July is RAIN month in Indiana, that is Ride Across INdiana. I've considered this ride for the last two years and decided this was finally going to be the year for RAIN . This ride starts on the west side of Indiana in Terre Haute then goes east towards the finish at Richmond, Indiana. Most of the ride follows along old state highway 40 with a detour south of Indianapolis. Over 1,200 cyclist participated, that's the most cyclist I have ever seen at one time.
The plan:
My ambitious plan was to ride the RAIN, then ride another 60 miles to Greensburg to sleep in my own bed. Then get up the next day and ride the 130 miles back to Terre Haute to retrieve the pickup truck before returning home. That would be around 350 miles in two days. My goal for the RAIN ride is to complete it under 10 hours. I have yet to meet any of my long distance goals in the time I wanted this year, so I really want to get this one, it seemed simple enough, just 160 miles in 10 hours.
The start:
Since I couldn't convince my wife to assist me on the RAIN, I got up early and headed there on my own. I arrived at the Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College before 6:00, giving me over an hour before the ride starts. I quickly put on my riding gear, took one last bathroom break, then headed for the starting line. I situated myself in the 'less then 10 hours' area of the starting line. The different areas were loosely marked by signs along the side of the road.
Someone up front was making some announcements, but I was far enough back that I couldn't hear anything they were saying. Then suddenly everyone in front of me started moving, cuing me in that the ride has officially started! The riders all start on a downhill slope. I've never been in a mass start with 1,200 cyclist before and I quickly learned that if all in front are yelling "slowing" that means to start applying the brakes now and time to holler "slowing" yourself for the benefit of the cyclist behind you.
The first leg:
My plan was to skip the first sag stop at 37 miles then hit the second one at 62 miles. This is part of the 'make it under 10 hours plan'. I'm carrying three water bottles, so they should easily carry me to the second sag stop. I start off keeping up with the group I'm in, they're averaging around 18 MPH. For the most part there is no need to stop since there are police at all the intersections to let us through, we had to stop once to wait for a train. After a few miles the herd started to thin out. I then started to hit it a little harder. My right knee has been hurting a little since the start, I think I strained it a bit the weekend before. I was starting to worry that it may cause me to DNF, since it was hurting from the start.
The painful knee was not stopping me from pushing too hard though, I pushed my heart rate to the max a few times on this segment to show off my recumbent riding abilities. It didn't matter if I was going uphill, downhill or in a straightaway, I was having a great time pushing the bike as much as I could. I flew by the first sag stop, with no problems. It wasn't too much longer that I needed my third water bottle. It is low next to my rear wheel in such a way that I have to stop to swap it out with my easier to reach front water bottle. I'm still hitting it hard as I pulled into Plainfield.
Mechanical failure:
The second SAG stop is at the Plainfield Middle school. I quickly pump my gears to the lowest to prepare for the sag stop. Then I heard a sickening crunch and the pedals stopped turning. I quickly coasted to a stop and examined the damage. The chain was jammed between the rear sprocket and the spokes on the rear wheel. I lifted the rear wheel and pushed the bike on into the sag stop. I pulled out my screwdriver and pliers and messed with it for around 30 minutes trying to get the chain loose, I didn't even come close. It was jammed in real tight. I then knew I would need more help then I could provide.
I looked at the sheets for the ride looking for the number of a sag vehicle, figuring that they may take me to a nearby bike shop. To my surprise there were no numbers to call in case you needed help! I figure that it was probably since the ride has so many cyclist and a lot of them have their own personal vehicles. The sheet did have the number to a couple of bike shops though, so I called them to find out which one could pick me up. They were willing to work on my bike, but I needed to find a way to get there, they were all too busy to send a vehicle.
Next step: start asking anyone if they could either help me unjam the chain or take me to a bike shop. After a few minutes of asking around, I found someone willing to take me. I just needed to wait until his group that he was assisting was finished with the sag stop and continued on their way. I used the down time to search for the nearest bike shop, which was 'Gear Up' in Plainfield less then two miles away. Once his group headed out, I helped him mount my bike on his bike rack, then secured it for the trip. He then brought out his own tools and tried to pry the chain loose to no avail. He had larger tools then I had but the chain wouldn't budge. He then drove me to the bike shop, where I thanked him and he refused to take a tip for his troubles. I don't remember your name but thanks a lot for the ride, you saved my day!
From the moment I walked into the door, I knew I was in great hands, they started working on my bike right away. I expected some wait time. They ended up having to take off the rear socket to finally free the chain. They then trued the wheel and only charged around $20.00, I even asked, "Are you sure?", "For an emergency repair?" I ended up buying a mirror also. Did I mention that this shop also sells recumbent trikes? Yes they are the exclusive Terra Trike stocking dealer in Central Indiana. If you're in Indiana and are looking for a trike I'd stop by and see what they have to offer. While waiting in the shop I started to realize that I haven't refilled my water bottles yet and was growing thirsty, it had been a couple of hours since I pulled into Plainfield and had my last sip of water or had anything to eat. I was sting to wonder if this could have a negative impact on the rest of my ride.
I thanked the guys at the bike shop then headed back toward the sag stop. I then refilled my empty water bottles and grabbed some food. I also talked to a few other cyclist one that was curious about my arm and leg coolers that I use to keep from getting sun burnt. I learned from him that a long brim cap under your helmet can keep your face from getting burnt. I'll need to try that yet.
The second leg:
Finally, after two and a half hours of down time, I'm off onto the second leg of the ride!
The first leg was simple, just follow highway 40, the second leg, not as simple. This 50 mile leg winds itself around south of Indy to bypass the very busy downtown section of highway 40. This leg consists of back roads and city streets. This section was very slow, cars were being held up by cyclist which meant I was following slow cars along some narrow and winding roads. Perhaps if I hadn't lost two hours I would have been stuck with a faster group of cyclist.
The next sag stop was the lunch stop and also where the ride bike mechanic was at, if only my bike would have broken down here instead, I'd still be in great shape. I called my wife to let her know all was well. I then ate and headed out again. It was nice to be out of the headwind, but I was looking forward to getting back on highway 40.
The third leg:
Finally back on highway 40 and only around 45 more miles to go! I was still feeling good, plus my knee stopped bothering me. Since I lost two plus hours to the bike breakdown, there was no way I was going to finish under 10 hours. The rest of the ride was uneventful, although there were a lot of hills towards the end. I was starting to feel a bit weary plus it was much later then I had planned at this stage. I was starting to look forward to the end of this ride. Then there it was, The final right turn to the finish line! I turned in with cheers from spectators. They took my number for my official time and handed me my trophy, a RAIN pin. Finally it was over. My official time at the finish line was 7:41 for a 12 hours and 41 minutes, not quite under 10 hours. If it wasn't for the bike breakdown, it would have been close.
Getting back home:
I didn't have a real backup plan on how to get back home, my original plan was to ride home the 60 extra miles from here. But that was before the bike breakdown that cost me two hours, I was also feeling a bit tired, but I would be fine after a rest. The final straw though was the Garmin low battery warning that starting flashing over the last few miles. I really didn't want to ride that many more miles and not have it recorded.
They have a bus service for taking riders back the 160 miles to Terre Haute, this service was looking pretty good to me now. I quickly searched for the bus and asked if they had any room for the next trip back. With luck they did have room! It would only cost me $69.00, nice! The bikes are given a ride in a separate moving van. This is an excellent service and I would recommend it to anyone that needs a ride back after the RAIN ride. Their last trip starts at 9:00 so I had some time yet. I took a shower and changed into my dry biking clothes, these were packed within the bike seat itself. This is also where I always pack my visor (for rain) that attaches to my helmet and my first aid kit.
The bus left a couple of minutes late, they served some cookies and drinks on the very relaxing ride back to Terre Haute. The bus took us back to the starting line to pickup out vehicles then led us to where the moving van was going to drop off out bikes.
I packed up the bike and was back home in a couple of hours, my very first RAIN ride adventure completed.
Ride details on Strava link:
Ride summary:
