So I missed by blog last week. I really just didn’t have anything nice to say, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
Last weekend was a full weekend of riding. The weather was outstanding, and everyone had the weekend off after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and a bare weekend with the IndyCar Series taking their first weekend off in six weeks!
At the home front, it was busy – busy riding, that is. On Saturday morning, a group of us met downtown across from the new Dunkin Donuts. Our original plan was to meet on the Circle, but there was a Lotus Car show that had the area blocked off.
The group consisted of six total riders on two Triumphs, three Suzukis and a Ducati. Paul Riley and Phil Sparks were the other to IMS employees that made the trip, along with Paul’s son, friend and Matt, a buddy of Phil and I.
Everyone was roughly on time, and we left downtown at 9 a.m.
We typically take the same routes when we ride down to Brown County. For the first leg of our trip, take a look at this route:
This route took us down Highway 37 until old 37, which is an nice warm-up road. You really don’t get into anything crazy. The one thing that kind of sucked was the fact that the road was slightly damp in a lot of the areas. Old 37 then runs into Bloomington. You then hop on 45, shoot around the north side of the town and head northeast on 45, which is probably my favorite road in central Indiana.
Be sure to turn the volume down on your computer. The audio isn’t the best, but you can see me leading the pack:
That stretch took us about 1.5 hours, and we stopped in Nashville, Ind., for some BBQ. Once we filled up with food and gas, we hit the road for our second stretch. Here is the route. We ride south on 135 around Brown County Park through Story, Ind. From there, we continue on 135 to IN-58:
We took a break at the 446 intersection and lined up the bikes. I’m on the far left, and Paul is on the far right in his orange Hayabusa.
Once we took a quick break and chatted with an ‘ol timer on his Harley Sportster, we rode up 446 across Lake Monroe. Once we got to Bloomington, the group split up. Matt and I headed for 45 again on our way home and the others went straight to 37 and went home.
Here is the ride home Matt and I took:
The ride was excellent. We started around 9 a.m., and I was at home by 3:30 p.m. I had plenty of time to relax before my family got home. That night, Megan went out for a wedding shower, so it was just me and the boys. Van and dog Rex hung out and watched a movie and called it a early night.
The next morning, I had baby duty since Mommy was out all night with her friends. It was fun; Van is in a great stage right now. I bet he will be walking on his own on my next blog.
In the afternoon, Megan had another baby shower that required her to take Van; this one was with the mothers and grandparents. I took the opportunity to hop back on my bike and take it over to storage and get my Scrambler out. I met up with Ron Pitman, another IMS employee, and we took a Sunday cruise around west Indianapolis. Here is our route, which I think is a great on if you want to stay close to the city:
From here we pretty much back tracked our route back to a parking lot at Raceway and 56th Street, parked for a few minutes and talked MotoGP. Buy tickets, ride to the track – it’s going to be a blast!
See you next week.
Jarrod
Wednesday was National “Ride your Bike to Work Day!”
Yes, I did ride my bike to work on Wednesday and every other day of this week. What a great week! I didn’t know that there was a “Ride your Bike to Work Day.” In fact, this event has been going on for 17 years all over the world.
I did notice that there were a lot of bikes on the road, and I really do believe that more motorcycles on the road is better for our cities, especially for those who live, work and commute in the cities.
Later that night, I started getting antsy and ran out for a night ride with a few of my buds. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of the night rides. It really isn’t that much fun unless you have a chick on the back of the bike with you. I am not one of those riders who spends my time on my bike riding to Monument Circle, parking on the circle, standing by my bike and then riding up to Broad Ripple and do the same thing. That brings me to another funny story …
It was about 10:30 p,m., and I was heading back to my home in Broad Ripple. I pulled up to a guy on an all-white GSX-R with a race pipe. The rider was wearing a helmet but was pretty much in street clothes.
He asked, “How many miles have you ridden tonight?”
I spent the afternoon in Brown County, which is, by far, the best riding in Indiana, so I had put about 300 miles on my bike that day.
“About 300 or so miles,” I replied.
At this point, his eyes swelled like softballs, and I continued to tell him that I went down to Brown County in the afternoon.
“I would like to get down there some time,” he replied.
I told him that he should be down there every week. That pretty much sums up what I mean about the riders who cruise around town, pop wheelies, drag from light to light and sit in parking lots. That just isn’t fun for me. I need routes and destinations!
Quick update on the Scrambler … IT’S STILL IN THE SHOP!!!!!!!!!
Jarrod