River City Cycling Society

I was really disappointed that I had to cancel last Sunday’s pizza ride.  Well, this Saturday, March 5th, I’m going to get my pizza.  Will you join me?

The original plan was a 70-miler going over Moser Knob.  There was some trepidation from a few people about 70-miles, so I’m splitting the ride in two.

• Coffee Ride – 8:00 from Heine’s on Chenoweth – 30 miles – stops at Quills and Sunergos.
• Pizza Ride – 1:00 from the parking lot under the Indiana side of the Second Street Bridge (north of the floodwall) – 50 miles, but still goes over Moser Knob – stop at Charlestown Pizza Company

Both rides end at their starting location.  If you want to do both rides, I’m taking a winding route between rides of about 10 miles from St. Matthews to Jeffersonville.  You could have a 90+ mile day, as I will.

These are social rides.  There are no cue sheets.  Plan to ride a slow to moderate pace.  I won’t leave anyone behind.

If you’re unsure if the ride is still going to happen, feel free to call before the ride.  You can reach me at 812-989-7589.  That may also be useful if I’m running late to the pizza ride.

Note: The ride is cancelled.  I apologize for the late notice.  My wife is ill, and wants me around the house.

Most of the usual RCCS crew is unavailable for a Sunday coffee ride, so I want to do something a little different.

Sunday 2/27 @ 10:00 am I’ll be leaving from the parking lot under the Indiana side of the Second Street Bridge (north of the floodwall).

We’ll wind our way through New Albany before climbing Moser Knob.  We’ll go near Deam Lake and Henryville before stopping in Charlestown for pizza and beverages.

The route could be 70 miles.  With the pizza stop, I’d allow 8-9 total hours.  I won’t have cue sheets, as anyone who joins up should stay together.  The pace will be leisurely, but some of the hills are tough.  I won’t leave anyone behind.

Bring plenty of water, and a little to eat.  The entire route should be paved, so it’s road bike friendly.

Hope to see you there!

Five of us made the excellent decision to visit Muscatatuck Nat’l Wildlife Reserve outside of Seymour, IN for a country ride this past Saturday. I only speak for myself that it was as satisfying a ride as I’ve taken. It had beautiful skies, great company, every riding texture under the sun, enough elevation to make things interesting, and for me good legs to boot!

I’ll mostly pics do the talking, but we started at Muscatatuck, directed ourselves south and then eastward across the very rough, winter-heaved farm roads in the area. As we turned north towards IN-3 and Crosely State Wildlife Area, we first lost Kirk and Kathy for moment (which resulted in a nice game of chase) and then found some very “distressed” roads which laster became more dirt than gravel. Crosley offered a more hilly terrain, and more closed woods through an outstanding road through the park leading us to a charming bridge over the M.River.

Group through Musctatatuck

Michael McFierce with his game face on

After the chase

Onto the really rough stuff

Dave and Kathy at a distance

Approaching the Crosley bridge

Kirk contemplating bridge safety

We made a brief stop in Vernon to buy a few snacks at a liquor store; the bigger store was “oh, a mile and a half up the road in Vernon”, although to the best of our knowledge we *were* in Vernon. Our return skirted north of the M.River and provided us with some damn fine roads, rolling, great flow, nice scenery, easy to navigate. Great stuff. Michael and I spied a couple roads to return to in the future, and before we knew it, we were back in the M.N.W.R. It was a 5-star ride for me personally and I hope to return to the area sooner than later, whether via mtbike in the wildlife areas or on a hearty road bike for the varied mixed-terrain available.

Bike show in Vernon

Curious Camellids

On the gorgeous return

Dang, that dude in the blue and grey sure is handsome!

We had 5 of us for an early Sunday coffee ride today starting again from the St. Matthews Heine’s. We added two new riders and were pleased to have their company and strong riding for the next couple hours. Last weekend was a singlespeed-friendly flatty; this time we took a different tack, enjoying the ups-n-downs of the River Rd. corridor. As an added bonus- and very typical of RCCS conditions- we enjoyed a cold, miserable rain instead of the low 50s forecasted.

Ultimately we worked west along the river before climbing up into Clifton and across Payne St. to Baxter and a warm cup and scone at Quill’s. Afterward we passed through Cherokee where our 5 splintered, with a newbie (I don’t know of their privacy preferences, so I’ll call him ‘A’) went up towards Woodbourne and two other folks (including newbie ‘W’) on into St. Matthews and beyond. Dave and I made one more stop at Breadworks at the Loop. The ride totaled around 27m, although everyone rode to the start to Heine’s, so all accrued a well-earned 30+ on the day. And a great day it was!

Please join us this Sunday 2/20 for an urban ride and enjoy some coffee.  Ride starts at 8:00 am at Heine Brothers on Chenoweth Ln.

The ride will probably be about 30 miles.  Cue sheets will probably not be provided, as we like to stay together as a group at a reasonable pace.

See you there!

Please join us just outside of Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge for a 45-mile ride.  There will be gravel, photo opportunities, and fun.

Meet in the parking lot at 10:00 am on Saturday 2/19.

Patrick's New Steed

Patrick, Tim, and I rode a 30-mile urban course for today’s coffee ride.  It was the maiden voyage for Patrick’s new bike, a beautiful A. Homer Hilsen.  His is a larger size with the double top-tube.

Tim and I met up in the Highlands and rode to the starting point in St. Matthews.  Patrick was waiting for us, and after a few minutes of ogling his bike, we were off.

It was a good ride.  There was a headwind early on, which provided a nice tailwind to get us back.  I managed to fall while carrying my bike up some stairs, but I wasn’t injured, and, yes, the bike is fine.  🙂

Pit Stop

Tim showed off his new Acorn handlebar bag.  Patrick and I now have bag envy.

Tim headed off a little early for family obligations.  Patrick and I finished the ride, then I followed Patrick toward home, out Westport Rd a while.  I had read about the new Westport Rd bike lanes, but I’m not impressed with them.

Bike Lane? Gutter?

I really enjoyed the company and the wonderful weather.  I intend to another one of these next Sunday.  Keep an eye out here for details.

This Sunday, 2/13, at 10:00 am, join us at Heine Brothers’ Coffee on Chenoweth Lane for a 30-mile leisurely ride around Louisville.  We’ll probably stop at Sunergos during the ride.

We stay together as a group.  No cue sheets are provided.  See you there!

The 2 usual RCCS suspects, Dave and I, were joined by 5 hearty souls from the Southern Indian Wheelman group of fire road riders for our HFH yesterday. The weather reciprocated with some very cold temps to start the ride-15F let’s say- and a variety of road textures ranging from sheet ice to crunchy deep snow to lots of compacted car tracks of varying quality.

We stayed together yo-yo’ing a bit for the first 15 miles or so until the SIW group was smart to ride their own tempo and Dave and I ours. Once we turned west the hills felt a little tougher and once into Ferdinand State Forest the traction tougher too. The oddest part of the day came on CoRd 650E out of the forest. All the maps show it as a more “major” road, but at best it was a 4-wheeler path, and not too fun to ride in the deepest snow of the day. Somewhere in the forest Dave and I decided to turn left instead of right to cut down some mileage as one of us wasn’t having the best of days. Sometimes it’s like that, isn’t it?

We made use of IN-64 for a bit to give us some respite from the snow and ice and then made our way south, wondering when the SIW boys would come up behind us once we returned to the route. I laughed out loud when Dave saw the colorful group coming up behind at Bethel. I think they deviated a bit from the route at that time but didn’t mind. They seemed to express the desire to get the hell done. It was a tough day. The temps stayed coldish, but in all it felt much more like a mtbike ride than any kind of road ride. And 40 miles of mtbiking is plenty. At Stendal one of our party decided he couldn’t go on, so the remaining group did. Once back at the car park, Jim and I got changed and such and raced back to pick up our wounded party. The story ended well.

It was a really great day, an “adventurous” day on 2 wheels. I’ve never done a group ride starting at 15-ish F, never done a 40mile snow ride and it was the first time taking in some great roads, ones that need to be revisited in the warmth and dry of spring or summer.