I’ve known about the annual RAIN (Ride Across INdiana) event for many years. Every spring I’d say, “This is the year I’m going to bicycle the 160-mile route across the state of Indiana.” It seemed that every year something would prevent me from doing it; a cold, wet, windy springs that caused me to not train properly, a family/friend events, or I simply didn’t have the discipline and focus on training for it that spring.
I began road biking in the spring of 2009. This journey started out with weekly rides hosted by a local bicycle shop. This was a smart move on the part of the shop owner. It caused a bicycle buzz in the Henderson community that resulted in a lot of people purchasing new bikes or have older ones tuned up. We’d ride twenty or twenty-five miles once a week and sign up for the occasional thirty-five- or sixty-five-mile charity ride. I built myself up to riding my first century ride (100 miles) in Clarksville, Tennessee’s Sunrise Century in 2010.
I hung up my rode bike for a while after that as I focused more of my attention on backpacking and trail riding. Over the course of the next several years I’d meet many great people who became my travel companions and closest friends. Each of them had a similar biking history. We quickly found that not only our riding abilities were highly comparable but that we shared a similar spirit .
In the spring of 2016 we began a Monday evening ride through the Evansville Adventure
Club. Many of the members and I had a strong history of many random rides over the past few years; casual rides, and trail rides, but this Monday evening series was the first time we routinely rode. It wasn’t long before we began focusing on local 35-mile and 65-mile charity rides.
Early in 2017 we ran across a collection of events called The Kentucky Challenge. Some of us decided to accept that challenge. The rules: ride a certain number of miles within these five events throughout that season. Upon completion of the collective miles you receive a Kentucky Challenge jersey, a nice medallion, good stories to tell, and serious bragging rights.
The Kentucky Challenge consisted of these five events and five short stories:
Redbud Ride in London KY was the first in the series. It was held in the April when the weather could be for us or against us. It chose to be against us. The sub-fifty-degree 
temps and cold rain caused hundreds of riders to bail. A few our crew braved the dangerous conditions, but we only made it to the first rest stop twelve miles in. Heightened chances of wrecks and threats of hypothermia we major factors of our deciding to not finish. The rest of our crew came to the rescue us icicled-cyclists. We spent some of the afternoon sitting under the pavilion with food and drink in hand while listening to bluegrass music and some of it at a shooting range. We spent some of the evening in the truck driving the route that we wouldn’t see from a bike. We spent the rest of the evening hiding under a tarp where we camped in the rain the night before and that night. We were cold and wet, but It was a great weekend for bonding and memories. We did get automatic credit for the sixty-five miles we signed up for. We were not in this for free miles, so we made up the ride by participating in an Evansville’s Rockin’ River City Ride with equal mileage. Attended: Jeannie, Chris, Kevin, Bob, Mary Jo, Ashley, myself
Horsey Hundred in Georgetown KY is a very popular event. Thousands of riders come out to ride it. Many come to ride it yearly.
On our way to this one we stopped for a tour of Buffalo Trace Distillery. We camped on the campus of Georgetown College where the ride began and ended. As the host of the event, the college provided an on campus concert the night before and a massive buffet meal after.
The weather was much more cyclist friendly this time. The
one-hundred-mile route took us around the KY State Capital Building, through horse country, and up some serious hills (small mountains).
We split into two groups, some rode the sixty-five-mile route, and some rode the one-hundred-mile route. We all met up in the end for and spent another night eating, laughing, and camping in a field on campus.
Attended: Andrew C, Ashley C, Ashley H, Chris, Kevin, myself, one other whose name i can’t remember.
Bike Morehead in Morehead KY. We decided this time to rent a couple of hotel rooms instead of camping. We had to take our bikes into our rooms and, of course, we had to see how may of us could fit into the elevator with our bikes.
Photo Cred: Andrew Carter
This was extremely hot ride and a little disappointing. Disappointing because (1) much of the sixty-five-mile route meandered through very depressed, economically speaking, areas of Eastern Kentucky’s less attractive country-side and (2) that their sixty-five-mile route somehow covered eighty-one miles of road.
We tackled a few long inclines that not only seemed they’d never end but also seemed to go straight up. We rode through a portion of Daniel Boone National Forrest (the only pretty scenery), where several of the downhill runs caused us to exceed 40 mph while engaging our breaks. If a cyclist wipes out going that fast it could result in long-term injuries or death. It’s also a good way to put a smile on an adrenaline junkies face…..and we were smiling.
There were several redeeming qualities on this ride but I think the over-all consensus on that particular ride was that it sucked. Attended: Andrew C, Ashley C, Ashley H, Chris, Kevin, myself
Bourbon and Bluegrass Ride in Owensboro KY was much closer to home. Some of us went to the site the night before to pick up our participation packets and tour O.Z. Tyler Distillery. We had heard about a small festival on the downtown Owensboro’s riverfront, so we dropped in to check it out. We may have stayed out a little later than we should have but at least we were able to sleep in our own beds the night before a big ride.
The next morning some of us met at my house to load the bikes and ourselves into one truck. We found our other rider, who lives in the other direction, in Owensboro. We were treated to much cooler air and flatter route. This made for the easiest ride of the series so far. Attended: Ashley, Chris, Kevin, Ashley C, Andrew C, myself. Jeannie (not in photo)
Hub City Tour in Elizabethtown. By the time this last event came around most of us had the required number of miles banked that we didn’t need to ride this one. The rest of the crew rode it and completed their KY Challenge. Attended: Andrew C, Ashley C
Back to RAIN (7/21/18)
Six of us who completed the 2017’s Kentucky Challenge participated in 2018’s RAIN in one way or another. Kevin, Chris, Ashley, and I rode the 160-mile route. Andrew C and Ashley C, who took 2018 off from riding, were part of our SAG (support and gear) team. We had a fifth rider, Michael, who was new to our team and trained all spring and summer with us. Stephanie, who drove one of the vehicles on our SAG team, rounded off our little crew.
Training for this ride was almost like mimicking the Kentucky Challenge as our training regimen. We rode twenty to forty miles a couple of times through a week and eighty to one-hundred-twenty miles on the weekends. It’s always good to have team support. Very few people have the discipline to do train this hard alone.
Our RAIN ride began bright and early at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute IN where we spent the night before in dorm rooms. The route lead to and around Indianapolis IN. After a long day in the saddle we ended our ride at Earlham College in Richmond IN.
There were thousands of riders surrounding us at the starting line. We were about half way between the beginning and the end of this massive biker gang. Accompanying the sound of the starting signal was the sound of thousands of biking shoes clipping into the pedals. I was amazed to see, at least from my vantage point, that no riders had fallen down in this massive start.
We were fortunate to have a strong wind to our backs. Ironically, about ten miles into our ride, and true to the event’s name, it began to rain. It rained for the next ninety miles. The sun came out momentarily at one of the rest stops. It soon began raining again for the next forty miles. We did get some relief about ten miles or so before the end when we were treated to light mists.
Fun Fact #1: When riding long distance we get into a tight formation called drafting in order to create a draft that conserves the group’s energy over the long haul.
Fun Fact #2: When it is raining our front tire throws water and road grime all over the front of our bodies. Our back tire throws water and road grime on our back-side and a person behind us.
Our SAG team drove the route in two vehicles. They met us at various locations along the way. They were always at or near the official rest stops and in the last half they would be waiting for us between stops. They’d always have the hatchbacks of both Subaru Outbacks open with snacks and supplies easily accessible. They would be waiting for us with jugs of water in hand ready to refill our depleted water bottles.
At the end of the ride our SAG Team was there to greet us and cheer us across the finish line. We finished strong despite the long distance and cold wet conditions. We posed for pictures, threw up some high-fives, exchanged some i-can’-believer-we-just-did-that hugs, and made our way to our hotel rooms. Our showers well deserved showers remove one-hundred-sixty miles of sweat road grime. After going out for a big meal we made our way back to our rooms. I can’t speak for the others but I’m pretty sure I was asleep 1.60 seconds before my head hit my pillow.
We were fortunate that all riders came in safely. We only had one crash due to slippery pavement. That crash did affect the use of his left hand for the remaining one-hundred+ miles. We had ten tires between us and zero blow-outs.
I have not ridden my bike one inch since that day nor do I plan on it in the remaining months of 2018. I also do not plan on doing any major rides in the 2019 season. I have my eyes on a different path. A tougher path.
RAIN was a great experience and a huge achievement for all of us. RAIN was the second of three major events I had planned to do in 2018. The first was our 26 mile trail marathon in March and the other being our Tough Mudder in September.
Related Stories:
We Ran – Land Between the Lakes Trail Marathon 3/10/18
Tough Mudder – Nashville – 9/15/18
Jason “Sprawl” Durham – 9/25/18
I Wonder Where The Roads Go 