Long Way Round to Rosie’s

Again Tammy organized a midweek afternoon ride for those with flexible schedules. We had 7 riders: Tammy, Jim, Mike, Dana, Jen, Clair and Allan. Tammy originally proposed the club’s Ride to Rosie’s, about 30 miles out west. The group adopted Jim’s alternative 40 mile ride to Rosie’s that proceeds clockwise instead of the usual counterclockwise and adds miles by heading out of town to the southeast: Smith, Snoddy, Harrell, Schacht, Fairfax, Smithville, Ketcham, Victor,etc.

I’m experimenting with maps. Here’s what I recorded, displayed using an open source map:

Here’s Tammy’s take on the ride:

I like to call this “Jim’s Ramble to Rosie’s”.  Those who had not ridden this route before quickly realized just what we had all gotten ourselves into on this route.  We left town via Smith Rd to Snoddy, after a fun trip down Schacht we had to climb the hills on Fairfax to Smithville.  This was just the start of our climbing for the day.  From Smithville it was Ketcham to Victor Pike, all the way up the hill to Rockport, great downhill on Harmony and then the climb into Stanford on Kirksville.  This was only the first 20 miles!

We took Stanford Rd to Elwren and by this point most of our little group of riders was off their normal riding roads.  This ride to Rosie’s sure is harder than the normal route!  At the corner of Elwren and Stanford I was showing 2160 feet of climbing in the first 27 miles!  Sailed down the hill, avoided the potholes at the bottom, and the next thing we knew we were at Hwy43 and Rosie’s was just ahead.  The last miles into town were the normal Ride to Rosie’s route in reverse.

Even though this route was tough (especially for February), we all appreciated riding some roads that we don’t often go out on.  I came home showing 47.4miles and 3200 feet of climbing.  With the exception of a few dogs(none that were terrible, just annoying) and the large potholes on CR1310 this is a great route, especially if you want to strengthen your climbing legs!

When we got back into town our little group came back via the B-line.  Jim, Mike, and I intended to use the Allen Street Bike Blvd to get back across town.  Unfortunately Allen was blocked by a semi, so we went down to Grimes and took that instead.  Just after crossing Lincoln on Grimes a man in a large green SUV rolled down his window and yelled “You have got to be kidding me, GET OFF THE ROAD!” at Mike and me.  We thought at first when the guy rolled down his window that maybe it was someone one of us knew, then we he yelled and we were not sure if he was serious or what.  Finally decided with the tone of voice and dirty look we got that the man really thought we were doing something wrong by riding a bike on the street.  Truly I am used to these kinds of idiots on some of the country roads, but it really did surprise me to have it happen in the Bryan Park neighborhood in town!

And a final coda from Allan:

One other exciting thing happened on the way back in. Clair and I were cruising along Vernal Pike, near the bend at the northern-most point on the route, minding our own business, when ahead of us a car came flying down Howard into the T with Vernal, hit the sand and did a 360 before regaining control and proceeding along. I don’t know how he stayed on the road. Clair and I were certainly glad we weren’t actually in the intersection when it happened.