Hello, friends. We hope you had a great week-end. Mr. Right and I spent Saturday and Sunday on our bicycles riding the Horsey Hundred. The “Horsey” is a fund-raising bicycle ride that our bike club (the Bluegrass Cycling Club) has organized for the past 38 years.
People from all over the country and even some foreign countries come to ride their bicycles here because it is such a first-class event.
This year there were 2,500 of us. But don’t worry, we didn’t all ride together.
We had the options of 102 miles, 82, 62, 42, and 25 miles the first day and similar options on day two. I followed the blue arrows. Mr. Right is training for a big long-term bicycle ride this summer (I’ll tell you more about it another day), and so, he rode 102 miles. Since I am not in training, I ended up riding just 47. (It was supposed to be 42, but I took a (ahem) scenic route for a few miles.
Since I rode alone and didn’t have to worry about keeping up with Mr. Right, I actually took my time and even stopped to take photos. We have ridden our bicycles all over the world – or almost. We still have to ride in South American and Australia (Antarctica doesn’t count for biking). That being said, bicycling in central Kentucky where we live is one of the most beautiful experiences in the world. This is a photo of my road bicycle. (I have two others – a townie for errands, and a touring bike for trips like Pittsburgh to DC.) This bike is custom made by Independent Fabrication and is titanium. It is a pure dream of a bike.
Cycling is especially wonderful on a beautiful spring day when the horses are out, the fields are mowed, and the sun is shining. I’ve ridden these roads in the rain, and let’s just say it’s better in the sun. The terrain offers lots of rolling hills and flats making it a perfect training ground to get stronger, better, faster. The bottom line is that it’s a bicyclist’s paradise.
Since this is an organized ride that we pay to do, there are rest stops serving food along the way. Cyclists need lots of fuel to keep our energy levels up. There are SAG trucks offering bike repairs, water, etc. along the route, there’s a meal waiting at the end of each day along with a disc jockey, massages, ice cream, and more.
There were also plenty of historic sites to see…..
and plenty of beautiful horse farm mansions.
There were also plenty of horse barns to see like this one. Wouldn’t you love to be a horse in central Kentucky, known as “The Horse Capital of the World”?
We also saw plenty of white fences and…..
…..plenty of black fences. They used to say that white fences meant old money and black fences meant new money. The bottom line is that the black fences are easier to keep up because the paint compound they use lasts longer. Do you see the ridges there on the fence? They are there because horses get bored and chew on the fences. It’s a bad habit that some of them develop.
We saw more than just horses, though. There were also plenty of cows, chicks, goats, and even a few llamas.
I totally fell in love with this new construction house – despite all of the vehicles in the driveway. It had a spectacular view and was just my kind of house. It would be great on a horse farm or on Nantucket. In my next life….
Unfortunately, the ride was marred with tragedy this year. A drunk driver who is an illegal resident with no license or insurance hit a cyclist head-on with a pick-up truck and killed him. And it gets worse……the cyclist landed in the bed of the man’s truck, and the driver sped away with the man in it. The police had to chase him down. The cyclist was pronounced dead at the hospital. He was a 57-year-old attorney from Lexington on mile 99 of his 102 mile ride. People were horrified by the tragedy, and it definitely reminded us that this is not a safe sport. The cyclist was wearing a helmet, but the truck hit him head-on after swerving across the road. He was actually headed in the opposite direction of the cyclist. (This was the first tragedy in the Horsey’s 38 years.)
That being said, I ask that all of you always think safety first when riding alone, with someone, or with your kids. I wrote a whole blog post about bicycle safety, but it was so strongly worded that Jordan suggested that I not publish it, and I won’t. I am so passionate about bicycle safety, and the passion came across as preaching. Parents, make sure you wear a helmet when you are cycling with your kids who should also be wearing helmets. Make sure to buy them at a bicycle shop so you can be fitted properly. Also, ride a bicycle that fits you properly, too. Raise that seat to be more comfortable, and then you will enjoy it so much more.
