I have been looking for time to write this entry for a couple of days. I took advantage of a trip right before lunch time to our sister plant to extend my mileage a bit. Once again I pieced together a few pieces of the route I plotted to get to Rich-O’s on Grant Line Road to get to a spot I previously had difficulty reaching. Back in the Summer I had climbed Moser Knob Road and found a beautiful stretch of road behind the Knobs. The problem with the route is that you have to go out Green Valley Road through a nasty stretch of over-trafficked road that I do not care for.

Looking at the map I saw I could head out Klerner Lane, cross Grant Line Road at IUS, and then bypass the bad traffic on Green Valley. That part worked well but now I was left with the real challenge – Moser Knob Road – 9.2% Grade – Duc notes “Consistently Steep”. When I rode it in the summer I stopped and got off the bike three times. On Thursday I was able to get all the way up with no stops. It felt great. When I set I did not have a true plan in mind just a general direction I wanted to travel and a few ideas/options about how to do it. After the hill conquest I set onto Campion Road which I was so impressed with the time before. Here is a photo before I set out:

I told many people after the first ride how stunning Campion Road was and how pleased I was to have ended up upon it. A creek runs along the reasonably deserted, curving, and just beautiful stretch.
I was to soon be disappointed…the wind was so oppressive as I traveled across the road that I could barely keep the bike at 12 mph. While this ride was not about speed per se I had an idea that I might run long so I didn’t want to dawdle. The wind was to be a persistent guest in my run across these knobs.

Time was slipping away from me as I approached St. Mary’s road and couldn’t honestly recall where I was exactly. I knew I was still pursuing the proper direction but I thought I should have come upon Spickert Knob Road by now. I followed instinct and was rewarded in a few more minutes when I came out where expected. I crossed Paoli Pike onto Old Hill Road and met another big hill that I neglected to think of when mentally planning. The hill is chased with two rolling miles of up and down that left me tired but happy.

I turned back toward N’Albany on Old Vincennes Road and was met with a blast of wind that nearly stopped me in my tracks but even worse made feel wobbly and as if I was about to be blown over. I switched back under I-265 and then it was a downhill assault into town. I choose the most direct route I could think of as I was now reaching the tolerable time limits of lunch time randoneuring.

What a great day on the bike! It was my greatest lunch time ride of all. Chock full of the best stuff – big climbs, screaming descents, cold but nice weather, sunshine, and a little bit of being lost in the country. Hard to replicate, hard to repeat – all very much worth it

It’s not open yet, but should be soon.

I ended up spending the last two days of the week riding on roads in the opposite way I am accustomed to. Nothing earth shaking or revelatory but just nice. Friday was a relative heat wave in the mid-forties compared to the Monday and Thursday.

I was wishy-washy both days about where to go. Thursday I thought I would take an older route that feeds down to the waterfront by 10th and Main in New Albany. I did so but halfway across the downtown I found a stretch of about 40 feet of muddy path. I hit the brakes – I had spent my lunch time Tuesday doing maintenance and judiciously cleaning the bike. The thought of slinging mud did not make the cut. I turned around and thought I would go out to Budd Road and Highwater Lane and then back into town via IN 62. This was the first view as I turned around:

This is the view up the hill from water level to the mansion row in Silver Hills. It was striking to me as I never go in this direction and had never noticed this look. It is a real contrast as I passed several mobile homes and junkyards in this area as I moved towards the power plant along Water Rd. Down the road I reached the Gallagher Power Plant. It is responsible for most of the power in the area (and along with the Cane Run Rd plant on the other side of the river – most of the pollution).

I thought the difference in the dark clouds and light was very striking. The dark clouds ring the smoke stack looking like a product of them.

I was expecting to see a dog a the top of a hill on Budd Rd but it was absent. However two dogs on Highwater made up for it. They gave chase and it was unnerving. There has been lots of talk on the KY Cycling list of dog attacks and subsequent injuries. It’s on my mind. They gave up quick enough but exposed me as just not feeling the ride. It could be all of the cold air sucking or just a general tiredness. I took it easy on the way back and hit the showers.

Friday was a little better on the temp but I was still undecided and uninspired on where to go. I thought I would head to the river via Clarksville because I hadn’t been there this week. I went down and made it to the waterfront and then started recalculating where to go. I turned around in Jeffersonville and headed down a different parallel road. From there I kept going along the water past the Falls of the Ohio again down a route I only use to go the other way. I stopped to snap a pic with a good view of the ‘Ville:

The problem with this road right now is that there is no good way to get back into New Albany. It involves using the bridge that crosses Silver Creek which is potholed to holy hell. So I rode in and then ditched onto McCollough Pike and then to 131 briefly before safely returning to Providence Road which a normal way into town. I was getting close to work but only at about 13.5 miles. I felt good, the weather felt good so I ditched down Silver Street and back towards downtown N’Albany. I stopped to get this picture of the old tannery and the entrance to the Loop Island Wetlands:

From there I cruised down Main Street, cut across 4th and then weaving back to work for a nice 17. I even got complimented at work for my tenacity in the cold. It was a good day.

I come to you tonight from the Midway International Airport. Ingesting Heinekens and trying to play a little blog catch up. Personnel changes at the office have left me at least temporarily swamped. Throw in an all day training out of town that came to pass relatively on a whim and it is in the weeds for me.

I did manage to ride three days last week and it felt as if winter had come for sure. I added one major upgrade – a balaclava hat from a friend at work, and one minor change – a bootleg North Face jacket I picked up in Shanghai two February’s ago. I am sure its official…

Monday was a rain-out and a friends birthday as well so it was a no-go.

Tuesday was nice in that at least the sun was shining. I bundled up and headed towards Jeffersonville and the Howard Steamboat museum. I started a little cold and I wasn’t for sure if I had dressed correctly. About three miles in the cold had subsided and it felt pretty good. As I turned away from the river and down Utica pike toward JeffBoat I really felt like I was cranking it. I looked down and confirmed about 22 MPH in the flats. Whew, it felt great! When I turned around at the 8 mile point and began the return I finally figured it out – wind. Going back the same flat return I was bogging down to about 13-14 MPH. It was a little disappointing….but riding in such proximity to the river it is to be expected I’m sure.

Thursday after a trip to Chicago I left work a little uncertain about route but thought it best to head up toward Silver Hills. I intended to lazily head back down to the river front but had a late change of mind and set out for the Highwater Road/Budd lane column but in reverse direction from normal. Tim and I joked about the last section being a white knuckle ride coming back down and going up it was a beast. It brought me to my knees….well at least to my feet to walk my panting self up the last portion of the short, very steep climb. I encountered the dog that gave me chase a few days prior and he was up for it again…this time I was ready and stomped it right past him. It surprised me that by the time I was done I was under the mileage I expected but it was a solid 15 miles.

Friday found me with minimal motivation but I still got out for an easy 12. I had quite a bit on my mind and the break was good. It was 45 minutes well spent. This week looks like it may not have many chances to ride. It will probably be time to break out the rollers and give that a shot. My Dad hooked me up with a super blinky red light to attach to my seat bag. It will nice to be more visible.

Right after this picture it was straight down a nasty gravel strewn road then across some tracks and to Corydon Pike. This was good for me to mix up a relatively rote portion of this regular ride and improve it. As I rode across the Quarry Road ridge line I was stopped in my tracks by a large 10-12 point Buck standing in the road. I stopped and was trying to reach around to the back to grab the camera but he hit the trail. Meanwhile I snapped this pic to show off the foilage in its finest:

It was a great day and I great ride

YTD – 657.75
MTD – 175.97
Today – 17.22

I set out on a new path this morning to check out a different portion of Floyd’s Knobs. The big question is how to travel through New Albany Proper to get to the hills. I settled on Riding most of Green Valley Road. It is definitely the most obvious path. Unfortunately it made for poor riding especially from about mile 3 to mile 5. Heavy traffic and shitty roads do not make a good ride. I was also dealing with a steady incline that you can’t really see but its there. By the time I headed up the hill I was panting and feeling the stress of the traffic.

I knew Moser Knob was a significant climb, it is listed in a 100 Steep Climbs List that Tim pointed to. It was an absolute bear of a climb. It brought me to me knees, well off of the bike at least. It took me several climb/walk cycles to get to the top. By the time I reached the summit of the Knob I was bushed. I had some flat land to recoup on and headed on. Here’s were it got a little funny, I almost never have directions with me but today I printed a cue sheet from MapMyRide. I ended up missing a turn on to South Skyline. I ended up on Campion Road which turned out to be Instant Karma from the nasty hill. Between the beautiful weather, flat land, nearby stream it was just perfect. My head cleared and I really enjoyed that stretch.

There really is much to be said about unencumbered riding on empty country roads.

As I mentioned I was lost, but not really too bad. My internal compass and general idea of where I was and what roads came out of this area had me feeling fine. Sure enough after about two extra mile I picked Spickert Knob Road back up and had the way back to work under control. I took the picture above just before beginning the descent back to New Albany. I have been watching you bike bloggers so I took the picture with the bike on display. It was a fast run to the bottom and once again that is a place you can really feel the speed in that bike. I came to the portion of Green Valley that gave me such grief before and said “screw it” and took the sidewalk until I got closer to my left turn. I properly and assertively merged into traffic and signaled to turn left. It is a liberating thing to do. Heading up Daisy Lane I hit a substantial bumb and heard a loud noise. I thought for sure I had blown the back tire. I pulled off of the road and felt it – all was good. I thought well I’m stopped how about some water – hey where is my water bottle? At least the loud noise mystery was solved. I ran back to get it before a car hit it. I rushed back to work running about 10 minutes late. 15 miles turned into to 17 but man it was great ride.

We had quite a busy week at work with some not so exciting ISO 9000 preparations. We have actually probably set the record for the least amount of preparation possible – only to sail through the audit with no findings. Anyway it made it quite difficult to get my rides updated here.

I started the week with a good basic ride down to the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center and back. This is pretty flat overall and good for distance and speed practice. It was pretty uneventful but a good ride. The weather in Louisville really has been great and this was no exception.

Tuesday I went for my hill training ride of heading to Edwardsville out Corydon Pike. I was feeling a little saucy and substituted a flat easy ride to Indiana 62 with a hill climb up Valley View/Capt Frank Rd. It is a quick 150 foot climb that was a good warm up for slogging up to Edwardsville. This took me into the Silver Hills neighborhood and down Camp to my destination. I had a solid relatively car-free climb up and return. As I rolled back into town I thought I would mix up my return route and headed to downtown New Albany. I cruised out Market street headed for Vincennes. What is really interesting is that I only had to stop for one traffic light over 15 blocks. I found those downtown streets to be very enjoyable to ride. I crossed the tracks by Tommy Lancaster’s and it felt pretty rough. I looked at the back tire and it seemed OK. Later in the day however I looked over at my bike to see a totally dead rear tire – boo… Oh well, I picked up a tube on the way home and changed it early on Thursday morning when I was back in the office. I guess its probably good to get the practice. Especially in the comfort of the office and not on the side of the road.

By Thursday time was tightening up at work and the burdens of the upcoming audit were becoming more stressful so I didn’t have much time. I probably shouldn’t have left at all…oh well. I have been contemplating an idea of going to Floyds Knobs and going up and down to work on hill climbing and have a short hard workout. This day was a good day for it. I went up Valley View/Capt Frank again and then back down Old Vincennes. This left me in position to climb Cherry Street. I rode to Cherry Steet on my 2nd or 3rd day of bike riding – it brought me to my knees. It is straight up with no switchback relief at all. The first time I tried and only made it up about a third of the way. This time I was determined to climb to the top. After all I’ve been training right? I made it with a maxed out heart rate and deep breathing, I had to take it kind of slow for a bit and then recovery followed. From there it was down Camp and a good stroll back to the office. I definitely liked this ride concept. New Albany appears to be shoring up and repaving Spring Street Hill Road. This will give me a fifth hill to factor in and make this a more complete set-up.

Friday was the day of the big bad external audit. It entails working through lunch and usually runs from 8:30 to 5:05. No time for lunch riding that is for sure. Amazingly we finished at 3:30. As is common we usually work in some going home early after these things are over (the next day usually). I had two choices – head for home or…..go for a quick bike ride. I plotted a quick shot in my mind and went out for a ride to the falls again but in the most direct fashion. It felt great, the sun was warm and my mind was clearing quickly. We had plans for going out to dinner etc and I really was feeling ready for that. It was a great close to the week and put me close to 60 miles.

Monday around 11:30 offered some great weather for hitting the road. It had yet to really get warm and there was a nice breeze. Since I spent a long weekend gallivanting around in Nashville eating anything I wanted I thought I would ease back into a nice ride. I took a long flat ride out to the Falls of the Ohio and back, including a heart racing stretch across Silver Creek in moderate traffic.

More importantly I breached 500 miles since the inception of my bicycling campaign. As I have previously stated I have never really been able to hit stride with an exercise program and so I am very happy with this accomplishment. I plan to reward myself with some nasty hill climbing in Knobs of Southern Indiana today. It will immediately follow ISO internal auditing so I should be gnashing teeth and ready to go.

On advise of a wise man I have decided to climb up to Edwardsville via Indiana 62 at least once a week. It is one mile of pure climbing and I have gained the ability to do it without stopping. This ride put me over my goal of 200 miles for the month which left me quite pleased. Last week it did not look like I would make it. But the extra long ride on Sunday helped seal the deal.

Early out on Corydon Pike I saw a sign advertising “Deer Processing”. All I could think about for a while was that if you were man enough to kill animals for food you should damn well be able to “process” the blood and guts. As I got further up the hill I decided maybe you do the initial cleaning and the “processor” does the more traditional butchering to create venison steaks etc. My city upbringing deems I do not know.

As I approached the second set of RR tracks that indicate the real fun is about to begin there were two dudes working on the crossing signal. One dude looked at my already panting self and said “Uh, You got quite a way to go”. I smiled and said “I know”, stood up and cranked away.

At the tail end of this ride my legs felt as strong as ever. It was a great day on the bike

I had two good solid days of riding after a pretty blah Monday. The weather here really has been wonderful climate to hit the road to. I took a rare break Tuesday to have lunch with the family. It was a nice packed trip to Nalbany Qdoba.

Wednesday was a “train” day and by that I mean the locomotive kind. I started off the ride waiting for the gate at Beeler street. It was a malfunction as almost always. I west to 10th street and headed past the very ripe “water” treatment plant toward the river and there was a train crossing the viaduct to head eastbound across the waterfront. A different train was crossing the K & I bridge as I exited New Albany’s park and on. I had a great ride across the Silver Creek Bridge and down toward the junkyard to the river. The last train was down around the Colgate plant – it’s kind of wild how these things run in groups like that. I knocked this ride down in an hour flat – my best so far. And it put me over 400 miles since the inception of the lunch routine.

Thursday had a cool feel to it as I set out. Traffic was quite minimal and that was a great combination. I went out and back to Utica Pike (well, almost to it). I usually refer to this ride as the Howard Steamboat trip. It turns around by Jeff Boat and is pretty straight and flat.

Friday has been the rare day off and chance to take a local customer to lunch. I’m definitely looking to ride this weekend if I can clear my crowded schedule…