Thanks for the immediate advice! I didn't think it wise...there IS another route that I can try, but only at dawn on weekend mornings - don't think I want to try it any later than that. Also unsure on the trip home at this point.

We have no decent bike route maps (I am a regional transportation planner). Indianapolis has made some progress in bike lanes, but not in my part of town. Yet. The Town of Speedway is trying to get something going along an abandoned rail corridor, but that is still in the future.

So I guess I will keep packing my bike up to go to another county - and that is not a bad thing. As my skills advance I will consider trying this desired route There are few tertiary roads that gets me in the right direction, not in my part of town. There are a lot of isolated streets that do not connect/intersect with the major roads and thus do not get me to the coveted country roads.