I started the week with the fourth ride of The River City Cycling Society dubbed the Paris-Redux or the hell of the ‘Ville. Both very tongue in cheek appropriations of the Classic Paris-Roubaix road race held in Northern France each Easter. The race’s claim to fame outside of its longevity are several stretches of cobblestones or “pave” to the French. Over the years as more roads have become paved the race organizers have come to build the race around the cobbled sections by stitching the course together in a way to include as many sections as possible. Tim sought to recreate this by surveying the locations of many brick lined alleyways of Louisville. It turns out there are quite a few in the Highlands, Downtown and Crescent Hill. When Sunday arrived it did not disappoint…well not Tim at least. The weather toyed around heading into the 1:00 start time but when that time came it was raining pretty good. I made my way to the start point and managed to get all the way wet by the time I arrived. Comments on the RCCS site indicated a pretty good turnout but the weather whittled it down to 7 hearty souls total. We set out and encountered our first mechanical pretty quickly. The bricks shook a rear wheel loose pretty quick. A survey of kits flushed out the 15mm wrench needed to put it back on line. We paraded through some swampy back alleys, lost a water bottle (retrieved it-thank you) and headed toward the river downtown to find one true section of honest to goodness cobblestones to ride across. Inbound I blew my rear tire. Interestingly enough after racking up almost 2000 miles I had never had an on the road flat. No problem, I was prepared with an extra tube, a pump, and the requisite skills to change the tire. At this point we were getting rained on pretty heavy and glasses became pretty hard to use and complicated the issues for sure. As I put the back tire on Tim asked me if I had swept the tire for the puncture. I had not as I figured it was likely a pinch-flat. That was quite a mistake and one I do not intend to repeat. About 200 feet after re-starting I was flat again. This time I found the shard of glass responsible. Tim loaned me a tube, I danced the dance again, and off we went. This left me a little gun shy the rest of the ride about tires but I had no further problems. As we arrived at Rowan street to ride the real cobbles a gentleman in our party overlooked a puddle covering a gaping hole and took an absolute header into the ground. It provided the most convincing helmet commercial I have ever seen. He was able to get up and change his own busted tire. He rode on for a bit but bailed towards home – understandably shaken up. From there we made our way into Crescent Hill, into Cherokee Park and back to the Highlands. We had an odd flat coming through the park as Dave had to make a change as we waited to come out of the park. The second to last alleyway was real nice brick riding. We then said goodbye at the Mid City Mall as we were over on time, and wet to the core. I had a pleasant ride back home chatting with Todd as we went home.

Monday’s weather was no improvement and so I thought I would ride the rollers for a good 15-20 miles and stay inside. I absolutely did not have it. I could not will myself past 6 miles or so before quitting. It was disheartening and still enough to leave me completely soaked with sweat and highly irritated.

Tuesday found me out for a ride with my new work riding partner on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. I had sneaked a ride over to the sister plant in the morning and was sitting only about 18-19 miles away from completing my 2000th mile since I started riding last July. We set out toward Utica Pike which gives lots of options on total ride length. As we came across the river and made the turn at Jeff Boat to head out on the open road we were really getting into stride when we crossed the flood wall and were greeted by the tell-tale hiss of a blown tire. It was Tim’s this time, not mine. At this point I was becoming quite the expert on tire changes. We got going again but some rain had moved in on us along with a stout headwind after we made the turnaround point. Then the hail started…it was quite a stinger on my bare hands and Tim’s bare legs. It gave up reasonably quickly as we made our way through the wind and back to the office. Close to the end I crossed the goal of the day and crested 2000 miles. I am quite pleased and I guess proud of myself for sticking with this for so long. I love it like no “exercise program” I have ever attempted. It is obviously so much more than that.

I rode Thursday and late Friday as well, but more of those rides to come.

I had a work “wellness” program to attend in the morning so I dropped the kiddos of at my folks the night before. I knocked out a little office work and then headed home. Left in the rare situation of having no one home and nothing pressing I ignored the chores I could have done and set out early to pad my mileage for the day. Knowing where I was trying to end up I headed off to Cherokee park to make a loop and then head toward the Bluegrass Trail. The day was overcast and a little windy. I was hoping the weather would hold but alas, it did not. I passed two older fellows on MtB’s who were spinning the third ring up Cochran Hill on bikes that were just caked with mud. They probably rolled their eyes at me passing them standing and cranking the big ring as I passed and nodded hello. As I came into Germantown headed towards U of L the wind had cranked it up and the first few drops fell. I stopped into Sunergos for a coffee and a copy of Dirtrag Magazine courtesy of On Your Left with 12 miles for the day.

After a few minutes the usual suspects arrived and we were joined by a new guy – Rick. By now it was pretty clear that it was gonna be a wet one. We gave it a few minutes, decided the rain had scared the people away and set off. The first leg of the journey marked something new for me – transit across the 2nd Street bridge on the roadway. I generally wimp out and use the sidewalk for safety reasons. Since it was Saturday and we were in a group with an experienced crosser I gave it a go. Here is a picture right before we crossed:

We traced our way through Southern Indiana into New Albany on the roads I know so well. We stopped so I could adjust my soaked cue sheet and took two quick pictures:

Our arrival at Rich-O’s was a welcome stop and we were pretty well soaked through. The service was as expected very nice but on the slow side. I had IPA 1 of 3, Tex had a sampler, Dave and Rick had a stout – all made by the NABC. A kind, dapper chap took a picture of us before we left:

As we left to return to Louisville the rain kept it coming. We were completely wet and I was especially cold in the hands and feet. They were to remain cold for the rest of the ride. Outside of that wonderful wool undergarments kept me warm. Our arrival at the BBC coincided with the last 6 minutes of the U of L game which they won handily and made me happy to see. We choose this stop to eat and we were ready. Some food and drink had us ready to get back on the road. I had an IPA and a bowl of chili which I think may be the perfect meal for bicycle riding in freezing rain, snow, and driving winds. I had stopped taking pictures at this point as everything was completely wet and I sequestered my camera in a dry bag inside one of Tim’s panniers.

A short trip up Broadway and through Cherokee Park put us into the Highlands and our last beer stop – Cumberland Brews. The pub was pretty crowded but we secured a table right in the front corner of the room which let us avoid locking down the bikes. Dave shared some habanaro salsa and we had another round of beers. We had decided to abandon the return to Sunergos as no one really needed to go back and our houses/drop off points were on the way. We had been out for a pretty good amount of time and were pretty much ready to hang it up.

One of the most interesting things to me was seeing once again that people gather at local pubs for leisurely times and hanging out. My current family situation does not lend easily to do so. I miss it for sure, although these days if given the time and opportunity I would probably ride my bike instead!

Although I missed the first RCCS ride I would think of this one as a success. We rode as planned regardless of the weather. We stayed together for the ride and had numerous stops and libations to boot. I really enjoyed riding with these gentlemen and look forward to doing so again.