Saturday, July 11, 2015

RAINStorm '15




Kevin asked me late last year if I wanted to do this thing called RAINStorm.  The idea is to ride 5 centuries (100 miles/day) and then finish that off with 160 miles in one day.  The whole week is lodges or hotel stays (he knows I don't care to camp).  I decided it sounded like a good idea.  

I started the year early by riding a couple of centuries in January and one in February.  As March and April came along I started thinking I was crazy.  Who rides 6 centuries in a row?  I knew we could cancel by early May and I kept riding as much as I could.

By early May I was thinking it was a possible feat and I didn't back out.  All told I rode 20 individual centuries in early '15 in preparation.  My rational is that I didn't want to go to Indiana and hate myself and my bike.

It turns out that my preparation payed off and I had a great week winding around Southern Indiana.  Here is a summary of my Indiana miles:

day -1: 2.5 miles - (our hotel was on the Ohio border and I rode into Ohio and back)
day 1: 112.9 miles -  Richmond, IN to Brown County State Park
day 2: 105.9 miles -  Brown County to Clifty Falls (added a small detour to Kentucky)
day 3: 105.3 miles - Clifty Falls to Spring Mill 
day 4: 100.2 miles - Spring Mill to Bloomington, IN (added 1 mile)
day 5: 102.1 miles - Bloomington, IN to Terre Haute, IN (added 6 miles)
day 6 early:  8.7 miles - ride to the start of RAIN mass start
day 6: 162.9 miles - RAIN ride - Terre Haute to Richmond

I didn't add up the miles until driving home.  This added up to 700.5 miles over 6 days (plus day -1)

We spent the week riding through scenic low traffic rural roads.  We got rained on 4 of 6 days but it wasn't bad and it kept the temperature down.

RAINStorm is:
Great organizers
Great food
Great company
Great support
Just an overall a great riding experience.




Leaving Earham College the first day



A few of us found each other and road together day one.  Jim, Kevin, Ross, & Rusty..






Kentucky on the other side of the Ohio River







Coming back from Kentucky



There is a tree growing through the engine area of this poor toyota

My one horse and buggy sighting



a scary site turning this corner after coming down a hill

rain pacing





I didn't line up here but there were quite a few that did.


If you complete you have a place for your keys.


I didn't want to take this off for several days so I could feel like I was still on vacation
 We started at 7AM.  My RAIN finish time was 4:33PM.  I was 198 out of 1141 finishers.  I probably won't go back next year; but someday I'm sure I will find my way back to Indiana.