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This was definitely one of the most interesting days on the tour. It started out with the usual miles of country roads and corn fields, with the occasional view of I-74. When we got to Indianapolis, they took us quite a bit out of the way to go through Eagle Creek Park, a beautiful large park. I guess we couldn't go to Indianopolis without going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ("the racing capitol of the world"). The cue sheet had some problems, and it seemed like everyone took the same wrong turn on the way to the Speedway, but once you get within a mile of it, you can find it by ear. There were only four or five cars running practice laps, but the noise was still deafening. I can't imagine what it's like on race day. But the neighbors don't have a lot of ground to complain, as the Speedway has been there since 1909. I can understand why you might want to drive 150 mph, but for the life of me, I don't understand the appeal of watching cars driving around in circles. We stayed long enough to see a few practice laps, and for Andy to buy a $3 Coke. From there, we went to the Major Taylor Velodrome, one of the premier bike-racing tracks. Much smaller and quieter than the Speedway, and much more my speed. They opened the track for us, and let us play. It was a little intimidating at first, but actually pretty easy once you got the hang of it. The track is pretty steeply banked, but it doesn't get steeper as you go further up the wall, so you can go as close to the wall as you want. I tore around a number of times, and quit when I finally passed Daco. From there, we got on the White River Greenway, a series of parks and bike paths. From a trailside plaque: "In 1988, the City County Council started looking at ways to reconnect our communities that had become fragmented with a century of growth and development. Revisiting landscape architect George Kessler's 1908 plan for parkways, a few visionary councilors and citizens proposed the White River Greenway. This is the first of what has become the Indianapolis Greenways project." This took us into the heart of downtown Indianapolis and the redeveloped Central Canal, a very attractive waterway that winds through over a mile of downtown. We missed a turn on the cue sheet, and ended up on the wrong side of the canal, but it was a nice day and a pleasant ride, so we didn't bother to carry our bikes over one of the pedestrian bridges. Instead, we went all the way to the end, and came back on the other side before resuming the route. This was really a nice, nice way to come into the city. I don't think any car route could compare. Against all expectations, they actually put us up in a downtown hotel, so we can walk around on our day off. (And our night off, although there's not a lot of night-life on a Monday). |
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