2019 - Bicycle Travel Weekend - a group camping ride

The Adventure Bicycling Association has sponsored Bicycle Travel Weekend on the first weekend of June since 2016 and this was the third year Nathan and Kristen Dinges have organized CIBA’s participation.   The goal of Bicycle Travel Weekend is to expose more riders to bicycle travel, and Nathan and Kristen have done this for dozens’s of CIBA members.  A first this year, along with 8 riders starting from Beech Grove, 4 riders started from the Columbus (Indiana) area and joined us at the campground in St. Paul.

Picture perfect passing Red Mills

The touring experience of this year’s riders ranged from 40 plus years and thousand of miles to first timers riding with borrowed gear.  This also meant that some of the riders were on purpose built touring bikes, including some of the latest features like disc brakes, gravel-ready wheels and full touring bits; while the first timers were just on a road bike with a rack added.  This lead to lot of experience sharing, with each rider relating their trips and gear selection.

A short portage across some construction

After a 10 am start on Saturday, we rode under dry and sunny skies along a route that followed the back roads from Beech Grove to Shelbyville, with a few short detours and a portage over railroad crossing construction.   In Shelbyville, we stopped for lunch at the Bear Drive-in, and we all welcomed the cold mugs of root beer.  After lunch, it was another  15 miles of riding to the Paradise Campground on the Flat Rock River.

In bike camping, just like bicycling, it’s all about the weight you save, and what keeps you comfortable. A wide selection of backpacking tents went up in our riverside campsite, and out came a variety of light weight chairs.  After the tents were up, most of us hopped on our now emptied bikes, and rode the mile back to St. Paul for additional groceries and refreshments the night and morning.  Back in camp, and after showers,  the cookstoves came out, and we prepared our own meals, comparing notes and favorites.  Dinner was finished a few shared deserts came out as the sun went down.

Dinner time - the table cloth was a small touch of elegance

After dinner, it was relaxing and storytelling around the campfire till almost 11, before we all retreated to our tents.  It only took a few minutes for a pair of visitors, 4 legged and masked, to come out and investigate the remains of our dinner.   There were just a few scraps left, and I did learn that raccoons don’t like strobing, 800 lumen headlights, and they moved on for the night.

Our night was otherwise quiet, and the threatened storms never came south of I-70. In the morning,  the stoves fired up again for a mix of hot breakfasts and coffee, along with the juice and fruit we had picked up the night before.   We then broke camp, and after a group picture, including the poster that Nathan and Kristen had carried, we were all on our way.  Our Columbus contingent now had the tailwind, and we had the headwind for ride back to Beech Grove.   The ride home included a second breakfast stop in Shelbyville, and then a final ice cream stop, before finishing back in Beech Grove.

Group shot before we were on the way home.

Thanks again to Nathan and Kristen for organizing the ride, and I look forward to joining them again for next year’s Bicycle Travel Weekend Ride, the first weekend of June.