Maidei goes on a world tour-Part 1 of the Bicycle Mystery Tour

[HoosierGiant]

Maidei had a quiet Thanksgiving. So quiet, I forgot to take photos. We dined on homemade deep-dish pizza and fresh veggies, followed by mock pecan pie and chocolate-chip pie.

Travels around the area began with a trip to the Knightstown Academy, which was built as a Quaker Academy in 1877. Designed in Second Empire style, the structure has a mansard roof and twin, four-story towers topped by the building's unique and most notable features -- a globe and a telescope. The Academy served as a local high school before being taken out of service and nearly torn down. In the end, it was renovated as senior apartments.




Attached to the Knightstown Academy is a small gymnasium that now holds world acclaim. This was Maidei's second stop. That old-time gym was the setting for the home court of the Hickory Huskers in the 1985 movie Hoosiers. No trip through this area is complete without a visit to the Hoosier Gym, as it is now known. Visitors can not only sit in the stands and tour the downstairs locker room, but also shoot a few hoops. Maidei didn't try to put the ball in the basket, but she did take a close look at center court.




In what may have been a first, Maidei took her bike onto the court. Note the banner in the background, one of the remaining props from Hoosiers. While a road bike on the playing floor is a bit out of the ordinary, the Hoosier Gym is regularly used as a SAG for the Raintree Ride (formerly Stride & Ride), which includes a metric century.