Finishing October

Day 56  10/26/14

Hiked in the AM then Court gave me a ride back home to the city.  Rode to Fountain Square for tasty suds.


Day 57

Parents' 35th wedding anniversary and Sam's 28th birthday!
Rode to and from work.


Day 58

Rode to work, SK, home, work, home.
Late ran to 16th St. CVS for Halloween costume accessories.  Then down New York to Irvington where I got to visit baby Mundell.  River is big and freakin cute!


Day 59

Missed opportunities.  Rode to and from work but elected to drive to Sher's and later to Paul's.  Certainly both trips were bike-able, but I felt rushed and didn't have time to get everything done that day.  Shame on me for not planning better.  Enjoyed The Dapper at The Vogue though!

Turkey Run Weekend

Day 53

Simple ride to and from work  Car-pooled with co-workers to Indy Met for mentorship program. 

Day 54

No work Friday!  Road to Circle to post attendance and grab a cafe.  By 9:30 I was beginning to cover the 70 miles to Turkey Run.

Happenings

1) The stretch of the Cultural Trail from Meridian to the Canal is probably the sketchiest portion of the trail.  I rode past an argument between and man and a woman who was passing out hot dog breakfasts to hungry homeless.

"She ain't family," said the man in reference to giving a white woman a hot dog.

"She has nothing, just like the rest of us.  That makes us family."

The woman's response of one-ness stuck with me for several miles.

2) Shortly after I was almost flattened by a combination of SUV, city bus, ambulance.

3) Two dogs gave brief chase once I got into the country.  One got close!

4) The last third of the trip was all gravel, mud, and rock.  This was not ideal.

5) Built in 1856, I rode across the Portland Mills Covered Bridge.  At this point a local kid on a dirt bike stopped to chat.

"Nice wheelies," I complimented.

"Thanks, I've been practicing."

"Do you know how to get to Sugar Valley Canoes?" I inquired.

"You're a long way off." (though I was only 5 miles away)

"Well I'm coming from Indy."

"You ride that thing from Indy?!"

He went on to give me shit directions, but I knew where I was going any way.  Court picked me up at Highway 47 to save me a dangerous last 3 miles.

Tony taking a rest from the gravel roads.

 Day 55

Brilliant hiking today (see photos below).  Rode around loop of camp sites and then later down a large hill to the Coxford Covered Bridge.  The gravel roadway made for a careful climb back to the camp site.

Muddy walls, trail 3 Turkey Run. photo by Kayla Dwelle

Heavenly light, trail 3 Turkey Run. photo by Kayla Dwelle

Chocolate Drops the Beet

Day 50   10/20/14

Simple ride to and from work.  Had a 3pm dentist appointment which I was nearly late to.  Made it up to 23rd and Meridian in <15 minutes.  The ride back to work was much more leisurely.
Paul came over for dinner and helped with dishes.  Then, we headed South for basketball.


Day 51

Rode to and from work.  Then to Broadripple for dinner, drinks, and Carolina Chocolate Drops.  Kelley made excellent soup, my contribution was roasted beets.  We worked on kegs left over from Harvest Fest and greatly enjoyed the tunes.
Rode home 11:45-12:15.

thefreegeorge.com Carolina Chocolate Drops

Day 52

To and from work.  Ran a mid-day errand to 16th St. Chase to cash my first car rental check.  Lastly, hooked up Garmin and tested it on a ride to Fountain Square.  Should work great for touring!  Enjoyed some pizza from South of Chicago.

Taqueria

Day 46, 10/16/14

Road to Henry's early morning for breakfast with Paul.  At work I enjoyed Tex Mex with Kurt, the best burrito in town (Tex Mex, not Kurt).

Lonely morning hallway, anticipating the day's ride.

Biked up to SoBro to help prep the hostel for Harvest Fest and see the Mundell's at HopCat (River was with his Gma).

Day 47

To and from work with a pit stop for beer.  Heading to Fort Wayne tonight to see Ben Folds!

Day 48

Road to get some Sun King.  Decided to bike up to Hostel for the Harvest Fest.  Weather was bad, but mostly I didn't have the time.

Day 49

Road to Touchdown Town to work the food truck.  Attended the game (Indy shut out Cincy).
Night ride to O'Malia's for mixers as I had an unexpected, but welcome house guest.

Ride Share

Day 44, 10/14/14

When I walked out the front door this morning there was barely a mist.  By the time I mounted Tom is was pouring!  No option to use the car as I rented it to my neighbor for the week.  Happy to ride anyway.

Had a brilliant wondering ride after work.  Zigzagged through streets and trails.  Out paced an SUV cruising down New York's bike lane.  Heart almost beat out of my chest!

Under the Banker's Life parking structure.  Lights pace along with motion.

Day 45

Took the car to Dunkin' Donuts to pick up a treat for my morning class.  They were the best class I've had at TCA!  Dropped it back off to Brett who was waiting to roll to work.  Hope he appreciated the treat left on the passenger seat.

Lazy Sunday

Day 42 10/12/14
Sunday drive back to the Hoosier State.  Caught some of the Chicago Marathon on my way out of town.  Apparently a man ran into a pack of participants to escape police.  It did not work.

Took two long, lingering rides to Fountain Square Brewery for fresh, delicious beer.  Saw some covered bikes that appeared to be set up for tours.  No tours in side though.

Day 43

Monday ride to and from work.  The morning ride was fairly wet.

Family dinner at the Hume's and a rousing basketball outing!

Chicago

Day 40, 10/10/14

One Lent's worth of riding down!  Left The Hostel after midnight to ensure the entire ride would qualify for Friday.  Quiet and peaceful ride though just outside of the Monon's 5am-midnight hours of operation.
Of course traveled to and from work as well.

Drove up to Chicago for the evening.  Enjoyed enormous pretzels at Prost and a night cap of tacos. and tacos at location I cannot recall... [addendum: Big Star was the Friday night taco location]

Prost! chicagomag.com

Day 41

The saving grace of this streak so far has been the easy use of Chicago's Divvy bikes.  These are quite convenient, efficient, and fun.  Picked up a friend from the Chicago Greyhound station where we declared scenes were staged for the 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting (had someone used their IP capable phone we would have avoided this conversational nonsense). But once we had our "Brenda" it was off to breakfast at Taco Joint to continue the theme of last night.  The day continued from there to include Navy Pier, architecture tours, and Tengo Sur a fantastic Argentinean steak house.
While waiting for our table, we took a sidebar to have a beer in front of the Blackhawks home opener.  Sure it was exciting to see a goal within the first minute, but did you see the ice projection during pregame!?

Blood Moon

Day 38, 10/8/14

October's Full Moon Ride was glorious!  The night started as dinner at Tavern on South to celebrate the completion of Disney interviews and getting hit on by the host (#flattered).  I carefully removed myself from the obligation of entertaining our guest and road over to Tomlinson Tap where a slue of friends and riders where waiting.  The plan was to ride to Triton Tap Room in Broadripple, but we were quickly separated in order to go back for a friend who's phone call delayed departure.  Grabbed a quickie at McNiven's.  The four of us then rode straight up College in order to make up for lost time.  We ended up beating the larger group who took the White River Trail and Tow Path.
After more drinks I led a group to the Sinking Ship before wisely crashing at a friend's.

theindychannel.com

Day 39

Chilly morning ride back downtown before Thursday's work day.  Headed back to Broadripple to meet up with two former co-workers in the evening.  First to the beloved Twenty Tap then to Killroy's.
Good friends, good beer, and good game!

Stopped by the Indy Hostel on my way home to hang with Paul and Eric.

Haiku

Day 36, 10/6/14
Road to and from work, Disney is back in town!  Kept Tom inside to avoid the rain.
Fell asleep by 9:30.


Day 37
Disney day 2.  DID NOT RIDE TO WORK! First time in some time.  Picked up Chef P. at his hotel and took to the day.

Great ride after work.

 Followed the Sun, then the Moon.

Aimless wandering.

Home Rides

Day 33, 10/3

Pedestrian ride to and from work before a FANTASTIC night on the town.  Tom handled the raid nicely beating Dan and Kay from their apartment to Fountain Square for First Friday at the Murphey Building (by 4-5 minutes).  A slight rain kept the slacks damp, but worth it for the great ride.

Heard some great music at HiFi and met a couple girls that bought Paul and I drinks.  Believe it or not, that doesn't happen too often.


Day 34

Sadly did not ride as much as planned for a Saturday with no plans.  Did make it downtown and back, but had plans for more!
Drove home to FW for Sister K's nunniversary.  60 years!
Fort Wayne is where Grace's bike lives.  I would imagine he or she has a French name.  Maybe Adelaide or Sophie.

Grace's Motobecane mixte. 

Day 35

Took Dad's new Schwinn to meet big sis and her family for breakfaste.  This included coffee, donuts, a pant-less nephew, dolled up niece, and one hell of a dance party!

Dad's new Schwinn. Comfortable and quick.  Memory foam seat accessory!

Fall cleaning, everything must go!  I had the good sense to keep riding.

Month Two

Day 31, 10/1

One month is in the books of riding a bike every day!  Granted some of the rides were short but some were utilitarian, and some in poor weather, although overall Indiana experienced a beautiful September.

But enough about the past.  Onward we go.

Today I road Tom to and from work then fetched Bruce to take one more trip out to the UPS store to retrieve my packages.  Wouldn't you know it, they were there this time (thick frustration and sarcasm)!

Glad to be back online.

Entering White River Trail en route to 16th and MLK Jr.

Day 32

Road Tom to and from work.  Stored him inside to avoid early showers.  This sparked some questions from students.  When a particularly short one asked if she could take it for a spin and I suggested a booster seat, she chased me down the hall.

An increasing number of students have been asking me why my right pant leg is rolled.  They find the explanation* satisfactory but I think they were hoping for something more fun.

*perhaps not obviously, this prevents chain grease from rubbing off on pants.  To a lesser degree is keeps you pants from getting caught in the chain, but the real culprit there is a wayward shoelace.