Madison Area Bicycle Club
WEEKEND RIDE REPORTS..
Jon's Ride to StreamCliff Farms
By Jon Wineland 9-19-15
My day started at about 08:00 and the morning was sunny at least for a time. Clouds in the West were dark and gray, even darker when hit by morning sunshine. More from them later. My day was filled with bikers, lots of bikers, but none of them riding with me exactly.
My Madison bridge crossing was uneventful, but Walsh Construction was doing some work over-the-side as usual.
Currently, there are no plates over any of the expansion joints in either direction,
so be warned if you are biking over the bridge.
Downtown Madison was hopping & no sooner had I arrived at the Farmers' Market & I saw five people I know, some of them Bikers! Margo Olsen was chatting with Dan Baughman and Molly Dodge who were just in from a run (& would not be swayed to go for a ride too...Dan said his biking plan was "Maybe next year." I guess it worked for Charlie Brown). Don Wells was eating breakfast also, presumably after a ride as he'd arrived on his bike. A little while later, Bob Courtney stopped by to chat, lamenting his busy schedule and lack of recent riding.
I finished my breakfast and set out at 10:30 into the wind which was picking up out of the South and West. I climbed up Thomas Hill and headed out to Deputy Pike. There were a few chaser dogs here. One was the fast silent type who surprised me by coming up alongside and then growing/barking, but stopped when I told him off. Another was one of those happy lets-have-some-fun dogs who came romping out to the road barking. Each time I talked to him he'd stop barking but continued running. Neither gave me much trouble.
At Deputy, it started to sprinkle...it was only 40% rain...and I realized I was a little behind schedule, so I rode North on Highway 3 with a Southwesterly tail wind instead of going on to Dixen Ford Road and taking in Commiskey. I met Ann for Lunch at StreamCliff. We ate on the covered porch, and each time the restaurant door opened, we were treated to a blast of cold air from within; I don't think we'd've survived dining inside. Over at the winery, they had a guitar player (Gary Phelps) belting out Johnny Cash songs. He was dressed all in BLACK and his voice sounded just like that velvety low powerhouse of Johnny Cash's prime. It seems as though wine is popular at Stream Cliff and they were doing a good fall business.
I was actually cold on the return journey, in spite of a favorable tail wind. The weather vacillated between a heavy mist and a light rain, never quite serious enough to reach for the rain jacket. At Lancaster, the Elutherian College was having a Fall Celebration fund-raising event and looked to have, perhaps, 30-40 vehicles parked there, but I did not stop in. A few years ago, the MABC organized a ride for one of their events.
At Volga, the rain had preceded me, and the road was wet in a few places, but not under the tree canopy. This was the last rain I saw today and the afternoon weather improved steadily, culminating in sunny skies again at journey's end. I rode across the hilltop and then downtown, crossing the bridge and home on KY36. Coming West was a City of Madison Police Car, lights flashing (but out of his jurisdiction, I'd say). This car was at the head of a procession of over 100 bikers (I lost count in the 90's) headed, presumably, for downtown Madison. These people were on Harleys and Hondas, not Treks & Cannondales, but if you're reading this, I guess Madison has survived, so far.
I finished up the day in the sunshine with just over 90 miles, more'n you'd expect going to StreamCliff, but I don't ever remember being lost.
Jon
Pumpkinvine ride report, Our eventful stop on the Pumpkinvine ride...June 20, 2015
Report by Byran Nagel
Not often you see an Amish buggy pully a boat??? Actually the horse is pulling the buggy and boat...
Last year we discussed going to ride the annual Pumpkinvine ride held this past Saturday. Well, four of us made this fantastic ride for the first time. This ride is well organized and well attended with somewhere around 1000-1100 cyclists. Mickey Waller, Stacy Crawley, Kristy Prickett and myself were able to make this ride in the middle of northern Indiana Amish County. This ride is sponsored by the Friends of the Pumkinvine which is a constructed (rail to trail) about 16 mile walking/cycling trail that runs from Goshen through Middlebury and to Shipshewana. There is about 2 miles of segment between Middlebury and Goshen that has been difficult to get approval from the local landowners to finish the trail. They are working to get this segment completed. I don't know the entire situation but would not be surprised if it involves don't want a trail going through my land or top dollar or both.
This ride had a selection of several route distances from about 10 to 100. We opted for the 60 mile route that was suitable for all of us. Mickey and I had our wives join us so we wanted some of the day to spend with them and Stacy needed to limit her mileage to no more than this amount. Kristy surpassed her previous 58 mile longest ride
Stacy and Kristy took advantage of the Friday night Amish "Threshers" dinner put on by an Amish family. They rode from Goshen to the house located between Goshen and Middlebury, about a 24 mile round trip. They will have to elaborated on their great evening ride and all the food they consumed. Stacy had a quite exciting visit with their guide who knew the family that purchased her grandmothers home in 1981. Mickey, Paula, Melodye and I visited the South Side Soda Shop located just a few miles from both our overnight accommodations. This place was featured on the Food Network's show hosted by Guy Ferra's Drive-ins, Dives and Diners
On Saturday we all 4 gathered at the Goshen trail head at 8:30. There was another starting point from Shipshewana. We got off about 9 am and headed out. The first part of the trail is built with hard packed very fine gravel. Mickey immediately blamed me for getting us on gravel to start the ride, but actually it rides quite well. After about a mile on this part of the trail, we headed east on a county road for the 60 mile route. Our first SAG was about 10 miles into the ride. It is hard to describe riding through this scenic and peaceful countryside among the Amish community. We had a great day to ride (not the weather the Madison area was getting). It was cloudy, but in the upper 60's and warmed to the upper 70's with sun before we ended the ride. The route was laid out to intersect with the trail so after the first SAG we went to north to close to Shipshewana and a short distance on the trail into Middlebury. We then went on a loop north of Middlebury. It was on our return trip to the SAG stop that our eventful part of the trip happened. We approached a buggy and Kristy said she would video us passing the buggy which she accomplished. After we all passed the buggy, we passed a field with 4 camels in it. Yes, they were camels, we were not hallucinating so the 3 of us ahead of her stopped. Kristy also saw the camels and still having her phone, starting videoing the camels and did not realize we had come to a complete stop. I yelled for her to stop and looking up she hit her front brake too hard which caused her to go down. Thankfully she only suffered road rash, mainly on her left elbow and arm and some bruising. She had a little bleeding from the elbow. A cyclist from Michigan stopped to help and said he a few things packed with him for such an occasion. He washed it with what he said was clean water and placed a wet paper towel over it. It was not quite the first aid she needed, but it was the best she was going to get at the moment. She was able to clean her rash better at the SAG stop e few more miles down the road. We were thankful that she suffered no broken bones! Our next segment took us south and east through the great burg of Emma. We came into the east end of Shipshewana, and for the very nice lunch stop at the entrance to the Shipshewana Flea Market (this 900+ booth market is only open on Tuesdays & Wednesday's). After refueling well, we headed northwest and around the east end of Ship She lake and then back onto the trail back through Middlebury and into Goshen.
A great day on the bike with great club members. I am impressed with the recovery and strength of cycling that Stacy has. Although she had to slow up a little on the rolling hills we encountered on segments of the route, she rode very strong and running 18-22 mph on the flats. Kristy never complained and rode with the same strength after her accident. It was such a great ride that we will consider attending again and possibly next year. Visit Krisy's Facebook page for several more pictures.
Byron
Stacy's added 2 cents.... for above report.
A minor correction with the tour guide and my grandparents. The tour guide and his wife actually bought my grandparents house back in 1981. They invited me to come over and check out the house now and to see some old furniture that was my grandparents which they had left due to downsizing. It was very emotional for me and truly a heartfelt and amazing weekend! Hopefully we can go back next year and take more members with us.
Happy riding!
Stacy
Ride Report for the
Stream Cliff Farm Ride on May 16
Report by Mickey Waller
Breakfast eaters at Bob Evans included Jon and Ann Wineland, Stacy Crawley, and me.
Riders began arriving at Staples parking lot at 9:15 AM for the 9:30 departure time. After posing for the paparazzi and countless pics, we left at 9:45. If you took pics, please send them out as I did not take any.
Those departing from Staples included Mike Broyles, Eric Cox (Mike's friend and Raintree Bike Club President), Byron Nagel, Rich Ries, Paul Lapham, Kristi Prickett, Jimmy Hamilton (drug dealer from Henryville and Kristi's friend - legal pharmaceutical drug dealer), Bob Canida, Chuck Spencer, Jon Wineland, Charlie McPeek, (rejoined MABC with wife), Wayne Zamora (new MABC member), and Mickey Waller.
The group headed west on Hutchinson Lane, JA Berry Road, and Deputy Pike. We picked up Ron and Michelle Smith in Smyrna at the intersection of Deputy Pike and 500 W. Working our way toward Lancaster, we picked up John Hossler - I never did figure out where we picked him up, he kinda just appeared.
Arriving in Lancaster, Rich Ries discovered he had cut a tire and called for the SAG vehicle (his wife) to pick him up as he proceeded east on Hwy 250 toward Hwy 7. Sure enough it eventually blew out. Bob Canida accompanied Rich on this trek as the sky was beginning to look very ominous. Before leaving, Rich orchestrated repairs to Jimmy Hamilton's bike as shifting was being very cantankerous.
After leaving Lancaster we proceeded west on Hwy 250 as the group began to separate. The peleton crossed Hwy 3 staying on Hwy 250 then headed north on Dixon-Ford Road to Commiskey then to Stream Cliff Farm.
The other group (Jimmy, Kristi, and I) rode north on Hwy 3 to Stream Cliff arriving after the peleton.
Lunch was had by the entire group except Charlie McPeek and Wayne Zamora. Stacy Crawley also arrived via vehicle for lunch. Much birdseed salad, blackberry cobbler with ice cream, and flowers were consumed.
The legal drug dealer returned to Henryville by car after lunch.
The return trip took us across the covered bridge near Stream Cliff, into Dupont, down Breeden Road and eventually back to Staples.
Again the group separated. The back group included (Mike Broyles, Eric Cox, Byron Nagel, Kristi Prickett, John Hossler, and I) We endured rain the entire trip home. The raindrops were big and stung upon hitting our faces. John stopped at his house near Midway and offered to take anyone home as we were becoming quite miserable. Nobody took John up on his offer but Eric Cox though long and hard before succumbing to peer pressure.
For fear of melting, the front group raced away never to be seen again. Maybe they did melt!
My total mileage was 50 miles.
What a great bonding experience.
Thanks.
Mickey Waller
The Kentucky Derby Ride
5-2-15 By Mickey Waller
The Kentucky Derby Ride is now in the history books. The results have been unofficial until this AM after an inquest was filed questioning the results of the ride. It has been ruled 1) no pushing or shoving occurred during the ride between the first and second place horse 2) no performance enhancing drugs or other drugs were found in urine samples of the first and second place thoroughbred/cyclists. 3) the navigational horse did intentionally spook the field by purposefully taking a route past all angry, viscous, foaming at the mouth, barking canines in Jefferson and Jennings County
The ride took off on a beautiful Saturday morning at 10:00 AM for the proposed 30 miles (240 furlongs). Due to the horse in charge of navigation (he lost his way), the ride totaled 40 miles (320 furlongs).
The ride went to Dupont where we refueled at the Dupont Hardware store and back to the Boneyard via Little Rest road and highway 250.
The participants were...
Mickey "Madison Chrome" Waller
Dan "Oucho Oucho Oucho" Holzinger
David "Firing Line" Yeager
Jon "Carpe Diem" Wineland
David "Danzig Moon" Fleming (the navigational horse!)
Marty "Materiality" Leiske
The winner by a hair was...
First - Dan "Oucho Oucho Oucho - my rear hurts" Holzinger
Second - David "Firing Line" Yeager
All other horses were disqualified due to reasons 1, 2, or 3 mentioned above. I cannot release any further info on disqualifications due to HIPPA laws and confidentiality. It was a very sad day in horse racing history!
After the event, lunch and beverages were served at Boneyard for Carpe Diem, Madison Chrome, and Materiality. Interesting that these 3 horses were disqualified and drinking beverages - maybe to drown their sorrows!
Good luck to Oucho Oucho Oucho as his sights are now set on the Triple Crown.
Saturday Ride Report
March 21st. 2015
Dirt. Old bikes. Good times. These are a few of the themes in this report, interconnected in various ways. When I arrived at the start, Byron Nagel, Marty Leiske, Dave Yaeger and John Hossler were already there, unloading bikes. We met John Crawley on the road shortly after. Three Johns on this ride, so we'll call them John C., John H. and Jon W. (no H.) from here. John H. was cleaning dirt off his rims, and as already hinted, dirt will figure into this story later. The day was warming as we set out, but there was a brisk southwesterly breeze, enough to make us notice out on Highway 62 and on Chicken Run Road. Heading south into it on the Thompson Road rollers made us know that it's early in the season and we're all out of shape. Well, I am, anyway. Highway 356 to Lexington gave us more of the same (quality miles), and we saw a lot of people out getting ready for spring, starting up tractors, moving things around in yards. One couple was out in their driveway grooming a dog on top of a big plastic trash bin. At first, I thought maybe they were preparing to throw away a perfectly good dog. In the dog theme, there used to be a nasty little dog on the South side of 356 just coming in to Lexington, but no sign of him today. At Leroys, John C. rolled up to a guy with a Harley motorcycle, said hello and teased him about trading bikes. Then he realized it was someone he knows! Byron took a few group pictures and we got some passers-by to snap a few more. Byron texted one to Stacey Crawley, so she got a real-time-ride report. We headed in and got drinks and snacks. I think one of them was healthy. Leroy himself showed up and was checking the sound system for tonight's Karaoke (or other) entertainment. Byron mused that it would be interesting to visit Leroys on a Saturday night. No doubt, and I'm sure he'll put out an invitation to let y'all know when he's going! Although there was the will and spirit to continue farther to New Washington, the group consensus (and the better part of wisdom) was to return to Madison without adding the extra miles. With the wind behind us now (mostly), and the day warming further, it was quite pleasant. It seemed like we were in Chelsea in no time. Somewhere on the way in to Hanover, John H. mentioned that he should dust off his high-wheeler to get out and ride. We encouraged him to bring it to the Bike Rodeo on June 13, and ride it through Tom Pritchard's obstacle course. Tom has already mentioned that one of the courses will be the "Paper Boy Route" where contestants will toss papers into open containers--child's play from 7 feet in the air, but John warned us that slow speed travel on the high wheeler is a tricky business. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Grange Hall Road between 56 and the airport has been repaved! I was riding with John C. at the time, and shortly after a bright red car passed us, he remarked, "Well, I guess big red could use a bath." I was a little puzzled, because that car had been practically spotless. Then I realized that he was talking about MY BIKE (which isn't). I was riding my (red) Cannondale single, which I've had for 26 years, and I've washed it faithfully. At least twice. So we fell to talking about old bikes (one of my themes), and John remembered a first bike that his parents bought him shortly before they moved to Indiana. He was, perhaps, 5 at the time, and could not yet ride a bike. It had a 3-speed hub with the shifter on the top tube. Well, his two older brothers got their mitts on this bike and rode it hard, wearing out the hand brakes, and by the time of the move, the bike was pretty used up. But as they got to the new location with the moving truck and had a loading ramp up to the house, one of his brothers was helping him learn to ride in the yard, and running behind him, holding the bike up by the seat. John found his pedals and then noticed his brother wasn't there any more. So he's riding around in the yard and headed back to the house, and there's that loading ramp. So he rode right up the ramp, into the house. But the brakes were shot, so he couldn't stop & he went through the living room, into the kitchen and crash-landed into the kitchen sink. Welcome to cycling! We finished up the ride around the airport, Interstate Block, Borcherding and Chicken Run Road back to the Clifty Park North Entrance. Back at the Nagels, we had about 37 miles. John Crawley will have a few more as he rode from home. It was a fine spring day and good to be out with a great group of cyclists! Jon
KROK Riders..3-28-15
Chuck Spencer and I took on the elements for this Saturday's CROK ride, sunny but never getting above 40. The 20.5 mile route was one I have rode a number of times with my first introduction by Rich Ries a number of years ago. This was Chuck's first time on this route. I took Paul Lapham on it last year.This route encompasses both gravel and paved roads in eastern Jefferson County. It has two significant hill climbs (Manville and Lonnis), 4 to 5 paved low stream crossings (5 today) and two steep, gravel down hills (Bishop Hill and Wright Hill). The picture shows Chuck and I psychologically preparing to cross the first long crossing of the day which is an estimated 150 feet in length. The water had a good current but was only about 6 inches deep except for the ends where it was more like 8-10". The water was clear so seeing the concrete ford was easy. You just have to stay in the vehicle lanes as the rest of the ford is slimy with algae, which can take you down quickly. I know as it happened to me a few years ago.
We met at Manville Christian Church at 2 pm and the temperature was about 39. Chuck had forgotten his MB shoes so had to ride in his sneakers. It didn't slow him down any. He is riding very strong. He was able to keep his feet warm but they did get a little wet on the crossings. East Prong road and Brooksburg-Manville takes you into the part of Jefferson County for sights you normally don't see and maybe don't want to see. Much of this route goes along the branches of Indian Kentuck River. We encountered two large flock of turkeys on the trip. A couple of greeter dogs at the top of Lonnis road. As we rode down the upper ridge on Wright Hill road, Chuck caught sight of grave site along the road at the entrance of a farm lane which was well marked with No Trespassing. I missed it and was probably looking the other way, It had a head stone that Chuck took a picture of posted it on his Facebook page for Mike Broyles to say where we were. The head stone stated "Here Lies Lester Moor, Four Slugs, From a 44, No Les, No More" You will have to visit Chuck's Facebook page to see the nicely designed gravesite. See what you missed today by staying in your warm cozy house. The descent down on gravel for both Bishop Hill and Wright Hill are exhilarating, especially Wright Hill. Chuck led the way and I was not too far behind. This hill is very steep and tends to get washed badly after heavy rains. About half way down we encountered some very washed areas that were pretty rough and Chuck's glasses fogged on him, making riding through this area a little nerve racking and I should have slowed down a little more as I was thankful not to hit any large wash outs while trying to gently apply my brakes without sliding my bike.
It was a great ride on a very cool day. We will do this route again in a few week when the wild flowers are blooming and all the sweet smells of the emerging plant life can be inhaled.
Byron
Saturday's Cyclist Group
shot at the BoneYard
4/11/15
I took this picture of the 7 of us in front of the BoneYard after we completed the 2 star route. It was great to have Bob Courtney join us for the first time this season and good to have Dan Holzinger and Steve Westerfield out with us again. Bob has an out of town job which makes it difficult for him to make it back in time for our weekly rides, and Dan and Steve both are very busy but took time for the 2 star ride. It was very sunny, but also cool. Mickey Waller borrowed a set of inner gloves from David Fleming and a vest from Steve Westerfield as he was a little under dressed. Our route was out to SR 62 to Graham Road, west on 400 and Dawson-Smith and north at Shun Pike and back South on Papermill. Heading north was a request of Mickey to see what condition these roads were north of Dawson-Smith. There were some potholes from this winter and one section pretty broken up about 3/4 across. We did see a few other club members out today and the first one we encountered was 125,000 K miler Don Wells who was coming back in from his regular daily ride.
Since we altered the route slightly we ended up with just a little more mileage than the advertised 10.8, 11.3 miles to be exact. Six of us ate at the BoneYard. Dan had plenty of work to do a home so could not stay. Our food was good at the BoneYard but the service was a little slow. Bob was excited to be riding with us and I believe we will see more of him when he gets the chance and he will have his newly tuned up road bike. He likes his hybrid but knows he needs his road bike to ride longer trips and in the 3 star rides. I was getting a little anxious as Debbie Crawford was to take some action shots of us a 1 pm. We did finish and Debbie was ready to take some pictures/video. Debbie owns WKM news and will be doing an interview with some of us to go along with the video clips. She took video of us in the parking lot as we rode in a line pass her and took one of us coming down the Clifty drive with the traffic.
For the second half of our day and "the rest of the story" I or another one of us will cover later.
Byron
From left to right are Steve Westerfield, Jon Wineland, Bob Courtney, Mickey Waller, David Fleming, Dan Holzinger, and yours truly.