2011

As such, in no particular order:

1. IF Club Racer- The capitalist system provided me the good fortune to get a "dream" bike, a custom Independent Fabrication Ti Club Racer, finally delivered in late February after winter-long planning.It's been an excellent ride so far, falling just slightly into second place on the year due to my unwillingness to ride it in the muck. I never did do a "reveal" post. The Blueridge got a new steel fork and it transformed that bike, becoming my oft-used beater in balance with my 'Precious', the IF.



2.  4459 miles for the year, my highest total ever. A good year on the bike until around Thanksgiving; I didn't feel particularly good after that for the remainder of 2011. The Blueridge won the mileage award with 932m, the Ute the # of trips with 58. My mileage was nicely spaced within my many steeds, although the RB-1 and the SSFrankenTrek got little love this past year. 

3. I did my first bike race in years and years in the Gravel Grovel in late November. I didn't finish last, didn't miss the time cutoff and didn't hurt myself, so it's all good. I had a tough ride b/c I didn't feel very good, but the C'dale 29er did it's job and it was enjoyable working towards a goal, as we did all throughout the Fall with our gravel and distance training rides.


4. My strongest ride of the year was a gravel adventure out of Orleans in late August. We were 5 and took in almost 70 miles of Indiana pavement, corn fields and gravel. I have probably never felt stronger on a long ride than on this one. It felt great, and the company of 5 was an excellent one to enjoy a long day in the saddle.


5. The 'No Road' ride in Fall was another particularly nice time. Three of us did a 'training' ride in Henry and Owen Counties in preparation for the GG. We met the cold, the disappearing road, and some really nice river riding along the Kentucky in both Henry and Owen Counties. I felt good on this day too, and the Crosscheck was an excellent choice, as were my companions.



6.  I completed 3 centuries this year, a personal record as well. Of the three, the third was by far the easiest. The first took place in April when I seriously needed a pressure valve day after a busy batch of life. I coerced Dave into going with me for 100+ miles through western Shelby and Spencer (and Jefferson). It was also the first long ride on the IF and was very positive until about mile 90 when I totally ran out of gas. The second was my now-traditional Family Camp Hundy, this year done during temps approaching 100F. It was hot and I suffered, Mightily. I thank my cycling friends for getting me through that one with some well-placed text messages at mile 70 in Danville. The third took place on my birthday, the Bday Hundy. Instead of heat we had an entire day of 55F and rain, sometimes heavy. It was a great day on the bike and again, I'll thank Dave for being complicit in my idiocy. That was another strong day.

7. Holland Frozen Hell was quite an adventure in January. We organized it as an RCCS ride and got a nice joiner group from the Southern Indiana Wheelman MtBike crew. Conditions were interesting with 15F temps and 5" of snow on the ground. Everyone was on mtbikes save Dave, who labored with his LHT+studs. Total mileage ended up maybe around 40, but this was a memorable one and it was great to meet and ride with some new riders who also ride in stupid conditions.


8. I'm not ranking, but the Muscutatuck/Crosley mixed-terrain ride than Apertome organized for February was tough to top. I think the mileage was just short of 50, but we encountered all manners of surfaces including some dirt in CrosleyWMA. We were also joined by Kirk and Cathy, who are very active in the LouisvilleBicycleClub and were game campanions (with Dave and Apertome, of course). The sun shone on us spectacularly that day.

9. SummerCyclingSeason- After a busy Spring of tennis and kiddie soccer I was chomping at the bit to RIDE, and that I did in June and July until vacation. I set a personal monthly mileage record of 627 in June, and that was with no ride over 60m. It was a great month and a half.

10. Although non-cycling content, I have to put our West Coast trip in the top 10. In July we toured from Seattle to SanFran, seeing the urban beauty of Seattle, the hipster chic of Portland, the Blue of Crater Lake, the majesty of the redwoods and the subtle textures of the CA coast before finishing for a brief, nice trip in SanFran. Boy, that was one hell of a way to spend 2 weeks!!! (And golly gee, I love that pic below. Our Dauphin).


11. I almost forgot, but I have to mention my foray to Brown Co SP for mountain biking with Apertome and Dave G this Fall. Did I have any funner day on 2 wheels this year than this 25m of ripping and flowing? Probably not.



You know, others deserved to be included for all kinds of reasons. Michael and I had an excellent ride out of Mucutack for more IN rambling later in the year, and my aborted 40m/97F gravel ride was a memorable one. I had fun this Fall doing Monday evening 'cross practice-sometimes with Dave- for a late season race, but paying $45 for DFL is unnecessary. This year was also one of unmet goals. I was going to do the 200K brevet, but failed to. Dave, Apertome and I were fully planned to do a RedRiverGorge camping weekend but two of us got sick. The 'cross race unfulfilled. December. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things there. All in all, an excellent year on two wheels.

Comments

David Crowell said…
I'm glad I've been a part of some of your great rides. We need a bunch more of them in 2012.
Apertome said…
We had a number of great rides this year. I petered out the last couple months, but you kept going better than I did. Kudos. Who knows what this year will hold?

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