River City Cycling Society

We had 4 hearty souls ready for a morning/afternoon of cycling adventure on a near, if not perfect, day for cycling, the first warm sunny day of ’10.  Leaving from the park in Edwardsville, IN, we ventured south towards New Middletown, further south of NM, back towards NM and finally finishing our day through Lanesville and up 3 more rollers to the park.  For all of us it was the first ride of mileage and warmth of the season, although Dave had done nice mileage this winter on the LHT and Patrick in the gym.

Dom's Windsor

Patrick's Bomba

Dave's LHT

Our path took us towards NM where we ran into the MadDog’s TT, with cyclists running into our paths along Pfrimmer’s Chapel Rd.  After a pit stop we headed west along some primo roads (and 1 wrong turn) such as Fogel, Shiloh and Pleasure Ridge.  I would suggest for everybody to check these out for low traffic and enough rollers to keep you honest. The intersection of Fogel and Shiloh gave us a recurring theme over the course of the day.  Lest I be mistaken, everyone had something goofy happen to his bike: Dave’s shimmy, Dom’s dropout, Patrick’s loose bar and my loose spoke.  None was detrimental, but it did make for some extra time on the road.

Pleasure Ridge Rd.

On the south end of the trip we ran along the big valley of Buck Creek Valley Rd. where we had a special friend run with us for over 2 miles.  Stupid dog!  While at the bridge the first of the LBC pack came by, and shortly thereafter the remaining peloton, 20 strong or so.  They had the good fortune of coming down Union Chapel from the east.  We made the poor decision of ascending said hill at a 14% clip instead of the more benign 6-8% (according to ridewithgps).

Buck Creek

dumb but very fit dog

As we made our southern end we took a turn on Goshen Rd, very flat and sort of open, but one of my favorites.  The eastern end provided nice vistas looking to the growing hills in the west, all over open farm country.  I’m going to make it a point to personally return in summer.

Perseverance Barrens Nature Preserve. Almost missed this one due to the cattle stampede on an adjacent farm. We'll blame Dom.

Andy's Coffee shop in New Middletown

We headed north towards a second stop in NW, this time for pie and salad (not together) before heading out on our finishing leg, which took us through Lanesville the subsequent many short climbs, especially a couple doozies after Lanesville.  We finished strong enough, and I for one am ready for another tour in that part of the word, some of the best cycling roads I’ve come across.  Might be a dandy area for a RCCS century down the road.

A little bit more info about Sunday’s GWTOMWR.

• We’ll head out at 9.00a.m. Louisville time. I don’t know if any crazy IN time is in play this time of year.
• See “messages” section for more info on catching a ride if you’re interested.  I might or might not have truck room.
• Our ride happens to correspond with the first Mad Dogs ride of the year, so we might cross paths with them around or south of New Middletown.
• RCCS don’t tend to do cue sheets.  As Dave so eloquently put, we group ride.  You’re welcome to download/copy the map posted in the previous post if you plan of heading out on your own.  We’ll follow that route behind you. And nobody gets dropped.
• We should have food options in New Middletown and Lanesville.  We pass NM twice.
• Please come prepared.  We like to be a self-sufficient lot, but Dave has a tool for every occasion. And it’s the first longer road outing of the year. Hopefully you’ve done a few miles during this cold spell.

View Edwardsville Park in a larger map

It’s time, time to ride the $@%@# bike. Time for real miles. Time to get put down the coffee and get on the open road. The RCCS will host our first “real” ride of ’10, well, save the 40m epic FatGuy and I pulled off on New Year’s Day.

We’ll leave next Sunday, 3/7, from Edwardsville, IN just west of New Albany. It’s an easy trip off I-64 and if anybody needs a (truck) lift, I’m more than willing. As best as I can tell, we have store stops at 12m and 38m, but you never know. It’s best to come prepared. And prepared we’ll be for rural, country roads.

The RCCS strives to be an inclusive, informal bike group. All are welcome and no one will be left behind. Our rides are somewhat social, but the first ride of the year demands some leg stretching. I’ll be sweeping b/c I’m too slow to do anything otherwise. Feel free to leave any questions in the comment section.

Tim and I met up with Dominic and Joe for the Sunday coffee ride.  I was riding my LHT, Tim on his new Kona Ute.  Joe was riding an awesome looking Surly Steamroller with red-wrapped mustache bars.

Tim’s write up is here.

The few decent pictures I took are below.

The weather has not been friendly to long rides in the country, but these Sunday coffee rides are a nice break from everyday life.

Sunday 2/21/2010, We’ll be leaving from Heine Brothers at Bardstown and Douglass at 10:00 am.

The exact route hasn’t been chosen, but we are planning on hitting a couple of stops for coffee and/or snacks. We’ll probably cross the bridge into Indiana. We’ll probably do 20-30 miles.

We rarely every cancel a ride due to weather (as in we haven’t yet), so come prepared for snow, rain, freezing rain, or whatever mother nature throws at us.

RCCS rides strive to be social events, and staying together as a group helps. We won’t have cue sheets, but won’t leave anyone behind either.

If you drive, please don’t park nearby. There is limited parking at the site.

Sunday 2/14/2010, We’ll be leaving from Heine Brothers at Bardstown and Douglass at 10:00 am.

The exact route hasn’t been chosen, but we are planning on hitting a couple of stops for coffee and/or snacks. We’ll probably cross the bridge into Indiana. We may do 34 miles, or cut it shorter if conditions get bad.

**You can follow this link to an updated possible route (this one 23m+), which gets everyone home a little quicker for Valentine’s Day.

We rarely every cancel a ride due to weather (as in we haven’t yet), so come prepared for snow, rain, freezing rain, or whatever mother nature throws at us.

RCCS rides strive to be social events, and staying together as a group helps. We won’t have cue sheets, but won’t leave anyone behind either.

If you drive, please don’t park nearby. There is limited parking at the site.

How about another coffee ride tomorrow morning?

Tomorrow, Sunday 2/7/2010, We’ll be leaving from Heine Brothers at Bardstown and Douglass at 10:00 am.

The exact route hasn’t been chosen, but we are planning on hitting a couple of stops for coffee and/or snacks.

RCCS rides strive to be social events, and staying together as a group helps. We won’t have cue sheets, but won’t leave anyone behind either.

If you drive, please don’t park nearby. There is limited parking at the site.

Don't get no better, LHT, Bomba and Litespeed

We had a very pleasant time yesterday on our 2nd coffee ride. If the first was rife with damn-cold weather, the second drenched us in heavy rain and 40F, but no matter. The pic above is considerably more impressive than our actual cycling effort, which for the group ended up being 23 miles. We started at Heine’s at the Loop where, to be amazement, I found two amazing bikes for our foray. Dave was there with his new, shiny Surly Truckacchino LHT, and for the first time, Patrick came along with his (newish) Rivendell Bombadil. I brought the Litespeed Blueridge because titanium doesn’t rust in the rain, right? I dare say you couldn’t find a flashier batch o’ bikes in the city unless you happened upon a crabon convention, but what fun is that? Dominic even came by briefly before he headed on for some work.

We headed through the parks and towards Mockingbird Valley Rd., which Patrick had never been on, being new to the area. We window-shopped at that new shop down next to Zorn who’s name escapes me. We continued to Frankfort and up we went- well, until Dave lost a bag- and then up we went some more and stopped at Java for a cup. Yum! What a great treat with the cold and damp. Patrick needed to head home so Dave and I followed into St. Matthews, where Patrick split and Dave and I did some St. Matthews noodling before going back into the parks. I dare say Dave has picked up an automatic mph or two with this new steed. We looped through the Cherokee Triangle and made our way to a 2nd coffee stop, this at Highlands. After that, we returned towards the Loop where I bid adieu to Dave and thusly ended the ride. A total of 23 wet, cold miles, was significantly improved with 3 coffees, and we had a good time, especially talking bikes, cool bikes.

This Sunday, January 17th, We’re hosting another Sunday Morning Coffee Ride.  We are leaving out from Heine Brothers at Bardstown and Douglass at 10:00 am.  Maybe we’ll have warmer weather this time.  The ride is probably going to be about 20-25 miles, within the city.  The exact route hasn’t been chosen, but we are planning on hitting a stop or two on Frankfort Avenue.

RCCS rides strive to be social events, and staying together as a group helps.  We won’t have cue sheets, but won’t leave anyone behind either.

If you drive, please don’t park nearby.  There is limited parking at the site.  You have a bicycle! 

Hope to see you there!

With the very short notice, it was great to see 4 total brave souls showing up for a Sunday morning Show-n-Go. We left from Heine’s at the Loop and our first cup of the trip. Our path took us through the Deer Park area and down to Jefferson St. where, aside the many red lights, we had an easy-going time. After a quick stop in Shawnee Pk., we headed back via Chesnut and took Shelby north to Sunergo’s on Preston. Dom had never been there, but he was duly impressed with the excellent joe available there. Ben and I snuck over for a Nord’s doughnut as well. We made a quick side trip to Vic’s Classic Bikes on Preston, but he wasn’t following his “Sunday 12-4″ signage, so we were only able to view the interesting steel treats from outside the window. Ben headed home from there (he had been to church earlier in the morning as well and was dressed accordingly. Good show!). Dom peeled off soon thereafter and Dave and I headed back to the Loop where we had a hearty brunch at Twig-n-Leaf before calling it a 26m day. A really nice day it was, and it seems like we’re doing it again next Sunday, prolly at 10.00, prolly at the Loop again, but in a different direction. More to come (from Dave).

LHT in Shawnee

Shawnee gathering

Sunergo's coffee stop

How about a fun 20-miler starting from Heine Brother’s Coffee tomorrow (Sunday the 10th) at 10:00 am?  We’ll be coming back by Sunergos on the return trip.

This will be an easy-paced, social event.  Dress for the weather!  I hope to see you there.