#14- Shaker Village edit
Date: July 16 Mond
Mileage: 35 (Bleriot)
July mileage: 284
Year to date: 1231
The pessimist in me sees dissatisfaction in the ride today, although the countryside was lovely and I enjoyed myself. After dropping Z off at camp in Casey Co. at lunch, I set about an afternoon of bike adventuring, first on a drive to scout some potential future roads in northern Casey Co. on a "mixed terrain" ride, or at the tail end of the Ride to Family Camp. Lovely roads, although beastly steep on occasion. I wasn't too awed by the length of them, but I'm not sure I could make it up the steep pitches. I didn't find that many gravel roads (I think the state is modernizing slowly but surely), but where the roads are dug into the hillside an enormous amount of gravel run-off covers the hillside. It would/will make for interesting "texture".
The second part of my adventure, the actual cycling, began at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill- Shakertown. Ruminating on the area while on the ride, I came to the realization that it's very similar to the utopian village found in the movie "The Village" by that British guy with the long name. Needless to say a co-ed utopian society organized around the premise of celibacy problem won't last too long, and it didn't. It's a delightful area if you're in central Kentucky, though. As stated, I got the routes for today from Joe Ward's "Wheeling around the Bluegrass". The plan was to link 2 different rides and give me a total of just short of 50 miles.
I started off on the 'Providence Church' portion of the ride, taking me through Mercer Co.'s version of central KY horse farms. Say what you will, this region of the world is damn pretty on a pretty day like today. This portion of the route was relatively flat and very pleasant. My first stumble was taking a right at one point when I needed to take a left. I remember stopping at the intersection and being unable to exactly decide. I decided wrong. I made a loop of just a few extra miles, but the cut-through road was the hilliest and most annoying of the day, my second stumble. You could tell that, while the rest of the area has nice brick homes and well-maintained fences and such, this road had the trailers and scrubby yards. I think the constant climbing up short, steep pitches really impacted my legs. I'm like one of those Belgian roulers; I can climb steady stuff, but unlike 'The Chicken', I can't do steep. I eventually got back on track and pretty-well finished the 'Providence' portion. The third stumble was the availability of water. It ended up pretty hot today, perhaps 92F or so, and I seriously went through some water. I gobbled down the first bottle. I took my time on the second, knowing I was running low, but there just weren't any resources to refill. Once I stopped at a church looking for a spigot, but it was rigged for pliers and I had none.
Knowing I was hot, lacking water, and had already taken 1 wrong turn, i cut short the 'Shakertown' portion of the ride, still wanting to do a portion of the southern route but looking for short cuts. The only thing that really got me through the last bit was the semi-frozen bottle of Gatorade I stowed in the Longflap. I froze it at home, stored it in a water cooler on the way down, and it still had a little slush in it at mile 27 or so. Damn, it was wonderful. I got slushy tummy shortly thereafter. Too much, too quickly. The southern route was okay, but not that scenic, and awarded me a nice steady climb away from Dix Dam and back towards Shaker Village. This is the disappointing part. All that planning and such and the best I could come up with is a 35-miler. My legs feel like they've done more. And certainly there is NO way I could've done an effective job on the much-hillier 'mixed-terrain' ride. Sitting here on July 16th, I can't imagine going from today, a difficult 35-miler I would characterize as "rolling", to a 100-miler to Family Camp in just a month and a half, one that would be much hillier. Reality sets in.
Don't know. I shouldn't be so negative. It was a good ride, a fun afternoon, and one I would do again. The highlights of the day are those little mundane moments that make the bike more worthwhile than the car. Firstly, I had a golden finch follow me for what seemed like a half mile, I in the road and he along the fence row. He was about 20 feet away, but we were going the exact same speed, he and I a pair in flight. Their flying motion is interesting; they beat their wings very quickly for a brief time and then begin gliding only to fall a bit and then beat their wings to gain altitude. It had a very wave-like quality to it. The second was the imminent dog attack, only this time it treated me so much better. Kentucky is known for its dogs, especially to those on an Adventure Cycling route. Today I only experienced one dog approach, but he was chicken. The only other time was in this downhill swoop where I was going at least 30mph+. I heard the pack on the left, but I was too fast and they didn't have a chance. I looked back when I could and there were 5 of them, their own gang, but they couldn't catch me! Shortly after that, while climbing a bit, I spied some ripe blackberries to the right. I had to, HAD TO, partake. The first was good, the second very good, but the third came with its own new gang, this time of bees or yellowjackets. They were all pretty pissed I was interrupting their lunch. I had a nasty bee sting a few years ago, so I skedaddled. Great moments, all three of these. I'll try to keep these more in mind, and my "failure" less so.
Classic bluegrass territory, with a nice road lined with trees and horse-farm fence
New Providence church. (scroll down for info at link) See if you can read the markers below for key info.
You probably can't read this. It deals with that fact that New Providence Church was home to Revolutionary War-era soldiers and pioneers. The church was established in 1785, and this building (above) was started in 1861. Old stuff here in the original frontier.
River. I'm too lazy to get the name of it from the Delorme Atlas. May be the Salt River, but I doubt. it.
Shiny Bleriot on bridge of same river.
Blackberries ripening.
Just like the Bleriot, "Old Style"
Gravel lane at Shakertown. "No vehicles allowed" Being on this briefly told me I would/will change to CdlVs for "mixed terrain".
I don't care about the shadow so much, but I sort of like the bike portion of this.
Mileage: 35 (Bleriot)
July mileage: 284
Year to date: 1231
The pessimist in me sees dissatisfaction in the ride today, although the countryside was lovely and I enjoyed myself. After dropping Z off at camp in Casey Co. at lunch, I set about an afternoon of bike adventuring, first on a drive to scout some potential future roads in northern Casey Co. on a "mixed terrain" ride, or at the tail end of the Ride to Family Camp. Lovely roads, although beastly steep on occasion. I wasn't too awed by the length of them, but I'm not sure I could make it up the steep pitches. I didn't find that many gravel roads (I think the state is modernizing slowly but surely), but where the roads are dug into the hillside an enormous amount of gravel run-off covers the hillside. It would/will make for interesting "texture".
The second part of my adventure, the actual cycling, began at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill- Shakertown. Ruminating on the area while on the ride, I came to the realization that it's very similar to the utopian village found in the movie "The Village" by that British guy with the long name. Needless to say a co-ed utopian society organized around the premise of celibacy problem won't last too long, and it didn't. It's a delightful area if you're in central Kentucky, though. As stated, I got the routes for today from Joe Ward's "Wheeling around the Bluegrass". The plan was to link 2 different rides and give me a total of just short of 50 miles.
I started off on the 'Providence Church' portion of the ride, taking me through Mercer Co.'s version of central KY horse farms. Say what you will, this region of the world is damn pretty on a pretty day like today. This portion of the route was relatively flat and very pleasant. My first stumble was taking a right at one point when I needed to take a left. I remember stopping at the intersection and being unable to exactly decide. I decided wrong. I made a loop of just a few extra miles, but the cut-through road was the hilliest and most annoying of the day, my second stumble. You could tell that, while the rest of the area has nice brick homes and well-maintained fences and such, this road had the trailers and scrubby yards. I think the constant climbing up short, steep pitches really impacted my legs. I'm like one of those Belgian roulers; I can climb steady stuff, but unlike 'The Chicken', I can't do steep. I eventually got back on track and pretty-well finished the 'Providence' portion. The third stumble was the availability of water. It ended up pretty hot today, perhaps 92F or so, and I seriously went through some water. I gobbled down the first bottle. I took my time on the second, knowing I was running low, but there just weren't any resources to refill. Once I stopped at a church looking for a spigot, but it was rigged for pliers and I had none.
Knowing I was hot, lacking water, and had already taken 1 wrong turn, i cut short the 'Shakertown' portion of the ride, still wanting to do a portion of the southern route but looking for short cuts. The only thing that really got me through the last bit was the semi-frozen bottle of Gatorade I stowed in the Longflap. I froze it at home, stored it in a water cooler on the way down, and it still had a little slush in it at mile 27 or so. Damn, it was wonderful. I got slushy tummy shortly thereafter. Too much, too quickly. The southern route was okay, but not that scenic, and awarded me a nice steady climb away from Dix Dam and back towards Shaker Village. This is the disappointing part. All that planning and such and the best I could come up with is a 35-miler. My legs feel like they've done more. And certainly there is NO way I could've done an effective job on the much-hillier 'mixed-terrain' ride. Sitting here on July 16th, I can't imagine going from today, a difficult 35-miler I would characterize as "rolling", to a 100-miler to Family Camp in just a month and a half, one that would be much hillier. Reality sets in.
Don't know. I shouldn't be so negative. It was a good ride, a fun afternoon, and one I would do again. The highlights of the day are those little mundane moments that make the bike more worthwhile than the car. Firstly, I had a golden finch follow me for what seemed like a half mile, I in the road and he along the fence row. He was about 20 feet away, but we were going the exact same speed, he and I a pair in flight. Their flying motion is interesting; they beat their wings very quickly for a brief time and then begin gliding only to fall a bit and then beat their wings to gain altitude. It had a very wave-like quality to it. The second was the imminent dog attack, only this time it treated me so much better. Kentucky is known for its dogs, especially to those on an Adventure Cycling route. Today I only experienced one dog approach, but he was chicken. The only other time was in this downhill swoop where I was going at least 30mph+. I heard the pack on the left, but I was too fast and they didn't have a chance. I looked back when I could and there were 5 of them, their own gang, but they couldn't catch me! Shortly after that, while climbing a bit, I spied some ripe blackberries to the right. I had to, HAD TO, partake. The first was good, the second very good, but the third came with its own new gang, this time of bees or yellowjackets. They were all pretty pissed I was interrupting their lunch. I had a nasty bee sting a few years ago, so I skedaddled. Great moments, all three of these. I'll try to keep these more in mind, and my "failure" less so.
Classic bluegrass territory, with a nice road lined with trees and horse-farm fence
New Providence church. (scroll down for info at link) See if you can read the markers below for key info.
You probably can't read this. It deals with that fact that New Providence Church was home to Revolutionary War-era soldiers and pioneers. The church was established in 1785, and this building (above) was started in 1861. Old stuff here in the original frontier.
River. I'm too lazy to get the name of it from the Delorme Atlas. May be the Salt River, but I doubt. it.
Shiny Bleriot on bridge of same river.
Blackberries ripening.
Just like the Bleriot, "Old Style"
Gravel lane at Shakertown. "No vehicles allowed" Being on this briefly told me I would/will change to CdlVs for "mixed terrain".
I don't care about the shadow so much, but I sort of like the bike portion of this.
Comments