Day 25: Crawfordsville to Indianapolis, Indiana. 63 miles. Flat As a Pancake.

Well, that's all she wrote for this leg of the journey.  

It's a bittersweet time for me.  I'm glad I've finished and made it through these three segments, but I also have a bit of an itch to just finish the rest of the cross country journey this year and to do it with these folks.

Today was a sightseeing day.  The ride was pretty easy; no real hills and we rode in and out of traffic and in and out of back country roads.  The ride route along the back roads through the corn and soy fields felt particularly welcoming today.  It reinforced why I like to ride.  The roads were smooth.  There was no traffic.  The winds were calm.  The scenery was lovely.  It was so peaceful.

The day started this morning at breakfast with everyone focused on the weather.  A cold front was dropping down from the northwest and promising thunderstorms all along the ride route from start to finish.  Oddly enough, no one left the hotel this morning wearing foul weather gear.  We all just hoped that the 30% chance of thunderstorms would remain north of us.

Fourteen miles into the ride, as we went through a succession of very small towns, a storm cell quickly developed just beyond us.  And it was gaining on us rapidly.  Gene and Jane, driving the two SAG vans today, were pulling up to riders to give them an assessment of the situation.  Some riders were told to find cover where they were.  I was riding with Ted and Norm, my Austin, Texas buddies, and Michelle, the ride leader.  Gene told us to haul ass for Jamestown, a little under five miles up the road.  Given his knowledge of our riding abilities, he calculated we'd just make it there in time and advised us to seek shelter, especially as there wasn't much anywhere near where we were.  Just as we got into Jamestown, the skies had changed from a darkening gray to a deep purplish gray.  We looked for a cafe or small coffee shop.  No such luck.  Although there was a gas station at the one intersection in town, we asked some locals for other options, including some place serving something hot to drink and maybe, just maybe, a table at which to sit down.  "Well, there's the hardware store.  They have coffee."  We continued to look for options.  By now, about five minutes after we arrived, the first of the heavy raindrops started to fall.  Failing to find other options, we placed our bikes under the overhangs of the building next to the hardware store and ducked in there for shelter.  Sure enough, there was a long table, a bunch of chairs and a thermos filled with coffee.  A cup for a buck.  Donuts too!  Four or five locals were hunkered down at the table just shooting the breeze when the four of us ran into the place.  The reactions to both us and our attire was priceless.  But the cracks of thunder and the lightning that quickly followed soon put an end to any questions as to why we were there.  The heavens opened up.  The sound and the fury of the rain that was making a mess of things just outside the door made this the most welcome of ports in the storm.  (The video tells it all in a much shorter way.  Notice how quickly the sides of the road are flooded.)

Twenty minutes later, the storm had passed and we were again on our way.  After our SAG stop, we were supposed to visit the Roark Bike factory.  Unfortunately, being the 4th of July weekend, the place was closed for an extended holiday.

As we approached Indianapolis, we rode through Eagle Creek Park.  It was such a different set of surroundings -- tree-lined and canopied roads in a park -- as opposed to fields of grains or animals.  No cars, no sounds other than the natural environs and those of our tires on the road surface.  Again, another moment of peacefulness. 

Coming out of the park, we headed directly to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  If you've ever seen this race on TV, from this location, you have no way to truly appreciate the enormity of the place.  We actually entered the Speedway by riding underneath the track.  From the infield, many of us visited the Indy Hall of Fame.  We were restricted, however, from either riding on the track itself (there were test cars going through their paces today) or even ride around the property from the infield.  As such, we didn't see the golf course or any of the other race-related areas around the oval.

The mecca of road racing.

As auspicious a place as Indy is, this tunnel is the actual entrance into the infield where all the business of racing, including the museums and race offices, is conducted.  It was very cool riding under the actual track.

The Hall of Fame museum is filled with all the past winning cars from the Indianapolis 500.  Each May, they take these cars out for a spin around the track.  The locals say it's one of the most fun days, so watch the evolution of the engineering of these magnificent cars as they circle the track.

After leaving the Speedway, we made our way closer into the center of town.  Along the way, we stopped at Lake Sullivan Sports Complex, home of the Major Taylor Velodrome.  I actually rode on that track thirty years ago when the American Diabetes Association meeting was held here in Indianapolis (Eli Lilly headquarters are nearby).  By the time we got to the track today, however,  I wasn't able to do a repeat performance, and not on my own bike this time.  It had started to sprinkle again and the track is closed down whenever there's rain. 

The Major Taylor Velodrome.   Major Taylor was a local cycling hero who was a world champion in the 19th century.  The photo might not do justice to the nearly 45-degree pitch of the embankments around the curves!

From the Velodrome, we wended our way along the bike paths into the city that parallel the White River.  I was struck by two things along these paths.  First, I was so impressed with how much the City of Indianapolis has put into rehabilitating its riverfront areas.  The paths were beautiful and well-maintained.  There was new construction of upscale housing, hospitals, universities and other sports-related facilities all leading into town.  The NCAA recently moved their headquarters from Kansas City to Indianapolis and their facilities were also well designed.  Art museums, shops, parklands, the whole bit.  A very nice job.  But the other thing that struck me was how similar this looked to two years ago when I was riding into Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River.  Same kinds of bike paths.  Same redevelopment along the river approaching the center city area.  A very nice and curious midwestern echo.

Approaching Indianapolis center city.  Some of the university medical center buildings are in the foreground.

As Ted, Norm and I rode our bikes up to the entrance of our hotel, only then did it hit me that the middle section of my cross country journey had just ended.  While I had thought about it last night and again this morning before leaving Crawfordsville, I wasn't thinking about the end or the miles left to go anytime during the day's ride.  It kind of snuck up on me.

This is the shot right outside my hotel window.  It's Lucas Oil Field, home of the Indianapolis Colts football team.  After taking my bike to the local bike shop for disassembling and shipping back to New York City, I'm going to see about doing a tour of the stadium.

Tonight before route rap, everyone was buying me beers.  The other riders were celebrating a day off.  And many were wishing me well as the first of many send-offs for tonight and tomorrow.  

It's been one heck of an adventure.  I'm still dealing with the past couple of days so I haven't really had the chance to sit back and reflect.  Guess I'll do that tomorrow.  One more day of blog postings for this trip.