Why I Ride
Sunday, July 23, 2006
So after a trying morning of riding yesterday, it was time to get out on the roads I long for whenever I throw my leg over the bike. Today's ride would actually have parts of 4 different rides that I have taken people on, but since Julie came all the way from Michigan, I had to link them up.
We met at the trusty Thornton's Gas Station. While Julie and I waited for the light to change, we noticed that someone had already arrived. It was Greg, a fellow VTX Owner, and someone who I met at our last Cruiser Club Meeting.
The three of us waited until Easyrider Jim and Carl showed up. They were just down the road at the Bob Evans. It wasn't a big group, but for the area we would be riding, it was a good sized group.
We started out east on Washington Street, then turned south on Franklin Road to US 52. Most of this part of the route was a straight as an arrow, but it gets us out of the city, out of the county, and into rural landscape. Although the residents of New Palestine might say they are a Suburb, there are lots of farms between them and Indy.
We took 700 South, and picked up several back roads as we jogged our way to Sugar Creek Road. The road winds along the a waterway of the same name, passing an old mill, a campground, and the small town of the same name. The curves are many, and varying in their radius and frequency. After Boggstown, the roads become those right angle turns to other county roads. Eventually, we find SR 44, and take it west into Franklin. Where SR 44 and US 31 meet, on the west side of Franklin, we took a break at the Shell Gas Station. We would need to make more frequent stops, as Julie's Gas Tank only allowed her to go about 100 miles. We could have pushed on, we had only about 60 miles down, but it had been 2 hours!
We left the Shell and headed south on US 31 for only about a mile and half, and turned off on Nineveh Road. It would be a few county roads, and one state road, SR 252, before we would get to the town of Nineveh. We made a brief stop at the side of the road for Julie to adjust her jacket collar, and then headed off into the twisty, tree lined roads of the area. The road meanders through this are of south central Indiana. We turned off onto Beech Tree Lane, a very secluded road, darkened by the thick canopy of trees overhead. The pavement was a little rough, but the road was too much fun to pay attention to the bumps. We would exit Beech Tree for Peoga Trial Road. Peoga is good and curvey, but it's height often puts you above the trees.
Peoga ends near Gatesville Road, and a sign identifying Gatesville, and the fact that you can enter and leave town at the same time. Just west of town is a uphill, descending radius right hand turn that I always forget about. I was able to make it again, but one of these days. Eventually we would make it out to SR 135. Normally, I would turn north, and go directly to Three Story Road, but we headed south this time, so that we could pay a quick visit to Nashville, and Brown County's Shops. Specifically, Julie, wanted to look for a leather jacket, and I knew just the place. We were able to find a parking space, not too far from the store, and we walked down the street to enter.
Julie took her time to pick out just what she wanted, it would be a long trip to return it. She mentioned she would have to do some work to it, but seemed happy with her purchase. Apparently, she didn't like the fringy, pink ones the guys were picking out for her. Greg bought himself a pair of gloves, and Jim and Carl enjoyed the swinging bench out front. We would gas up, and head back up SR 135, looking for Three Story Road.
Like Beech Tree, Three Story is a snake like trail of asphalt wrapped by trees on both sides, and above. It would lead us to Mahalsville Road. Along this road the trees slowly give way to farmland, and rolling hills. The views are still spectacular, but different. I felt like I was back in southern Missouri, or even northern Arkansas. The hills would flatten out just a little, and we would pull into Martinsville, Indiana.
This was going great, but the plan for lunch would foil the perfect day. We wanted to dine at Sgt. Pepper's Chicken, but they are closed on Sunday's. So we went off in search of another place to eat. We ended up at an Arby's, it was our best choice along the route.
After lunch, we headed west out of Martinsville, and then north on SR 67. We would be taking off on Sheldon Road. This is a great little road that winds through farms. It has one of the most technical, difficult turns that I know of in Indiana. As you approach, you can see the road you are about to travel. It looks like the top of the Empire State Building. It is one of those place were you think, "How I'm I going to get up there?" I had warned them that there would be an area where I would signal for a first gear corner, so they knew it was coming. Julie, I was not worried about, but Greg had limited experience with county roads, and there bite.
We took the corner nice and easy, and everyone made it through fine. I asked Carl on the CB if he had seen how Greg did, but he was too busy looking out for the road himself! The road then continues through a lush tree lined area, and comes out to Wilber Road. We road that for a short time until we turned left on to Upper Patton Woods. After a couple of good hills, we would veer right on to Berean Road. This is a wonderfully twisty little road, but often in very rough shape. I was amazed when we pulled on to thick, smooth, brand new pavement. Improved this road 200 percent!
Berean leads us to Little Hurricane Road, stretch with more right angle turns, but it passes by horse farms, and a tree farm. Big Hurricane is next on the list, and it starts out in farm land, but quickly leads you into a cavern of trees. Spectacular anytime of the year, but there is nothing like this stretch in the prime fall color season! One year, the trees were a particularly brilliant mix of red and orange. This path felt like riding through a tunnel of fire! It gave me goosebumps, I can admit that!
Since I have ridden on Big Hurricane so many time, it often give my mind a chance to wonder a bit. Today, I was thinking about why I ride, more specifically, why I ride where I do. There is a statement in motorcycling, "If I have to explain it, you won't be able to understand." So with that, I will just say that I like to ride where there are no lines on the road. You have to rely on your own since of distance to know where you are in your lane. Each turn you need to size up, adjust, and decide where, and how fast you are going to carve it up. These roads you will spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out if that is a leaf, or road kill. I guess in some way it takes me back to the days when you had to use a horse to get where you wanted, and often, you blazed your own trail. It makes wonder if riders back in that day just went out for pleasure, to see things that hadn't seen, or re-visit areas they found inspiring.
Back to the road, and the next on tap was Base Line, which becomes Turkey Neck. You would think that sounds like a real good road, but except for the two Turkey Necks, it is mostly straight. After a couple of jogs on county roads that have since lost their signs, we crossed SR 231, and headed for Cataract.
The town is small, and not much is still running. Nearby, however, is one of the most scenic areas in Indiana, Cataract State Falls, advertised as the longest falls in Indiana. There is an Upper Falls, near the entrance, and crossed with a Covered Bridge, and a Lower Falls that can be hiked, or driven to. The park is relatively small when compared to the size of say Brown County, but it packs quite a punch, especially in the fall. The trees are bursting with fireworks of color, and it is doubled by the reflection off the water. The park was busier than I had ever seen it, with several people cooling their hot feet in the cascade's edge. The lower falls was even busier, as it is more accessible to climb out on the water weathered rock.
Jim and Carl had taken off, as Carl had a son in town he wanted to visit. The three of us that remained took off, heading north on SR 231, after we had cruised a county road out of the park area.
SR 42 would be our next turn, and except for a few jogs, it was pretty much a straight road. At Eminence, we turned onto SR 142, which is straight for a while, features one of my favorite bridges in the state, and then gets it curve on late, nearly at its end. SR 142 also lies less than a 1/4 mile from Wilber Road, but you would never know it.
With SR 142 ending at SR 39, it becomes Robb Hill Road. This is a delightful trek to SR 67. I love spiraling curves into wooded areas, and this stretch has a lot of them. Way too soon, you pop out of the woods, and into a gas station along Highway 67. We would take another break here, and Julie would fuel up. I talked to Greg, so he would know not to follow us, as the ride was essentially over.
After the break, we headed north up SR 67. Julie and I veered off at SR 42, and took it to Mann Road. Mann Road snakes its way into the southern outskirts of Indianapolis. We would have to take Southport Road east to Bluff Road, then Bluff Road north to get to Pleasant Run Parkway. The parkway is a good road from the south west part of Indy to east side. In Irvington, it rolls by some nice old houses. Eventually, we would end up on tenth street, and then to home.
If you think the riding is over, you are as mistaken as I am. Apparently the 200 miles plus of twisty roads didn't wear Julie out enough, so we hopped back on the bikes, and rode out to Greenfield, and had dinner at Bamboo Garden. There was chill in the air as the sun was setting on another great day of riding. The miles behind me make me anxious for the miles ahead, and maybe that is why I ride.
So after a trying morning of riding yesterday, it was time to get out on the roads I long for whenever I throw my leg over the bike. Today's ride would actually have parts of 4 different rides that I have taken people on, but since Julie came all the way from Michigan, I had to link them up.
We met at the trusty Thornton's Gas Station. While Julie and I waited for the light to change, we noticed that someone had already arrived. It was Greg, a fellow VTX Owner, and someone who I met at our last Cruiser Club Meeting.
The three of us waited until Easyrider Jim and Carl showed up. They were just down the road at the Bob Evans. It wasn't a big group, but for the area we would be riding, it was a good sized group.
We started out east on Washington Street, then turned south on Franklin Road to US 52. Most of this part of the route was a straight as an arrow, but it gets us out of the city, out of the county, and into rural landscape. Although the residents of New Palestine might say they are a Suburb, there are lots of farms between them and Indy.
We took 700 South, and picked up several back roads as we jogged our way to Sugar Creek Road. The road winds along the a waterway of the same name, passing an old mill, a campground, and the small town of the same name. The curves are many, and varying in their radius and frequency. After Boggstown, the roads become those right angle turns to other county roads. Eventually, we find SR 44, and take it west into Franklin. Where SR 44 and US 31 meet, on the west side of Franklin, we took a break at the Shell Gas Station. We would need to make more frequent stops, as Julie's Gas Tank only allowed her to go about 100 miles. We could have pushed on, we had only about 60 miles down, but it had been 2 hours!
We left the Shell and headed south on US 31 for only about a mile and half, and turned off on Nineveh Road. It would be a few county roads, and one state road, SR 252, before we would get to the town of Nineveh. We made a brief stop at the side of the road for Julie to adjust her jacket collar, and then headed off into the twisty, tree lined roads of the area. The road meanders through this are of south central Indiana. We turned off onto Beech Tree Lane, a very secluded road, darkened by the thick canopy of trees overhead. The pavement was a little rough, but the road was too much fun to pay attention to the bumps. We would exit Beech Tree for Peoga Trial Road. Peoga is good and curvey, but it's height often puts you above the trees.
Peoga ends near Gatesville Road, and a sign identifying Gatesville, and the fact that you can enter and leave town at the same time. Just west of town is a uphill, descending radius right hand turn that I always forget about. I was able to make it again, but one of these days. Eventually we would make it out to SR 135. Normally, I would turn north, and go directly to Three Story Road, but we headed south this time, so that we could pay a quick visit to Nashville, and Brown County's Shops. Specifically, Julie, wanted to look for a leather jacket, and I knew just the place. We were able to find a parking space, not too far from the store, and we walked down the street to enter.
Julie took her time to pick out just what she wanted, it would be a long trip to return it. She mentioned she would have to do some work to it, but seemed happy with her purchase. Apparently, she didn't like the fringy, pink ones the guys were picking out for her. Greg bought himself a pair of gloves, and Jim and Carl enjoyed the swinging bench out front. We would gas up, and head back up SR 135, looking for Three Story Road.
Like Beech Tree, Three Story is a snake like trail of asphalt wrapped by trees on both sides, and above. It would lead us to Mahalsville Road. Along this road the trees slowly give way to farmland, and rolling hills. The views are still spectacular, but different. I felt like I was back in southern Missouri, or even northern Arkansas. The hills would flatten out just a little, and we would pull into Martinsville, Indiana.
This was going great, but the plan for lunch would foil the perfect day. We wanted to dine at Sgt. Pepper's Chicken, but they are closed on Sunday's. So we went off in search of another place to eat. We ended up at an Arby's, it was our best choice along the route.
After lunch, we headed west out of Martinsville, and then north on SR 67. We would be taking off on Sheldon Road. This is a great little road that winds through farms. It has one of the most technical, difficult turns that I know of in Indiana. As you approach, you can see the road you are about to travel. It looks like the top of the Empire State Building. It is one of those place were you think, "How I'm I going to get up there?" I had warned them that there would be an area where I would signal for a first gear corner, so they knew it was coming. Julie, I was not worried about, but Greg had limited experience with county roads, and there bite.
We took the corner nice and easy, and everyone made it through fine. I asked Carl on the CB if he had seen how Greg did, but he was too busy looking out for the road himself! The road then continues through a lush tree lined area, and comes out to Wilber Road. We road that for a short time until we turned left on to Upper Patton Woods. After a couple of good hills, we would veer right on to Berean Road. This is a wonderfully twisty little road, but often in very rough shape. I was amazed when we pulled on to thick, smooth, brand new pavement. Improved this road 200 percent!
Berean leads us to Little Hurricane Road, stretch with more right angle turns, but it passes by horse farms, and a tree farm. Big Hurricane is next on the list, and it starts out in farm land, but quickly leads you into a cavern of trees. Spectacular anytime of the year, but there is nothing like this stretch in the prime fall color season! One year, the trees were a particularly brilliant mix of red and orange. This path felt like riding through a tunnel of fire! It gave me goosebumps, I can admit that!
Since I have ridden on Big Hurricane so many time, it often give my mind a chance to wonder a bit. Today, I was thinking about why I ride, more specifically, why I ride where I do. There is a statement in motorcycling, "If I have to explain it, you won't be able to understand." So with that, I will just say that I like to ride where there are no lines on the road. You have to rely on your own since of distance to know where you are in your lane. Each turn you need to size up, adjust, and decide where, and how fast you are going to carve it up. These roads you will spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out if that is a leaf, or road kill. I guess in some way it takes me back to the days when you had to use a horse to get where you wanted, and often, you blazed your own trail. It makes wonder if riders back in that day just went out for pleasure, to see things that hadn't seen, or re-visit areas they found inspiring.
Back to the road, and the next on tap was Base Line, which becomes Turkey Neck. You would think that sounds like a real good road, but except for the two Turkey Necks, it is mostly straight. After a couple of jogs on county roads that have since lost their signs, we crossed SR 231, and headed for Cataract.
The town is small, and not much is still running. Nearby, however, is one of the most scenic areas in Indiana, Cataract State Falls, advertised as the longest falls in Indiana. There is an Upper Falls, near the entrance, and crossed with a Covered Bridge, and a Lower Falls that can be hiked, or driven to. The park is relatively small when compared to the size of say Brown County, but it packs quite a punch, especially in the fall. The trees are bursting with fireworks of color, and it is doubled by the reflection off the water. The park was busier than I had ever seen it, with several people cooling their hot feet in the cascade's edge. The lower falls was even busier, as it is more accessible to climb out on the water weathered rock.
Jim and Carl had taken off, as Carl had a son in town he wanted to visit. The three of us that remained took off, heading north on SR 231, after we had cruised a county road out of the park area.
SR 42 would be our next turn, and except for a few jogs, it was pretty much a straight road. At Eminence, we turned onto SR 142, which is straight for a while, features one of my favorite bridges in the state, and then gets it curve on late, nearly at its end. SR 142 also lies less than a 1/4 mile from Wilber Road, but you would never know it.
With SR 142 ending at SR 39, it becomes Robb Hill Road. This is a delightful trek to SR 67. I love spiraling curves into wooded areas, and this stretch has a lot of them. Way too soon, you pop out of the woods, and into a gas station along Highway 67. We would take another break here, and Julie would fuel up. I talked to Greg, so he would know not to follow us, as the ride was essentially over.
After the break, we headed north up SR 67. Julie and I veered off at SR 42, and took it to Mann Road. Mann Road snakes its way into the southern outskirts of Indianapolis. We would have to take Southport Road east to Bluff Road, then Bluff Road north to get to Pleasant Run Parkway. The parkway is a good road from the south west part of Indy to east side. In Irvington, it rolls by some nice old houses. Eventually, we would end up on tenth street, and then to home.
If you think the riding is over, you are as mistaken as I am. Apparently the 200 miles plus of twisty roads didn't wear Julie out enough, so we hopped back on the bikes, and rode out to Greenfield, and had dinner at Bamboo Garden. There was chill in the air as the sun was setting on another great day of riding. The miles behind me make me anxious for the miles ahead, and maybe that is why I ride.
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