4th Annual Sub-9 Gravel Grovel

[Catrin]

Catrin - If your car isn't out of the shop by then, I'd be happy to transport your bike for you. I live in Columbus -- but work in Indy so I'm sure there would be lots of opportunity for me to pick up your bike the day before. My van is in the shop now for bodywork, but its totally supposed to be done before Thanksgiving.

I'm riding a comfort bike (my only other bike is a road bike) and my kiddo is doing this on a hybrid. We've had a rough summer (I'm still recovering from breaking my leg 4 months ago) and lately we've only been riding on flat paved trails so this is likely a bit too ambitious for us. We have completed a few 30 mile rides on our flat trails, so its not completely out of our range. At the very least, my hubby is going to be in the area geocaching so he can rescue us if needed! We signed up for the fun ride thinking we could go at our own pace and be out of everyone else's way.

Thanks for the offer, it is appreciated. I am pretty sure they will have my car to me by then but it is good to know that there is an option. I think you will have fun on the "fun ride", you can get out there to enjoy the gravel roads and scenery. Last year we were so busy that I never had the chance to ride, but I think that will be different this year. Did you see the message about the different starting location?

[Aromig]

I wondered why it was 25 miles rather than 30 like before. I've never done it before, but had been watching for the announcement for this year. The new starting location does seem more convenient (I've been to both the boys scout camp and the horsemans' camp for various other cub scout/geocaching/etc. events).

[Catrin]

I wondered why it was 25 miles rather than 30 like before. I've never done it before, but had been watching for the announcement for this year. The new starting location does seem more convenient (I've been to both the boys scout camp and the horsemans' camp for various other cub scout/geocaching/etc. events).

I don't know what happened to cause the last minute change, but the horsemans' camp sounds like a nice facility!

How do you like geocaching? I am considering checking it out, but the cost of a GPS unit is holding me back. I suspect that there is some application I could use on my phone, but with the poor signal reception I get in the woods I am not confident that would work for me. AT&T just doesn't get good coverage where I would go...

[Aromig]

I honestly haven't gotten too much into the geocaching and I'm not fond of it. When we try to do "together things" like hiking or biking, stopping for geocaches just slows me down so much I get frustrated. I've not tried it just for fun myself -- so maybe that might make a difference. My husband only used his phone for the longest time (AT&T) and it was fine for the more urban geocaching (in fact, he found a cache right outside the surgical center where I had some hardware removed from my leg this morning!). Now that he does it more in the woods, he does have a different unit. If you're interested in the more rural type of geocaching -- you might look for "kids" versions of GPS units. We got my son one from the boyscout website that wasn't fancy but got the job done and was affordable (it was actually a cub scouts activity that got everyone interested in geocaching!)