Day 20: Bloomington, Indiana: "A Tale of Redemption Involving Swords, Beasts, Winds, and Hoosiers"

Yesterday morning we woke up to Radiohead's "Kid A" and for unexplainable reasons I was bursting with energy. I sprang up out of the crib I'd made from two pews, and immediately exclaimed "let's go to Indiana!" as people were rubbing sleep from their eyes.

We packed like fiends and hit the road around 6 after one final delicious meal from Chef Mark. Today was going to be our longest ride yet at 86 miles, so I stuck with a group that was planning to go at a slow pace. We rolled out of the church and across the 'burbs of Cinci and, of course, 5 miles later found ourselves caught in a thunderstorm. We found shelter and waited it out. Well, we found shelter, but I spent a lot of that time out in the rain being one with nature and letting the drops fall on me. I was convinced today was going to be a great day. With so many miles to cover it was bound to be.

After the storm calmed down we worked our way to the Indiana state border, and admired the many bordertown shops that lined the roads. Personal highlight: The Workin' Man's Fireworks Store, because of course the standard fireworks store doesn't understand how to cater to the tastes of the average American working man.

We crossed a bridge to take us into Indiana when I did something really stupid. Yep. Really stupid in hindsight. See, there was this little toy foam sword on the side of the road, and, me being a giant child, I excitedly turned around to try to get the the sword. This resulted in Jen, who was riding behind me, saying "AGH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" and me, after thinking quickly, deciding to continue to slow down and start swearing. The result: a minor collision in which no *people* were hurt, but Jen's wheel rammed a good number of the spokes of my back wheel, leaving the wheel totally unridable.

So I sat right on the bridge on the border between Indy and Ohio questioning whether this toy sword was *really* worth the risk. Probably not at all, but it is an awesome sword. Aileen drove by and provided me with a spare wheel, and I rolled into lunch presenting said sword to Jen for putting up with my spontaneous nature.

After lunch we still had about 50 miles to cover, so the group I was traveling with proceeded to hammer vigorously. Fate decided to sidetrack us, however. Jesse saw a sign that just said "Bears in three miles". Eager to get out off of the windy prairie road for a bit, we decided to investigate this place, and happened upon the coolest ranch ever. Circle S Ranch. Somewhere in southern Indiana.

One of the volunteers, Scott, was awesome enough to offer us a free tour after hearing about Bike & Build's story. It. Was. Awesome. We got to pet camels, and feed water buffalo raw corn. We fed a baby bison milk, and held a baby deer that was three days old. We took a pic-a-nic basket to the pair of black bears and got to feed them, and the definite highlight, I think for everyone, was the baby tigers.

Our timing was impeccable. If we'd been there a week earlier, we couldn't have fed them. If we were a week later, we legally could not come within a certain distance of them. But it was perfect. One of the owners was keeping a pair of baby tigers in a baby pen in the living room of their apartment. So there we were, in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, rolling on the floor of some person's apartment (with the Christmas tree still up, might I add), playing with tiger cubs.

No big deal.

We spent an inappropriately long time at Circle S, and wound up having to positively hammer the last 30 miles to make it in time for showers. Jesse and I tag-teamed leading the lines to block the women-folk from the harch prairie winds. We're such men like that. We also started freestyling a power love-ballad about Indiana, which was really, really funny.

Sadly we didn't make it in time for showers and had to resort to a hose shower in the church parking lot in front of a pack of bewildered Hoosiers. I hopped into my PJs, and the day ended with a team-screening of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure on the church TV (again, major props to Mom).

Anyways today was the ride into beautiful Bloomington, the home of Indiana University and, subsequently, the coolest town in all of Indy. Today’s ride, especially in relation to yesterday’s, was incredibly easy, at a mere 40 miles. We woke up at around 7, got on the road around 8, and, since all of us were eager to just get to a Cool College Town, we wound up cranking out the first 20 miles without pause.

We managed to reach Nashville, Indiana in time for Second Breakfast. For those who haven’t been to Nashville, it’s certainly worth an afternoon’s rambling. I’ve actually been there once before, with my family, for Christmas. It’s basically a very small artist’s colony sprinkled with the occasional coffee shop and bed-n-breakfast.

Our team invaded one of the coffeehouses, the daily grind, and raised a ruckus in that modest establishment. The owner, Hal, was a big jolly hoot in a Green Bay Packer’s hat and he was endlessly fascinated with what we were doing, and of course grateful for our business. I enjoyed a heaping plate of scrambled eggs and delicious Kilimanjaro coffee, and then we all stepped outside for a great picture with Hal for the local paper, who caught wind of the horde invading Nashville.

We made a stop for some fudge, and then proceeded to Bloomington after we had sufficiently dug Nashville’s quaintness.

We rolled through some lovely hills and forest, which was a delightful change from yesterday’s stupid hot windy fields. Over-caffeinated and overwhelmed with the natural splendor of Brown County, Indiana, I found myself bursting into a constant stream of song. All of us belted out Beatles songs as we did climbs, and when I started drifting ahead of my pack I busted out a few My Morning Jacket tunes to myself.

The stream of song carried on for a good half hour until I saw yet another unleashed dog making a b-line for the team. My experience with dogs over the last week has hardened me in a big way, but this one was an especially close call. He was a scrappy boxer with a sizable jaw, and it took the very best of my barking to get him to back off of me, but of course as soon as I shook him off he made a line-drive to Jen and was, without exaggeration, probably a foot away from her heels.

That’s when the hero instincts kicked in. Somewhere in the back of my head the Popeye themesong started playing. I swerved to the side, hit my breaks, told Jen to book it (though she probably didn’t need that advice), and then immediately cut 90 degrees at ramming speed towards the beast. The translation of my barking is undoubtedly not suitable for some members of my audience, but I can assure you it was earth-shattering.

So Rover, in a split-second, went from chasing a girl’s heels to doubling over himself into a patch of gravel and high-tailing it for the forest. As we rolled up the hill I stared him down and just said “DON’T. YOU. DARE.”

So that was how I redeemed myself for yesterday’s idiocy. Jen agrees I’m at a net positive, and we told the story to the rest of the team when we rolled into lunch.

I’M SUCH A MAN RIGHT NOW. That dash of testosterone is probably going to translate into a serious performance boost for the beard-off.

After lunch was an incredibly pleasant ride through the rest of Brown County, with more singing and much admiration of the countryside. Ten miles later, we were rolling through the heart of Bloomington, screaming like the excitable children we are.

We stopped at a really sweet fountain at IU, and, in a burst of primal excitement, stripped down to our shorts and undershirts and frolicked through the water for a good 20 minutes.

Following the fountain extravaganza we hit the town. I stopped at a bike shop to pick up a few energy bars and a new reflector, and then we went to an awesome restaurant about a block away from the church. It’s called Little Tibet, and, as one can guess, they do great Tibetan food. It’s also owned by the Dalai Lama’s brother, so that’s really boss. To add to my manly agenda I had a hearty meal of The Spiciest Thing They Could Make and some Tibetan style butter-based tea. It was divine.

The mother of a Bike and Build alum provided a barbeque dinner for us at a lovely town park, and then I rolled back into town in the hopes of actually finishing this entry. So here I am! Here’s this entry! Don’t tell Kentucky but Indiana has been… surprisingly awesome.