Jim

Jim
Let the Adventure Begin

About Me

Las Vegas, NV, United States
This is my 2008 grand adventure...riding a bicycle with 35 international bikers across Europe, following the Danube River along the Orent Express route through eleven countries. The ride is 4000km over 50 days of which 39 are ride days with camping and 11 are rest days in hotels. Our tour group, TourdAfrique, provides a tour leader that provides directions and transposts our luggage, a mechanic, and a chef who promises gourmet local cuisines. We start out in Paris on June 1 and travel through France to Germany, where we pick up the Danube river. We then follow the Danube through Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Then we ride cross country through Romania, Bulgaria, and finally Turkey, where we finish in Istanbul on July 20.

Jun 15, 2007

June 15 Day 30 Crawfordsville to Indianapolis, IN










Today was a tour of country roads through farm fields of corn and soybeans. It wasn't an easy 70 miles because we had moderate head winds, but tomorrow the forecast is for moderate tail winds...the first in five days!

Just before our half way SAG, we were met by about ten of Lisa's biking group, some of which were veterans of the Cross Roads tour. They were a fun bunch and talked about the great riding through the Indiana country roads.


the SAG was hosted by a dairy farmer, Mr Gentry, who has been farming all his life and just turned 60. He seemed to be well known in cross country biking because many groups stop at his farm and tell him about their adventure. I learned that he does no till farming of corn and soybeans, and if they don't get rain soon it will be a bad year. His farm is 15 miles out of Indianapolis and development is starting to come to the country side. We saw lots of huge farm homes and estates. Since there is no one in the family to take over his farm, he is putting 500 acres up for sale. The basic farm land sells for $5000 an acre ($2.5 million); however, because it is also zoned for light industrial and residential, that boosts the price to $25,000 per acre ($12.5 million). Farming is amazing business in some parts.

The next big adventure was riding to the Indianapolis Velodrome, a quarter mile banked track bikers race around. A bunch of us raced around it, starting at the bottom and working up to the top, and zooming down. It was a blast! It was spooky at first because of the steep banks, but a rush when we got into it.

The group often gets to go to the Indy Speedway, but this weekend is a Formula One race and the track is reserved.

Tomorrow is 84 miles to Richmond, IN, hopefully with a modest tail wind.

Stats: 70 miles, 15.6 mph avg, 1100' climbing, 10 - 20 mph head winds, 70 - 85 deg temps.

2 comments:

Jill said...

Geeze, I can't believe you ride for 70 miles, then ride further to race around a track! You guys (and gals) are REALLY tough.

Unknown said...

Jill - thats nothing. 2 summers ago I rod 200 (amost) miles with Jim, 100 on Sat and about 98 on Sunday. We arrived in Portland, Or then Jim decided to go around the block a few times to make it a round 100. This dude is driven