Day 3 of my ride along Indiana’s National Road was long – 45 miles and 8.5 hours. I was spent by the 7 hour mark but had little choice but to keep pushing on.
I slept nine hours last night, yet when my alarm went off at 7 AM, all I wanted to do was keep sleeping. That turned out to be a harbinger of the day.
I headed west with a ride around Indy’s Monument Circle and then one block south to the National Road. I followed the trail through White River State Park over the one-time US 40 bridge now used to carry only pedestrians. Beyond it, getting through the west side of Indianapolis was little fun. There wasn’t much to see and the road was in bad shape, making for jarring riding.
It took me almost 3 hours to reach downtown Plainfield, where I stopped for lunch. There was a Dairy Queen there so I went in and got a grilled chicken sandwich and a hot fudge sundae. I figured I’d treat myself! That turned out to be a terrible lunch; within an hour I was having a giant sugar crash. Bleh.
I got to visit my favorite abandoned bridge. It’s just west of Plainfield. I visited for the first time in 2006 on my first ever trip exploring the old roads. This was so cool that it hooked me forever on this hobby.
After about four hours on the road, I need to stop frequently to rest. I’m quite saddle sore, and thre were just several times that I just had to get off the bike to give my bottom some relief. Additionally, my lunch didn’t hold me and I needed to stop to snack a couple times. But more importantly, as I headed into Putnam County and the terrain began to become hilly, I struggled up the hills. I’m not too proud to admit that I had to walk my bike up three or four of them. They weren’t super steep, I was just fried. At one rest stop I stood next to a cornfield that was busy whispering as cornfields do. I recorded several seconds of it; I hope you can hear the whispering.
Tomorrow is my last day. If I feel as tired tomorrow as I do today, I’m going to end the ride in downtown Terre Haute. That will change a 50-mile day into a 38-mile day! That’s still a long day for this middle-aged man who is in middling shape.
