The Brown County Breakdown is a mountain bike festival which includes 2 nights of camping in Brown County State Park (BCSP), live blue grass, food, beer, and plenty of trail riding. This festival is promoted by the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association (HMBA), and helps fund trail building around the state. Because of the hard work of volunteers we now have many excellent trails to choose from. BCSP trails are probably the cream of the crop in Indiana.
I decided to ride to the event carrying everything I needed for the weekend. I loaded up my trusty Redline Monocog. No frills or thrills, no suspension, 8 speed steel bike. I added arrow bars for the occasional needed stretch, plus they're great for strapping gear to. Revelate tangle frame and seat bag, Salsa anything cages with my jet boil and sleeping pad strapped to them. The set-up worked great.
In Indiana it only takes a few miles to get out of the "city" and into the country for some beautiful riding.
The weather was absolutely beautiful for the ride down there. Low 70s with a slight breeze. Here a guy stepped out of his house and asked where I was coming from, and where I was going. Then he offered me some food and water if I needed it. This was a first for me. I politely declined, I wanted to get to the park as early as possible.
Harvest time:
You cross some large machinery riding around the country this time of year.
Some views from the road less traveled:
I love coming to an intersection that doesn't have any road name indications, adds to the adventure.
Finally made it to the park. A lot of climbing on a loaded over weight bike with fat knobbies and narrow gear range is new territory for me. Also I made a wrong turn that probably added 10 miles and a couple monstrous climbs on a busy road. No big deal, once I got into the park the views made it all worth it.
Showed up at camp, had a beer with a couple friends, and set up my tent. Ready to relax for the night, get up in the morning, and hit a couple trails.
In the morning I rode a couple miles to "town" for water and decided to have a second breakfast.
After breakfast I headed back to the park and hit the trails. BCSP has terrific trails in a beautiful section of Indiana. Trails include fast descends, nice climbs, plenty of magnificent views, and rocky technical goodies.
After a couple miles on the trails I stopped at one of the provided food trucks for a veggie sandwich. When the sandwich was finished I headed back on the trails for more riding.
After the second round of trail riding and some pizza for dinner I was exhausted. This night I was in my tent around 10pm. The weather channel called for rain in the morning so I decided to get up early to see if I could beat it.
Back home Sunday afternoon. I didn't beat the rain, in fact it showered on me the entire ride home. I enjoy riding in the rain so it really didn't both me, in fact it was quite peaceful. Around 135 miles for the weekend, an absolute blast.
