Jet Travis

That's the challenge of the annual RAIN (Ride Across Indiana) event on July 12, 2008. The ride goes west to east across the state through (mostly) rural rolling-to-flat landscapes. The event starts at 7:00 a.m. in Terre Haute and officially ends at 9:00 p.m. (sundown). Usually, the prevailing winds will be at your back.

There are three rest stops and a lunch stop. You can set up your own sag support or sign up with a service that will take care of you and haul your tired butt back to the starting line. More info here:

https://bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/tours/rain/rain.html

I'm not sure I'm going to go for it, but I'm tempted. I do think it would be great to have a BF 50+ contingent on the route.

Monoborracho

Ah Jet, you must have gotten your flier for TRIRI yesterday (I did). The really ambitious can do RAINStorm---five back to back centuries before RAIN.

I will not be signing up for that one.

I think I'm going to do Oklahoma Freewheel this year.

neilG

I can't think of a single thing I want to do for more than 8 hours at a time.

Rick@OCRR

Well Jet,

That's just 40 miles short of a double, so why quit at 160? That time of year, with that much daylight, a double is pretty easy to complete without lights.

Get your registration in early so you'll have a definite goal for your training in 2008!

Rick / OCRR

Kurt Erlenbach

I was thinking today about the "bucket list" thread here, and one thing I thought I would like to do is to ride across Florida. I've come up with a route that's about 130 miles. Riding across your home state would be a great accomplishment

tsl

Which sure sounds like a good reason to be I'm glad I'm not from Montana! Or Alaska or Texas. Or at the other end, Rhode Island or Delaware.

BlazingPedals

I've thunk of doing RAIN, but the prospect of 160 miles in 102F with 80% humidity and no shade puts me off every time.

Terrierman

That sounds a little too brutal for the likes of me and my dogs. Thanks anyway.

making

It probably wont be over a 100 degrees, but it might be over 90. A bunch of us from the VA are doing it. I will agree to about anything this far out.

CyLowe97

RAIN 2007 was a tailwind 90% of the way. I usually can't average 20 mph for a 10 mile ride, but did average 20 mph for 160 on RAIN. Here's a link to the ride reports over in the Great Lakes subforum.

RAIN 2006, from what I understand was hot and hard. The guys I rode with in 2007 did the ride several hours faster than in 2006.

Beverly

I'm definitely not tempted

I would love to do a ride like this but since my long distant experience consists on one century I'll have to pass this year.

MKahrl

I did RAIN in 2006. The first 90 miles were pretty nice. The last 70 were a nightmare. I and my group thought we were prepared. We had done enough 140 mile training rides to get our food and water needs sorted out but that 102 degree weather was so brutal it threw us for a loop. By the last 30 miles I had run out of gas and I had to average 15 mph to make the cutoff. I made it with ten minutes to spare.

I learned a few hard lessons and we may do it again this summer with a few changes in place.

Louis

And I've been asking myself lately if I'm ever going to do any more centuries.

stapfam

That 160 seems like the next challenge up. Just a pity that the weather sounds as though it could upset a few riders. I have ridden in 100f and it did not affect me- but I took certain precautions- Plenty of salt in the system to start with. Drinks had an Isotonic additive and I also drunk plenty of water. Snacks were salty ones and I also made certain that I had energy gels every couple of hours- Or before I needed them.

The only time I felt the heat was when I stopped so that was in shade and also with a bottle of water to pour over the head if needed. In fact the only problem I had was Sweat running into the eyes and This was only cured by putting a handkerchief under the helmet. No need to wring it out as the sweat evaporated off the cotton very quickly.

Big Paulie

Well, you have to on your 100th birthday...

BSLeVan

I'd love to take on something like this, but I'm not sure I could make the time limits. I think I'd be good for the first 100, but its been a long, long time since I attempted anything longer than that. Did you look at the results for 2007? Six hours and 33 minutes? Wow, they were flying. What would have been really cool is if you could see the ages of the riders next to their finish time.

Jet Travis

In that heat, I think I might rather have a gin-and-tonic additive.

PAlt

Check the subtitle...RAIN rider in 2007 after waiting 15yrs to do it again. Took almost an hour off my time in '92. That was my '07 challenge, this year it's Assault on Mt Mitchell, inspired by our own jppe. RAIN is a GREAT event, and gives one a great sense of accomplishment upon finishing. I WILL be there again this year, SAG'd by not only my wife(last year), but my twin daughters as well. They claim to be excited to be able to go this year, we'll see how Mom feels after 7-8 hrs in the car with them

Tom Bombadil

Can we ride it as a 50+ tag team?

cranky old dude

We'ld probably lose too much time trying to decide which of our bikes to ride.

chipcom 

Go for it. I did it last year...came in at 9:59 total ride time, 420 out of 1002 riders...and a lot of folks older than me came in ahead of me. It's a nice ride, we had a good tailwind for about 3/4 of the ride, the only exceptions being the route around Indy and a construction detour. Folks sit out in their yards and at the side of the road cheering you on...kinda cool. If you can, it's best to ride with a group. I got dropped after about 10 miles from the group of BF speedsters I met up with at the start...but Cheri was sagging for me, so at least I got a few nice rest stops that included fresh fruit, cookies, ice cold lemonade...and a neck massage!

jppe

Very interesting. Does anyone have a ride profile or know how much total climbing is involved?

JanMM

RAIN goes right by my neighborhood on the southside of Indianapolis. It seldom hits 102 in Indiana but often is too damn hot 'n' humid.
I work every Saturday and Sunday so I've never seen them go by, much less ridden it. Quite an accomplishment to finish.

PAlt

jppe - Only about 3200 ft total climb over the route, a mere "pimple". A few rollers early and a gradual climb into Richmond at the end.

MKahrl

That area south of Indianapolis was a killer. The east-west route crossed what seemed like a hundred north-south arterial roads. And there was a stop sign or light at each one. Pedal a block, stop, pedal a block, stop. This went on for an hour.

I'm curious how the guys who average over 20 mph for the course handled that stretch. Did they stop at each one and then accelerate up to 20 mph and come to a stop at the end of each block? I'm guessing they blew through every one of them; no mean feat considering the heavy cross traffic.