pbbob
07-23-2012, 03:58 PM
During the spring when the weather was mild and the miles were easy I decided to do the ride across Indiana for the second time. The plan was to fly to dayton ohio on Friday and then drive to richmond and catch the support bus there to Terre Haute. Saturday ride the 160 miles back to Richmond and then fly home on Sunday.
Then the heat wave arrived. And never left. Riding 160 miles in the relentless heat and humidity not only wouldn't be fun but also very dangerous. I didn't want to give anyone the chance to say "at least he died doing something he loved" So I decided to go with plan B. I didn't have a plan B until I remembered that there was a relatively new bike trail over the old railroad tracks that goes from Richmond past Muncie and close to Marion. So on to the Cardinal Greenway I went.
I got to Richmond late friday afternoon, unpacked the Kirk and went for a 25 mile shakedown ride. My first impression of the trail was very favorable. It's flat, wide and smooth and goes in and out of tree canopies and past corn and soybean fields. But I was still a skeptic about really being able to do any serious miles on it. After all it's still a MUT.
Saturday dawned with low humidity and a temp of 58 and a breeze out of the north east. Unbelievably at least for 1 day the weather turned out to be absolutely wonderful.
I rode the Greenway past Muncie to Gaston. Then turned around and returned to Muncie and rode around the university for a while and then continued to Richmond..
I hardly saw anyone on the trail and you could ride as fast a you cared to go.
I never thought it would be possible to have fun on a MUT but I did. And I don't regret missing the RAIN ride at all.
Total distance approximately 107 miles.
Then the heat wave arrived. And never left. Riding 160 miles in the relentless heat and humidity not only wouldn't be fun but also very dangerous. I didn't want to give anyone the chance to say "at least he died doing something he loved" So I decided to go with plan B. I didn't have a plan B until I remembered that there was a relatively new bike trail over the old railroad tracks that goes from Richmond past Muncie and close to Marion. So on to the Cardinal Greenway I went.
I got to Richmond late friday afternoon, unpacked the Kirk and went for a 25 mile shakedown ride. My first impression of the trail was very favorable. It's flat, wide and smooth and goes in and out of tree canopies and past corn and soybean fields. But I was still a skeptic about really being able to do any serious miles on it. After all it's still a MUT.
Saturday dawned with low humidity and a temp of 58 and a breeze out of the north east. Unbelievably at least for 1 day the weather turned out to be absolutely wonderful.
I rode the Greenway past Muncie to Gaston. Then turned around and returned to Muncie and rode around the university for a while and then continued to Richmond..
I hardly saw anyone on the trail and you could ride as fast a you cared to go.
I never thought it would be possible to have fun on a MUT but I did. And I don't regret missing the RAIN ride at all.
Total distance approximately 107 miles.