"One Day, One Way, 160 Miles!" RAIN is an annual ride across the State of Indiana sponsored by the Bloomington Bicycle Club. Its 160-mile length runs mostly on the Historic National Route 40, an older divided four-lane road with light traffic. It has gentle rolling hills. 2007 was my fifth year for riding RAIN and Tom Armstrong's fourth. There were a more than a dozen participants from all around Louisville joining the 1,185 who rode. A number of the "Mad Dogs" participated. Some even did the ride fixed gear! Amazing! A few folks chose to ride straight through, treating the ride essentially as a Time Trial. They turned in some great overall times for the ride. However, most of us took advantage of the SAG stops with great food, drink and a party atmosphere.

It was also the year for our personal bests. Tom and I stayed mostly together for the ride, working as team. Great weather and a gradually building tailwind combined with better cycling fitness to give us a comfortable and speedy RAIN ride with an average of 21.3 mph. Of course, we still took our breaks at the SAG stops. We soaked up some happy memories for the day.

Now you can see some sights and sounds from one of the more challenging annual rides in this region. Enjoy!

Larry (aka Gizmo)

(All photos and video by Larry Preble and Harry Jacobson-Beyer.)