Could it be like the US 40 ride across Nevada. We had no red lights for three whole days. Couple stop signs, tho.

I believe it is the same old US 40. It cuts right across the middle of Indiana. Unfortunately there are many more people along it in Indiana though so we have to detour around Indianapolis.

Last year's report:
https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/211221-rain-ride-across-indiana-report-long.html

Hey Psimet, You just dont do anything with half effort!! Great post, pics, and write up. This is just classic stuff man. I love it.

For the record I think I did go over The Roller on Tower Hill first. I was with Velodev. However, I dont think anyone knew it was part of the KOM comp. There were two times Shider and I sprinted up a roller for the KOM. It was the first and the last, which we thought was around those railroad tracks that I never spotted. The second KOM points were as we left some town and Shider had no idea. I grabbed his wheel then went past him just at the top. If he would have known he would have taken that one too. When we rode together most of the day and he dropped me on every roller out there. He clearly was the KOM in my mind and deserves the prize!

Best Kit = dekalbSTEEL. He had the water theme down pat from the jersey to the socks to the case of 24 Hinkley Spring he brought to share. Plus, I really like cookies.

Best Bike = Well my favorite was kimbercops Penny. The blue tires get me every time. Close second was S_Dog and his Scott. Carbon Fiber, black and yellow beauty. The matching black & yellow carbon fiber cages were sweet.

Unstoppable = Psimet2001. You organized the ride with a unique format and pulled it off perfectly. You had Sarge for SAG, Cue Sheets, Maps, KOM/QOM comps, and you didnt get mad when those boobs hammered it off the front and got lost. Finally you post a most epic write up with pics a day latter.

WI Riders = Chasing the Knave all day? I really dont know.

Later.

Best Kit DekalbSteel wins hands down. Matching socks and gloves, it just all worked.

Best Bike I love kimbercop's Pinarello. It's a total classic. I really liked nothingman's Litespeed and Shider's oldskool Trek as well.

Unstoppable Tie between Ahem23 and Shider. Those guys were way in front and probably could have ripped us up even more if they wanted to.

WI Riders Maybe we smell?


Friggin fantastic time. Many, many thanks to Psi for organizing, riding a dynamite sweep for us stragglers, and picking some pristine roads. I wish I could have chatted with more of you, but my slow butt was hanging off the back the whole time (50 QOM points...woohoo ). Thanks also to DekalbSteel for the delicious cookies. On a side note, I have never seen a road littered with that many grasshoppers before....I think it was about 15 miles into the second loop. They were hopping all over the place to avoid our wheels.

Let's do it again next weekend .

First, great weather, great ride, great planning, great write-up. Thanks, Psimet. Second, thanks big-time to Shider and Aham for some heavy duty pulling . And to everybody else who did pulls too, but it seemed every time I looked up it was one of those two. I'm pretty shocked I was even able to hang in there most of the time. Although you guys did just about kill me at that pace . I have this reallly bad habit of not accepting my limits. I probably should have been riding with the second group most of the time, but its like following a friend down a double diamond ski run when you know you're more of a high intermediate. That's the first long ride I've done on a road bike. No wonder I almost died when I tried it on a mountain bike and then a hybrid (why I ever spent money on a hybrid I'll never know ). And I just got that thing last fall, and didn't put a computer on it until last night (it took me two months and this ride being eight hours away to get me to find time). I didn't even know I COULD go that fast without riding off a cliff. ANyway...thanks to everybody. I had a great time. Survived, barely.

Confusion over the KOM points in the flatlands of Illinois?

Perhaps conflicts with the first Cyclocross race in Wisconsin?


Nope, we were all at the Pearl Izumi outlet after discovering its existence!

Almost forgot, but here are my garmin stats for my lone loop (number 2).

Just for reference, my heart rate at the rest stop never got "down" to ahem's average heart rate for the whole century . I'm pretty sure that ahem is a robot...

Our US 40 tour had no cities to detour. Our tour leaders told us, US 40 ends in San Francisco. THink it starts in Baltimore. It was my favorite tour, I've ever completed. It was more like 460 miles. Not to be done in one day. My jersey has a big US 40 posted on it too.

What? Did nobody pay attention to Drag's Litespeed Tuscany?

Y'all can have the CF Scott (droolworthy, to be sure!), the Italian Pinarello and steel Bianchi, but I'll be drooling over the Ti frameset. Drag, you're going to be happy with that bike for a long long time! Way to go on your longest ride of your brief roadie career.


So.... who's got next? I'm already formulating routes out in the same area for next Spring, but we're going to need some variety in location.

I can tell you that there are a lot of good riding road to the west of that area. A good place to start if you don't already have them is to get maps from here:
https://www.dot.state.il.us/bikemap/bikehome.htm
You can order a set of paper maps for free (Your tax dollars at work!) or struggle with the fairly poor on line version. They have coded each section of road for suitability for bicycle riding. The only issue I've had is when expansion joints (a personal annoyance) or other surface considerations ruin the road.

I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I had a great time and look forward to seeing all of you again.

Looks like a good ride all.

Best Bike: I have a few honorables in this category...
1. I have to say it was shider. Mainly because I used to ride the exact rig (but different frame). Full Shimano 600 group, Look pedals, Modolo bars, same neon-yellow tape (just like my old rig) - Hard to see, but CyLowe...recognize those pedals in this picture??

EDIT:BTW Shider was riding a 7spd x-21 rear...monster...


Here's that frame with the 600 setup...





2. Dekalb's Bianchi. Beautiful...between that and Kimbercops Pinnarello I am starting to get a Campy itch that I might have to scratch...

3. Drag's Titanium beast. Beautiful rig. I thought I was going to go blind from the glare...

4. JPWs Specialized - man that's a beautiful rig.

Honorable mentions for Scott's Schwinn Traveler complete with panniers, and Joe's Giant TCR (welcome to the GOA (Giant Owner's Association)

It seems to be customary to give a short right up celebrating one’s first century. Here are a few notes from mine that can be added to the overall report:

As I’m driving to the meeting point my truck’s outside thermometer is registering 40 degrees and I suddenly realize that although I have packed everything I thought I might need, I didn’t have any kind of jacket with me. By the time I arrived it had warmed up to 46 and I was feeling a little more comfortable. Anything above 45 and I still end up sweating so I knew as soon as we got going I’d be all right. I felt a little weird with just my jersey on surrounded by guys in jackets, tights, and full fingered gloves but, hey, to each his own.

We pulled out as a group and although I’m sure we all meant to start out slowly it wasn’t long before we were hammering away at 20+ mph, a speed I generally reserve for down hill. I was a little nervous about riding in a group. Sure I’ve read the threads on BikeForums about group and paceline riding but reading and doing are two different things. I felt more comfortable riding near the front where I could get a better view of the road ahead and this of course put me among the faster riders. Before the ride I had told myself that I was going to take it easy, especially on the first leg, because I didn’t have any experience riding over 70 miles and I can count the number of rides over 50 miles on one hand. Somehow though, that all went out the window when I got on the bike. It was a great day for riding and I felt really strong. Before I knew it, I was pulling at the front and still managing the pace.

This is going great I thought, and then someone pointed out that we were off course and we’d add an extra mile to get back on the route. Sure I had the route in my pocket but I like everyone around me assumed that someone else was paying attention to where we were going. It wasn’t long before we rejoined those that had stayed on course and then Psimet2001 pulled the group together to announce the first King of the Mountain (later aptly renamed King or the Rollers). We made the turn and started towards the hill. It wasn’t much and I was near the front so I thought I’d have a go. Ok, I’m a competitive person. I’m not obnoxious about it, but if there’s going to be a race, I’m going to go for it. At the same time my reasonable side keeps reminding me that we still have 80 or so miles to go. On the other hand, what’s a little anaerobic sprint going to hurt and besides, there has to be a downhill on the other side right? When a couple other riders started to accelerate I started cranking and quickly found myself in the front. I don’t mean to sound immodest. As I’ve stated the only time I tried riding with a group (chance encounter) this year I couldn’t catch up to them until they waited for another dropped rider and then they promptly dropped me on the next hill. So here I am out in front pedaling up the hill with this dreadful sense that I have to be doing something very wrong; just like the guy who starts his sprint 100m too early and gets swamped by the rest of the sprinters well before the line. Much to my surprise I make it up the hill first and find a slight dip followed by another short hill. Not knowing whether it was the first or second summit (to use the term loosely) I worked hard up the second one and maintained my lead. That causes some burn but also some sense of pride too. After turning onto a more major road, that pride was wiped away when coasting down a long hill, someone goes flying past me at greater than 10mph differential. I just tighten my tuck a little and remember there is a long way to go.

The first leg completed at what I considered a very fast pace and we returned to the pits for refueling. The next leg started out slowly again until we found our legs and the pace picked up. I tried riding at the back or middle of the pack again and once more found it far more comfortable to be nearer the front. About halfway through the second loop we were doing a long stretch south into the wind. Aham23 led the way as he did for most of the ride and I did my best to maintain the pace after he pulled off. After a mile or so of this I felt my right calf trying to tie itself in a knot. Fearful that this was going to be the end of my ride at mile 52, I backed off quickly and found that the two of us had gapped the rest of the group by a significant distance. I tried to hang on his tail but quickly found that this was not going to happen without immense pain. As he pulled away from me I tried to let him know he was by himself but he just disappeared into the distance as I tried to spin myself back into some sort of comfort. Luckily by the time the rest of the group had caught up to me I was just about able to hang on to them. That calf, and later, the same knee didn’t feel right for the rest of the trip but they got me through. In fact they’re still giving me fits today on my commute.

The rest period between the second and third legs was significantly longer which allowed all of us to eat something and rest up a little. I’m not sure if it was in the second or third leg but I owe whoever was behind me an apology for the skunk road kill. I didn’t see it until I was nearly on top of it and a quick swerve of avoidance didn’t leave me with enough hands or time to indicate the hazard. The rest of the miles piled on and I was still feeling pretty good except for my right calf/knee and my hands. It felt like the heels of my hands were bruised and every expansion joint nailed it home. The worst part of this was that no matter what hand position I used it always had the same effect. Coming back onto Allen road brought feelings of relief mixed with the knowledge that we had another couple of miles all slightly up hill before we were finished. Once again Aham23 pulled me along and I completed my first century! Yippee me! Now let’s do another one, just not for another week or so, so that I can recover.

Again thanks for all the effort put in to organizing the event. The directions and maps were great even if I didn’t read them all the time and a few of the street signs were missing.

Thanks to those who brought and shared food, the cookie was delicious even if I don’t know what the white bits in it were.

Also, a big thanks (sarcasm) for proving that I can get along just fine (on fairly flat roads) with my downtube shifters. How am I ever going to justify a new road bike at this rate?

I'd like to reiterate what a great outing this was.

You guys are a class act! Thanks for allowing me to ride in the paceline and I apologize to anybody attempting to follow my squirly rear wheel.

A special thank-you goes out to Cylowe97 and JPW for pulling me along at the very end.

On top of that, I do now believe a century is very doable. Probably not at the pace we did this weekend , but certainly something I see as part of my personal goals for next year (if not this one).

Thanks again to all of you gentlemen! You guys rock!

Hey, I'm starting to think about stringing together a year where I ride a century every month. Let me know if anyone is interested in doing one in November...

Psimet -

Come on. Admit it. You're a masochist, aren't you?


Wow. A century a month for a year. Now that's an achievement!

November could be reasonably done, but Jan. and Feb. would be interesting. Me thinks some traveling would be in order on those months.

Studded tires and mountain bikes! Bring it on...

Yeah, I appreciate that. I don't know what I would have done without those extra miles. My real goal was to do a 107 anyway, so that helped me out a lot!

Mountain bikes?

Did someone say MOUNTAIN BIKES?

Hey Guys. Thanks for a Great Ride. I hope we can do it again. John

1. That was me! (I told you guys I was going to be flying on those downhills )

2. The cookies were cranberry, pecan, white chocolate chip from Shawn's Cafe in Sycamore.

3. You don't need any justification to buy a new bike, just do it!

Great ride all! Sorry I didn't get to chat with everyone. Hope to make that up next time around. Shider, I don't think I have ever seen anyone work those dt shifters like you can! At one point, I saw you shift both the front and rear derailleur simultaneously with a simple flick of your hand. I recall we were moving at a pretty good clip and that maneuver was flawless!

nm