Ride Across Indiana
In July, I "survived" Ride Across Indiana -and it is aptly named "RAIN" - it rained on us the first 10 miles or so, but then was just cloudy! There were 1,168 riders, and we started out FAST!
I finished 41st, and hope to do much better next year - I found out at mile 40 that it is real hard to grab a musette bag with 3 water bottles while going 27 MPH - stupid me! Oh well - after my wife Cara was nice enough to re-pack the bag with the bottles, Power Bars and gels and drive up the road to where I was waiting, the first pack of riders was almost a mile away. I rode hard with two other guys, and we finally caught up with the lead pack 20 miles later.
I decided after I dropped my bottles that I would just stop the next two times Cara was going to give me bottles so I wouldn't have to worry about dropping them again! This resulted in me riding by myself for the last 60 miles - I didn't realize how much corn there is in Indiana (Okay, I did, but there is a LOT of it!).
I did the first 100 miles in 4 hours and 26 minutes - that's FAST! The ride was exactly 160 miles - it was actually kinda fun this time - the first time I did it (2001), it just plain hurt! I met a lot of really nice people, and the weather was exceptional, so that really helped a lot! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a great challenge at a safe, well-organized event!
Next year’s Ride Across Indiana (RAIN) will be July 18, 2009
