By Glenn Berger with an update from Jim Schroeder
Ten brave souls showed up at Bryan park to do the Ye Old Hilly Route to Nashville. Two of these 10 were new to the BBC (Derrick and James). Considering the weather man was calling for 100% chance of rain in the middle of the ride I decided to stick to the 33 mile route to keep us close to home. After a brief mechanical delay we were off at 10:15 AM. The group quickly split into 4 faster riders (two of which were out for the “epic” 100 mile journey) and 6 of us hanging back to smell the roses.
The 6 of us stopped at Mt. Gilead to regroup and consider our options. Since none of us were in a hurry and we believed we were all doing the 33 mile we detoured to Mt. Gilead to enjoy the scenery and get away from 45 for a bit. We called the 4 faster riders and told them not to wait up for us. After Mt. Gilead rejoined 45 we debated about Shuffle Creek vs. the 33 mile option for the planned ride. At this point CE and David turned and headed back and the remaining 4 of us pressed on the planned route. We soon rejoined Keith and Klaus who had backtracked to find us.
After a very scenic ride into Brown county we said goodbye to three of our riders doing the 55 mile route as they pressed on. Just Keith, James and myself finished up a very nice and leisurely ride on South Shore, Robinson, Old 37 and finally back into Bloomington.
All in all an excellent day for a ride (and thank goodness the weatherman was off by a few hours this time).
Update from Jim Schroeder and the Century Crew:
Tom Schroeder, Mike Finger, and Jim Schroeder raced through Nashville and onto Stonehead where we turned west on Bellesville Pike. The newbies enjoyed this new road and scenery. We came upon a group of 20 cyclists going east toward Story Wine Festival, and a few of them were old friends of Jim from Ft Wayne. Small world! We thanked them for stimulating southern Indiana economy and headed to Columbus for lunch at Papa’s Deli. Tom told us of another stop downtown, an authentic soda fountain just a block south of Papa’s. Mike flatted due to some rough pavement on Hoover Rd as we heard some thunder rumbling. The skies emptied just before Bean Blossom as we rode the last 25 miles in light showers.
I was just thinking, if there were only 10 riders and 3 of us did the century, that’s 30%. What a great turnout for the first C ride!