Great BBC Rides Throughout the Week!
The hills around Bloomington and Monroe County offer great scenery and challenging routes for touring, training, and social cycling throughout the year. The BBC’s ride calendar accommodates cyclists of varying abilities and interests. Choose from the club rides described below to find a day and time, pace and group that suits you. Always bring a helmet and supplies but consider bringing a friend, too.
Saturday Club Touring Rides
Saturdays, March-October. Start times will change from month to month with the availability of light and the onset of Indiana heat and humidity. Check the ride calendar for starting times.
Meeting Place: Bryan Park Pool or East side parking lot
Pace: 13-17 mph
Mileage: Varies, see ride calendar. Short options are available on most routes. Touring rides take cyclists to surrounding counties and accommodate cyclists of a variety of abilities. Participants frequently break up into multiple groups determined by pace. Occasionally there will be drive & rides or longer ride extensions from fellow club members.
Ride leaders provide maps and ensure that no rider is completely dropped and all riders make it back to the starting point. On longer rides, leaders designate collection points to bring groups back together and identify rest stops for food and water. Mileage and difficulty of touring rides increase over the course of the summer. Touring rides are a great way to acquaint yourself with the area, build endurance, and meet others who share your interest in cycling.
BV Rides
Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5:45 pm
Meeting Place: Bryan Park Pool parking lot
Pace: 15-16 mph
Mileage: 20-40 miles
The BV Ride is an intermediate/advanced ride of moderate distance that may or may not include regrouping points. Pace is 17+ mph. Expect occasional sprint or Strava segments, pace line riding at high speed, intervals, and fewer regrouping stops. The starting point is the parking lot across from the Bryan Park Pool on Woodlawn at 5:45. Mileages will increase as the season progresses. If you keep coming we will make you faster!
OWLS Training Rides
Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5:45 pm
Meeting Place: Sherwood Oaks Church north side parking lot
Pace: 13-15 mph and 16-18 mph
Mileage: 20-30 miles
The “Older, Wiser, and a Little Slower” training group emphasizes moderate rides, and a route planned in advance that is posted on the ride calendar. This is a no drop ride, but not a beginner’s ride. The OWLS group welcomes a wide range of intermediate riders, and typically breaks off into a faster and slower group with the former averaging an overall moving speed of 16-18 mph, and the slower group averaging 13-15 mph (including hills). Distances vary from 20 to 30 miles, depending partly on available light. Early season rides will be somewhat shorter and slower. Rides depart promptly at 5:45. Here are some typical OWLS Maps.
Early Birds Rides
Tuesday and Thursday mornings or afternoons, time varies by season
Meeting Place: Bryan Park East Parking Lot, S. Woodlawn Ave. (usually)
Pace: 11-15 mph
Mileage: 20-30 miles
This branch of the OWLS training group emphasizes somewhat slower, moderate rides, and a route planned in advance that is posted on the ride calendar. Check the calendar for the occasional start somewhere besides Bryan Park. Start times are also posted on the calendar and vary from 8:30 am in summer to beat the heat to 1:30 pm in spring and fall to allow temperatures to warm up. This is a no drop ride, but not a beginner’s ride. Expect an overall average moving speed of 11-15 mph including hills. Distances typically vary from 20 to 30 miles. Since this weekday ride is not time-limited by sunset, short, unplanned side trips to explore new territory are sometimes added during the rides.
Sunday Nice ‘N Easy Rides
Sundays, 1:30 pm, March-October
Meeting Place: Bryan Park Pool parking lot
Pace: 8-12 mph
Mileage: 19-25 miles
Sunday rides feature lower mileage and slower paces. Routes are posted ahead of time on the BBC calendar. Nice ‘n Easy rides cater to those who want to take it easy and to beginning riders. Here is a map showing the Nice ‘n Easy rides.
BBC Rider Miles
Here is a table showing the miles ridden by BBC riders this year.
Here are the miles ridden in 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.
Here are rider calendars for 2019, 2018 and 2017.
These instructions tell you how to log your miles.
Log Your Miles Here