Ride Across Indiana, 2018


Ride Report: Ride Across Indiana, 2018
by John Duvall, WRCC member

At 7 am on Saturday, July 21, 15 WRCC members rolled out with over 1000 other cyclists as part of RAIN 2018. This 160-mile Gran Fondo runs from Terre Haute to Richmond, Indiana. The riders braved intermittent showers and a nasty stretch of chip and seal on US 40 to reach the finish line at Earlam College. Congratulations to all our finishers but especially to first-time RAIN riders Sarah Gardner, Chantal Bristol, and Svenja Horn. The True Grit Award goes to Molly Birt, who proved she’s back from injuries sustained when she was struck by a car earlier this year. And condolences to Doug Amick who had a truly stellar ride stalled by three flats on the back half of the course. Although not officially a race, it is a timed event.

Svenja Horn, Molly Birt & Drew Hallet at the start
Here are the club riders by order of finish and time:

Place, Rider & Time
53 Joe Bolan 7:22
65 John Duvall 7:33
91 Doug Amick 7:45
139 Dean Thompson 8:10
185 Ken Raver, Jr. 8:36
187 Greg McDaniel 8:37
210 Svenja Horn 8:49
399 Chloe De Perre 9:47
400 Drew Hallett 9:47
406 Molly Birt 9:48
483 David Raymer 10:14
650 Chantal Bristol 10:54
695 Lydia Trott 11:07
916 Sarah Gardner 12:08
975 Dennis Figueroa 12:37

Lydia commuted to the start-- from her home in West Point! What's another 80+ miles the day before a big ride?
Sarah Gardner & Dennis Figueroa

Sarah (center) with some of the cyclists who proudly finished with her

Sarah shares her first time RAIN experience with us:

I really enjoyed the RAIN ride! There were so many others to ride with. Even if you didn’t have a group, you’d catch up to people at stop lights and suddenly you’re in a pack. It was so much fun going through all these little towns and having people outside lined up to cheer us on. The ride was very well organized, the course was well marked, and the volunteers and SAGs were great!



Sarah with her group coming into the finish chute & her finisher's medal!

When I signed up, I didn’t even know if I could finish within the deadline or finish at all because I didn’t hardly ride during the winter. I set myself this big scary goal and had already paid for registration and lodging so then I just set about training and just decided to do the best I could.

Last year I did one or two 50 mile rides and a 65 mile one at the end of the season. The pain and fatigue I felt doing that 65 miler last year was as bad or worse than the 160 I did in RAIN this year. What this means is that anyone can do RAIN if you put the time in the saddle. Some people completed RAIN when their longest ride was only 75-80 miles! Of course the more training miles you put in prior, the easier it will be and the greater chance of finishing. I’m so glad I did a few century rides and practiced on hills. Others were groaning about the hills during RAIN, but to me they just felt like gradual inclines and weren’t nearly as hard as the steep hills on our training rides to Delphi! I sacrificed a lot of weekend time to put the training miles in, but it was so worth the satisfaction when I received my RAIN finisher medal.