The most amazing ride - 65 miles NO TRUCKS, NO CARS, NO DOGS!

[Mr. Bloom]

Sounds *very* appealing. It appears that the best place to spend a night would be Bloomington. Would that be correct?

Bloomington is best place to stay...I'd encourage you to make a weekend of it! It's 30ish miles from the start.

Other alternatives for those in Illinois include Vincennes (40 miles) and Washington (20 miles), but Bloomington is the most happenin' spot.

[Catrin]

It does sound quite attractive indeed and is certainly for a good cause! Indianapolis is close enough that I could drive down that morning. How bad at the hills? I hope to make progress on the finding and feeding of my hill climbing beastie this year, but that is pretty early in the season and I have to make up lost ground from my lengthy recovery...

[Mr. Bloom]

http://www.cranecyclefest.com/routes.html

Every uphill has an equal and opposite downhill.

I still remain unaware of any uphill that can't be walked

Last year, some chose to do repetitions of the 15 and 30 mile routes so they can stay close to the start if they got tired.

It's an easy drive from Indy

[Crankin]

We did a similar ride ("The soldier ride") for the Wounded Warrior Foundation on Labor Day. While it actually started just 3.5 miles from my house and the route was a combination of all of my little local rides for a total of 30 miles, it was cool to have police at all of the intersections where you never know what cars are going to do. The group of wounded vets rode with us for the first 10 miles, on some very fancy and cool hand cycles. There were also some vets riding regular bikes adapted for amputees; more than one of them dropped me near the end of the ride.

[indysteel]

Looks nice Mr. B. We couldn't join you last year if I recall because we were just getting back from our honemoon. I'll put in on our calendar for this year though with the hope of making it. We'll be in Kentucky the following weekend for Brian's brithday/the Horsey, so while the climbing at Crane would be helpful, it'll really just depend on whether we need to get other things done that weekend. Our perennial problem: too much to do in too little time.

[arielmoon]

Sounds like a great event. If it was closer I could consider it. LOL

[Mr. Bloom]

Looks nice Mr. B. We couldn't join you last year if I recall because we were just getting back from our honemoon.

yes Indy! I'm still shocked you let your honeymoon get in the way of a ride with me!

It's a shorter version of the horsey...without the traffic

[sundial]

Mr. B, I thought of you the other day when I was watching American Flyers. One of the funniest scenes occurred when Kevin Costner told his brother that they were going to work on sprints with Eddie. His brother was up to the challenge and little did he know that Eddie was a pit bull that would came charging out at them as they rode by his house.