Day 26 Terre Haute, IN to Indianapolis, IN

Day 26 Terre Haute, IN to Indianapolis, IN 73.1 miles 2120ft climbing #NM2NY4LFSA

It was another perfect morning to ride. Relatively cool, in the mid 70's, and clear. Our hotel did not have breakfast, so we rode to breakfast via Starbucks. One benefit of a restaurant breakfast is greater variety and larger portions. You can really feel the fuel from the first meal of the day. When it's oatmeal, it's good for 15-20 miles. When it's a nice big balanced meal of eggs, fruit, potatoes, and bacon, it's good for 35 miles. That was today's meal. We rode a more rolling terrain than the last three days of riding but the grades were mild. Lauren is tracking our average speed and today we rode at just under 14mph. Google maps wanted us off of the direct route and when we rode into two different construction zones we knew why. The first was easy to navigate around via alley and sidewalk. The second had no alternative route, once we reached it, and it was repaving, so there was only one lane in our direction. Fortunately the construction vehicles were in and out of the lane and the traffic was moving more slowly at about 35mph. We rode in the lane and no one passed us for about two miles when we pulled into a driveway to let everyone by. Absolutely everyone waved to us from their car as they passed. When we got started riding again we purposefully chose to move into the lane in front of a big construction dump truck. He was happy to go 15mph behind us to the end of the construction zone. The good part was fresh pavement. Lauren was surprised we managed 18mph up the hills while we were holding up traffic. I explained that I think of it as a respect thing. I'll show people I'm going as fast as I can because if the roles were reversed and someone was lolligagging their way along I wouldn't appreciate it. Staying on the most direct route saved us ten miles for the day. We stopped for lunch in Plainfield and then hopped on a trail for a few miles. There is some amazing bicycle trail infrastructure in Midwestern towns. I wish our local government in Santa Fe, and perhaps even more importantly, government agencies, understood the potential economic benefit of a trail system. A majority of our city council gets it, but the functionaries seem to have contempt for it. We're taking a rest day here and then back on the road.