How I rode 30 miles downtown and back for a drink of water

(Note: I wrote this on Saturday night, just haven't had time to post/upload pics til now)

Today, I finally rode the full route from 86^th st. to IUPUI. It was about 30 miles roundtrip, took about 2 hrs. 15 mins. I wanted to do this on a day when I wasn’t working, so I wouldn’t be under time pressure yet. I drove my car, with bike in tow, to the 86^th st. Kroger lot, parked, and hopped on the trail around 8. This is later than I would take going to work, since I have to be at work by 7, but I just couldn’t get up that early today. 

Which brings me to the first learned lesson today; it’s VERY important to eat an energizing breakfast before heading out. I skipped it today, since I wanted to be out before the sun got too bad. It came back to hit me later.

So, the ride there went by pretty quickly. There wasn’t as much traffic as I was expecting, so I didn’t have to pass too many people, or weave around behind crowds. I stopped along the way to take photos to document a few landmarks on the route, specifically for the map I made. I saw a bunch of wildlife along the way, many ducks, geese, a few turtles, some beavers, and a hawk.

I took the Monon to the Canal Towpath, which was the slowest going part of the trip. This is the least-paved trail, mainly crushed limestone, and powdery gravel, so this limits speeds a bit. It is the most scenic route, at one point, the trail is surrounded by water on both sides, and there’s trees and wildlife all around. When the Canal Towpath meets the Wapahini/White River Greenway, going gets easier, since it’s well paved. I found a shortcut, instead of having to weave in and out of parking lots to reach the campus, I took Porte Allegre st. to New York, which cut down a bit on hassle. The trip there right around 14 miles, and took an hour.

This was my day off, so I surprised my coworkers by dropping by the office. I filled up on water, rested for about 5 minutes, and then hit the road back. By this time, it was starting to get pretty hot and sunny (high of 94 today), but I thought I could make it back in similar time.

This brings me to the second and third points learned today; even if you think you have enough water, bring more. I made it downtown on one bottle of water, but with the temperature increase, I ran out of water about 2 miles out from home on the way back. In Broad Ripple, I started to feel a bit dizzy with the heat, so stopped in at the CVS on the way, and grabbed some trail mix. Third point; always have an emergency energy snack (trail mix, granola bar, etc). This was good, since it gave me some energy, but also a bit of a sugar rush, and mixing with dehydration, this caused me to feel a pretty lightheaded, around the 28-mile mark. I had to move off the path, and lay down on the grass to catch my breath, and regain my balance, for about a minute, after the first bridge on the way home. As soon as I got back to the car, I walked in to the Kroger, and picked up some much needed water. The ride back took 15 minutes longer, since I was so tired out, and a bit dehydrated. I suffered some sore legs, but other than that, and much sweat, the ride went well.

All in all, the ride was a success, and proved that biking to work will be feasible for me (when the weather conditions are decent). Next time I’ll be sure to bring more water and snacks! I'll be updating my route map with more photos I took along the way shortly).

In other news, my mom is coming to visit tomorrow, and to see K’s show that she’s in, so that’ll be fun. Tomorrow is also drop-off day for the fair, and I have everything ready to go.

-Joe