis in the dessert parked in front of Musgrave Orchards (which is closed on Tuesdays.) I had made it to Bloomington, my original plan was to keep riding into the center of town past the University, FORGET THAT...
My legs were quivering and shaking, muscles in my legs that I never knew existed were aching I could not even conceive of riding up another one of those hills.
An hour or so latter my wife asked "So how was it?' and to my surprise I enjoyed it, I loved it.
It hurt and was hard but I really want to try it again and do better on the hills, but I did have alot of fun.

"I focus on the pain"
"the only thing that's real"