Day 36, 87 miles, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Day 36, 87 miles, Crawfordsville, Indiana

15.0 mph average speed
6,100 calories

Total actual miles I’ve ridden on this trip so far = 2,748 (77 miles over the published mileage due to “off route excursions, extra miles to score centuries, etc.)

“Oh, what a beautiful morning.
Oh, what a beautiful day.
I’ve got that wonderful feeling.
Everything’s going my way.
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow….”

That’s all I remember, but you get the picture. It was a beautiful morning. There was a bright golden haze hanging over the corn fields. The air was cool, albeit a bit humid. The roads were straight. We went off route (in this context, meaning “got lost”) for 5 miles, but 5 miles at the beginning of the day is no big deal, whereas 5 miles at the end of the day is. I rode with Jose, Dan, and Skip, who being from Indiana understood its geography and how the land is gridded out. Left to my sense of direction, I would have been back in Missouri. When we got to the “Welcome to Indiana” sign, we caught up with Gerard, Audrey, and a few others. We horsed around in front of the sign. I spread my arms in welcome, Skip stood on his head, and Audrey tried to stand on the seat of her bike.

We rode together until SAG Stop #2 in the little town of Veedersburg. There I had lunch at a very eclectic, and very good restaurant, “The Bus Stop.” Lee, the owner, cook, baker, and hostess exuded energy, and it wasn’t just her hot pink pants. Every thing in the restaurant was prepared fresh, from scratch. They’d just opened a bakery so there were homemade pies (strawberry rhubarb, boysenberry, almond walnut, cookie cheese cake) and bread (at least four fresh baked today). Lee is also a “cage fighter” (I’m not sure what that is, except that she got banged up and a broken cheek bone before her husband and employees asked her to please stop), and an exterior artist who paints houses vivid colors (in the San Francisco style) and paints/restores murals on the sides of building. So we talked a lot about what she does and what we do. (We were her afternoon rush). My chicken parm sandwich was the best. period. It wasn’t the standard breaded piece of preformed chicken on a stale hoagie roll dripping of jar sauce. No, it was a freshly breaded and lightly fried chicken breast with just enough home made marinara sauce to fill the mouth but not drip off the sandwhich grilled on freshly baked herbed garlic bread. Unfortunately, that left no room for pie.

Tomorrow’s ride into Indianapolis will be short (~65 miles) but with lots to do along the way. We’ll be able to tour a bicycle factory, checkout the speedway, and ride in a velodrome (indoor bicycle track).

Jeff, my buddy from New Zealand will be leaving us tomorrow. He’s ridden as much as he’s wanted to ride and is pretty excited to be going back home. I can relate to that.