Last minute Friday I decided to ride up to the relatives compound outside of Battle Creek. The wind forecast wasn't ideal but that just added to the challenge. I made this journey last year with a completely favorable wind scenario, so this time I was going to earn it. I had also chosen a fairly tame route last year, primarily skirting the Bohemian Alps. This year my plan was to head right into the Alps to see what was to offer after I left my familiar zone at the Valpo turn off CR 25.
CR 25 then CR26 & voila first dirt, sweetness...
shortly thereafter, more sweetness...
oh yeah...
found about 5 miles in a 10 mile stretch...
Cr 26 feeds into North Bend, with the strong SW blowing this first leg was way faster than expected. At this point I was all smiles, that wouldn't last for long. Until now the roads were in really good shape, including the B's. I believe North Bend is Dodge County & there remedy to gravel repair is dump a bunch of loose gravel on the roads & smear it around with the maintainer's.
My 2nd leg was to be North bend to Stanton, which meant I needed to do a bunch of East to West legs to get over that direction. Oh mama! As soon as I made my first turn West on the thick gravel with the insanely strong cross wind at my left, my smile was gone & it became survival mode. Who wants it more...me or the wind & the crappy roads. Usually there was a sliver of firm-ish tire track to follow but the fierce cross wind would blow me into the deep stuff & I would battle to regain the sliver of goodness while trying to keep the front end from washing out in the deep stuff. No lie, this was probably the strongest wind I have ever ridden in. Had to be 30 with gusts above that.
To get to Stanton I let Google maps pick a "bicycling" route, it actually picked a gravel course not road, hmmm? Anyway, right on. I basically followed its recommendation with a couple stair steps added in to try to ease the pain of the cross wind's onslaught.
looks innocent enough...
At one point the journey called for an eleven mile run straight North taking me just outside Stanton. I was looking forward to this section but quickly found out it had the biggset hills I would see all day! I had no idea it was this lumpy up here. Huge, steep hills that just kept coming.
behind me...
ahead...
The odd part about the route I was given & that before mentioned eleven mile run was that it spilled into some sweet double-track MMR. On paper this should be sweet, right? If you've ever been up in this area you would know that its on the very Eastern edge of the sandhills.
My tasty double-track quickly became a ride on the beach. Two miles of this, some rideable some not...
My slow pace (hiking at times) allowed me to spy these Turkey tracks in the sand...
crossing the mighty Elkhorn @ Stanton...
Stanton to Battle Creek (actually a couple miles East in the country) would be the toughest portion yet. It was about 4:00 pm at this point & the wind had ramped up to all its fury. I crawled out of Stanton heading South to find my road West. The road going was West was terrible, deep sandy gravel with not even a sliver of goodness at times. The wind throwing every thing it had at me.
I took this picture as a thank you to this stand of trees which gave me a fraction of sweet relief on this leg...
a brief Northern leg to raise my spirits...
good afternoon friends, these guys were camped out behind some trees hiding out from the afternoon gales...
the last 10 miles I found a piece of tarmac, took time to represent...
1/4 mile from my destination I crossed the Elkhorn again, I'm hungry...
I had toyed with the idea of riding back today. Yesterday was maybe one of the hardest days I've ever had on the bike. Hard = awesome! I'm still feeling really crispy & I'm leaning towards a recovery ride up here instead. The wind looks right though:)
I think I won...
Later,
TK
headin' for the jamaica...
perfect morning, great crew...
waiting for a straggler already, no names:)...
sw 2nd...
gravel was in great shape...
as was the dirt...
some folks had some flats, chillin', chattin'...
mod & c-bread, the air quotes in full effect...
wood-man & dk...
eventually sprague cafe. potato salad & carrots, cabbage, & more potato's...
oh yeah...it was free!! we showed up on free food day, are ya kidding me. the people were super-nice...
self-control test, he passed...
deviled eggs & goulash (short list) went down this guys hatch...
back in on the jamaica...
great day! bunch of great people!
