"Beauty is not the primary goal today..."

Well, in fact it was the primary goal, on this blissful A+, *****, primo ride this morning through the Indiana countryside, hosted by Dave out of Charlestown. I'm going to let the pics do most of the talking.

Dave up ahead in a nice little valley

New Market is looking pretty old, but loads of character

Nasty little climb up into New Market

Dave

Crossing creek, with old bridge in distance (we crossed it before the turn)

School house? on New Washington/Bethlehem

The Ohio R. in Bethlehem. I think there is a LBC ride to Bethlehem in December to have Xmas cards stamped appropriately.


Vicious climb up Charlestown/Bethlehem Rd.



Barge on the Ohio R. along Orchard Rd. I should've taken a pic of the miles of fences from a particularly big cattle operation all along this road.



Old buildings seem to be the theme today.

And another, just before the last vicious climb of the day, up Tunnel Hill Rd.

I don't know what to say, other than that this is a legit cinder-block castle house. Best as I can tell, somebody lives here. Far out man! Or better, get ye gone ye swarthy wench!

We did 45 miles with 3 distinct tough climbs, but the rest flat to rolling in November weather that is pretty much unbelievable, 60s with sun and more sun. Yes, we battled a little wind on the way back and our avg speed wasn't too hot, but who cares? I thank Dave for laying it out and for being an excellent road companion today. Everybody should have such a great day on the bike!!

2.0 In looking at the LBC 100 Steep Ones, Dave and I added 2 (should've been 3) to the list today. The more impressive on paper is listed as 'Bethlehem to South' as part of Charlestown/Bethlehem Rd. It gives stats as a .5m climb at 10%. Dicey!! The 2nd climb, near the last point of our day, was TunnelHillRd. (west), with numbers of .3m at 9.8%. They're listed under 'Indiana/Clark Co. East' on the list. They can also be found on the googlemap of the hills in the area. Another climb not listed but deserving of such status was Bull Creek Rd. It wasn't that long, but there was a nasty steep stretch near the top that made it taxing, and in fact it began with a steep pitch too. It was as challenging as Tunnel Hill Rd.