Arrived in Indianapolis, IN        Day 9, 62.5 Miles

Today marked the shortest distance of my trip to date. We left at our usual 7:25 am time, and I rolled in first at about 11:30. Everyone was taking it easy today and not rushing here because it is probably best to take advantage of the short distance as kind of a working rest day. Sometimes the scheduled distances are short because it just happens to be the logical place to stop on the map. And sometimes the distances are long for the same reason. In example, before I had connected with the group, the group had completed a 115 mile day through the dessert. Why 115 miles? Because there was literally no place to stop in the middle and even if there was a place, they didn't want to prolong their time in the dessert. I would have enjoyed the challenge of a ride like that, but I am glad that is not how I started the trip. 

There were more trees today and for the first time on this trip, I rode through a suburb with houses that look a lot like the tightly packed ones back home. There were many turns on our map today, which is unusual. Typically, we have a couple / few turns and then a 20 mile stretch of no turns, and then it repeats itself. As I am directionally challenged, I really had to pay attention since I am alone much of the time. On two occasions, I missed my turn and went a couple miles in the wrong direction. On one of those events, I actually was chasing down a cyclist in the distance that I thought was part of our group, only to catch up and realize that it was a local biker. That decision cost me about 4 miles. We had one detour which took us down an all dirt road for about 5 miles. I was worried about blowing a tire, but nothing bad came of it and we were back on track with not much issue. 

Missing not being at the DPCF Golf Tournament this year. I'm sure it was a big success as usual. 

Sorry ... not so interesting today. Tomorrow we ride from Indianapolis to Richmond, IN for a ride of about 73 miles. 

Some pictures from the road: 

Tractor Contest at the local 'Strawberry Festival'

Thanks for all of your support!