Great Lakes - OK RAIN riders, who is up for the RAINSTORM '08

So RAIN wasn't enough for you, need a few more miles? The TRIRI (Touring Ride in Rural Indiana) folks are offering a new opportunity. Starting July 7th in Richmond, you'll head southeast and ride 5 consecutive centuries ending in Terre Haute, then on Saturday, you get to ride 160 miles straight back to Richmond. So who's in? Could be fun! Pick up a copy of MidWest Bike and check the back cover for more info, I couldn't find any web info yet.

WTF! - What a sufferfest. 6 straight days of looking at corn! Oh the humanity!


;)

and in July

No offense to Indiana, which is about as ideal as it gets for consecutive centuries, but if I'm missing 5 days of work for cycling, rural Indiana isn't it.

I was born in Indy. Mostly grew up in Bloomington. Went to Purdue. I don't hate Indiana. Seriously.


....but I think Shemp hit it on the head, and it goes to my corn comment as well. It's the whole "give up a week of work thing". That's pretty valuable time.....;)


But I DO love the concept!

This could be very cool, depending on the route. Day 1 could be a ride from Richmond to the Cincinnati area, which is an underrated place to ride. I did a few brevets there earlier this year and trust me, there are plenty of hills and it's a fun place to ride. Day 2 could shoot southwest around the KY/IN border towards Louisville, then day 3 could take the riders north towards Brown County, IN. Brown County is a wonderful place to ride. Days 4 and 5 could be easier recovery-type rides from Brown County to Bloomington and ultimately Terre Haute. The route could head into Illinois a bit just to throw another state in there. 4 states is better than 3.

Maybe there isn't more than corn in Indiana, but there has to be more than corn in Indiana/Ohio/Kentucky/Illinois, right? Maybe not. ;)

So in other words if you head North of I-70 then there is nothing....;) 5 Days in Southern Indiana/OH/KY might not be so bad.

Living in Eastern Indiana, just south of I-70, I think we have wonderful riding. You can run flat, lots of rolling routes, and even some long hills if so inclined. I think it's a great place to live as a cyclist, well San Diego would be better, but for the MidWest there are some very good rides.

As for RAINSTORM:

Day 1: Heading Southwest from Richmond to Brown County State Park (Abe Martin Lodge)
Day 2: From Brown County travel Southeast to Clifty Falls State Park (Clifty Inn)
Day 3: From Clifty travel West to Spring Mill State Park (Spring Mill Inn)
Day 4: From Spring Mill travel North to Bloomington
Day 5: From Bloomington travel Northwest to Terre Haute
Day 6: RAIN ride Terre Haute back to Richmond - 160 miles

The producer of the genetically altered corn changes. So there is some change in the scenery :)

This sounds like RAGBRAI, but without the beer stops and people having fun.

Living in Eastern Indiana, just south of I-70, I think we have wonderful riding. You can run flat, lots of rolling routes, and even some long hills if so inclined. I think it's a great place to live as a cyclist, well San Diego would be better, but for the MidWest there are some very good rides.

As for RAINSTORM:

Day 1: Heading Southwest from Richmond to Brown County State Park (Abe Martin Lodge)
Day 2: From Brown County travel Southeast to Clifty Falls State Park (Clifty Inn)
Day 3: From Clifty travel West to Spring Mill State Park (Spring Mill Inn)
Day 4: From Spring Mill travel North to Bloomington
Day 5: From Bloomington travel Northwest to Terre Haute
Day 6: RAIN ride Terre Haute back to Richmond - 160 miles

Sounds like a good route to me. Let us know if you do find some info online.

Oh man, that's worth thinking about at least...I've never done 5 consecutive centures befor, but I have done the RAIN ride twice befor. I might have to e-mail my group of people who went with me out to CO this past summer and talk to them about doing this..Interesting, I mean yeah the sceanery wouldn't be much, but it would be more of can I ride that much, more of a mental/physical challange..

So R900, I might be in, I'll have to let you know..

Take care,
Benjamin

6 straight days of looking at corn!

Yeah, sounds like you´re thinking of northern Indiana. That´s the first pic. Verrrrrrrrrra dull. The second pic is of southern Indiana. It may not be the Rockies or the Appalachians, but it´s not bad

http://kahannah.iweb.bsu.edu/images/Northern.jpg
http://kahannah.iweb.bsu.edu/images/Southern.jpg

Just found out about this on a brochure from Triri I didn't open for two months.

5 days of centuries across southern Indiana followed by RAIN on day 6? Make fun of Indiana all you want, but as soon as I read about it, I want to do it.

Would need a roomie though. Can't swing the single occupancy rate. Heck, can barely swing the double. But it's a 40th BD present to myself.

Hey Hillmaster, you out there? What ya doin' from July 7-12? Anyone else?

Triri's RAINSTORM info page is here (http://triri.org/storm.html).

FWIW, unless it's misprinted, Day 1 starts out w/ 130 miles. Not just a century. Awesome.

If anyone's interested...

The day before RAIN (Bloomington to Terre Haute) you'll probably be riding terrain like this: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4137222#

It'll be kind of hilly at first and then start to flatten out once you get closer to Terre Haute.

Looks like similar to Day 1 of the Hilly.. same area on the top half of your route.

Cool data on the motionbased.com site. What device do you use to record and send info? I'm thinking about a GPS unit somewhere in the not to distant future. Garmin likely, but haven't even begun to research.

Looks like similar to Day 1 of the Hilly.. same area on the top half of your route.

Cool data on the motionbased.com site. What device do you use to record and send info? I'm thinking about a GPS unit somewhere in the not to distant future. Garmin likely, but haven't even begun to research.

I bought a Garmin 305 towards the end of last year from geomangear.com. There was also a $75 off coupon put out by Power Bar that I used that has since expired. It's a great little machine and I love all the stats and maps I can export to Google maps and Google Earth! I only use the motionbased for posts such as this because of the subscription you have to buy ($90 a year, first ten are free) and use Ascent (http://www.montebellosoftware.com/) (which runs locally on my own computer) for the rest of my rides.

Cheers!

*edit* Yeah, part of the second half of that ride is the first day of the Hilly backwards towards Bloomington.

This sounds like RAGBRAI, but without the beer stops and people having fun.

You are correct. We stopped allowing people to have fun in Indiana long ago.

You are correct. We stopped allowing people to have fun in Indiana long ago.

Hey, wait a minute. No beer stops?

I'm out.

You are correct. We stopped allowing people to have fun in Indiana long ago.

Hmmm...must have just happened by default when I finally left.

Well, I'm now signed up for RAINSTORM. I'm gonna smuggle some fun across the OH/IN border wit me. :p

As far as I know, there's about 24 other suckers willing to do this so far. They'll either become my newest bestest friends or we'll all kill each other (or drop dead) before we get to Terre Haute! :D

I was up for RAIN... but now I'm doing a 15day tour ride in Canada... so now I can't do RAIN :(

I was up for RAIN... but now I'm doing a 15day tour ride in Canada... so now I can't do RAIN :(

Sounds like fun. I'm so tempted to do the Fireweed 400 (http://www.fireweed400.com/Entry%20Form.htm), but it's the same day as RAIN. I'm hoping they're on a different day one of the next 2 years.