Wrong Turn

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The weather in Indianapolis has been great this week and keeps getting better! I took full advantage of it on Tuesday evening striking out for a ride south. The Monon trail has been closed thanks to the I-465 project going on. It is open sporadically and I caught it on good night. I headed south on the Monon towards Broad Ripple and downtown. The Monon was pretty crowded (duh) so I headed west on the Central Canal Towpath. I've been on this path a few times but hadn't seen all of it. I decided I was game for an adventure and headed out of Broad Ripple. It was peaceful, but not much of it is paved (unfortunately). I knew that the Towpath connected to another trail that went all the way downtown. What I didn't remember was where or how. Before long I was pretty much by myself on the path. It was okay though, peaceful.
Then I got to the end of the path. The end of the path is at 30th Street and Harding Street, not the best part of town...Not being able to find the connector to the trail (turns out I had passed it prior to getting to "the end"), I considered turning around and heading back the way I came. Not looking forward to riding on crushed limestone for another 5 miles I decided to head east on 30th Street and catch Illinois and head back north. I didn't think it would be too many blocks and it would be paved. I soon forgot why this was a good idea. I was on a sidewalk with lots of starts and stops, glass, gravel...Then I crossed Martin Luther King drive and went under the highway again. By this point I was pedaling as fast as I could to get back where I knew where I was! A mile and a half later I finally saw the dinosaurs outside of the Children's Museum and felt better.

The dinos "break" right through, it actually looks pretty neat!

Turning onto Illinois Street I figured it be an easy ride back to where I could rejoin the Towpath (close to the Monon!). I've driven on Illinois Street a lot, but not in the right lane; with the sand and the potholes and the glass and gravel! Yikes! I tried to avoid as best as I could without riding in the left lane with the cars. My detour ended up being about 4 miles, slightly shorter than the ride out and probably a little too much adventure for a Tuesday evening bike ride. I got back to the canal and then the Monon. The path wasn't as busy on the way back and I was home well before it got dark.

I know I was in a bad part of town and I was a little scared. I didn't see any sketchy characters or shadiness. I was going as fast as my legs would carry me, but it wasn't so bad. I like to think I'm a fairly smart person and I would have turned around and gone back up the Towpath if I really felt in danger. I did decide that I'm going to stay on paved trails or roads and probably head away from the city rather than into the city!
Now that I've looked at a map again I'll probably take another ride downtown.
On a Saturday afternoon.
With more water and maybe a friend to enjoy it with!

A Ride Down Memory Lane

This past weekend I went home to Columbus for a quick weekend visit. Since I'm in training for my Team In Training event I took my bicycle and gear home with me. On Saturday afternoon I took my bike down to the park where I've been hundreds of times in my life. And I started to ride. And what happened was kind of amazing. Being on that trail brought back a whole slew of memories. As I rode south on the trail I went by the playgrounds and soccer fields where so many afternoons were spent. Further down was my high school. You can't see much of the school from the trail but all the ball fields were there. I remembered the afternoons running on the path for lacrosse and softball practice. Then there were the summer mornings on the river or in the fields for summer gym. (That was the best deal, taking gym in the summer meant I didn't have to during the year!) Further south was Antrim Lake. Some of the best sledding I ever did was in Antrim Park, at night. We used to have to run from the school and around the lake. I really hated it some days. I've never loved to run!
From there, I continued south, enjoying the scenery but no really having specific memories. There was a detour that landed me riding on High Street. It is the main drag in Columbus. Riding through Clintonville was something I've never done but quite enjoyed. The houses and buildings are quaint in this area. Then I reached Ohio State's campus. I honestly didn't know the trail went all the way to campus! I could see the horseshoe and the basketball arena and remembered somw of the dumb stuff we used to do in college!
The section between campus and dwntown was, frankly, a little sketchy. The trail went under several bridges and highways. I concluded that I've watched too many cop dramas and kept waiting for bridge people to jump out at me!
Finally, the downtown skyline came into view. The city has done a lot of work developing the riverfront in this area. It was really nice, this was the first I'd been down there. Not being especially warm or sunny there weren't many people around but I'm sure on a nice afternoon it;s fun to be there! I got to study some of the new buildings as I rode and it wasn't long before I got to the Broad Street bridge. The trail hit another detour and at almost 14 miles away from the car I decided this was as far as I was going to go. I sat on the steps between the street and the river and enjoyed a snack and remembered watching Red White and Boom downtown so many years in a row. There was one year we sat on the Broad Street bridge; it was crazy and the fireworks were right.over.head!
So many good memories that I hadn't thought about for a long time. As I rode back north I enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed being on my bike. We've been training for a month now I can honestly say that I really enjoy it. I was proud of myself for pushing to make it 28 miles on Saturday. On top of the 14 miles on Friday I wasn't sure I'd make it. But I did and I'll keep going!

And so it begins...

I signed up for Team In Training 26 days ago. I've been to 3 team events, getting to know my team mates and have started my fund raising campaign. But it wasn't until yesterday we officially put the "Training" in "Team In Training"! I was excited but a little nervous about the rubber hitting the road or my butt hitting the spinning cycle as it was yesterday. Well, it turns out I should have been more concerned about when my butt wasn't hitting the cycle! I could ride, I could handle the gears and the increased resistance. What was hard was the jogging and climbing. Oh my aching quads! My muscles basically flipped out! Quite surprising to me, I thought my legs were stronger. I got quite concerned and filled with self-doubt during the class. I slowed down and was able to calm myself down. This was day one, there are going to be many many more days until I'm actually going to be climbing the real hills around Lake Tahoe. It will be okay, I will make it! I trust the coaches to train us to do it! We start keeping track of mileage we train on our own this week and I will ride every foot I'm told to. I'm also going to be sure to hit the YMCA and do squats to build up those climbing muscles! I've been reintroduced to my body and right now it doesn't like me very much... ;-) But someday soon we'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Women Unite!

Hello Ladies!
I have come up with a fund raiser just for us! When I was training for my last Team In Training event in 2006 I came up with this mantra. I would repeat it over and over to myself with every step I ran. It has continued to bring me power when I need it the most! I decided this would be a great way to share the girl power!
The t-shirt is a deep purple 50/50 cotton/poly blend 5.6 oz. standard fit t-shirt. The words and logos are screen printed in white on the front of the t-shirt. See model below.
I'm taking orders from now until February 28th. If you'd like to order a t-shirt, e-mail me at laurie1024@gmail.com. with your size.
The cost is $17 each with 100% of the proceeds going to my Team In Training fund raising goal. Payment will be accepted on my TNT fund raising website with a credit card or by mailing me a check. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions! Thanks for your support!