Beat Summer Heat with "8 o'clockers" -- 33.3 miles

Summer heat can sap your desire for a long ride or a workout.  So, I find myself tending towards "8 o'clockers", either early in the morning or later in the evening, to enjoy myself in these peak summer months.  Getting out early this past weekend meant temperatures in the 60's up here in western Floyd County and good summer riding.

Saturday, going solo, I combined two of my favorite loops from my home two miles west of Floyd Central H.S. for a nice 33.3 mile ride.

SOUTH SKYLINE LOOP

I first headed east on Old Vincennes Road up to the Luther Road stop sign, hung a left to go east and continued to cross U.S. 150 and on down to Paoli Pike were a right takes you to the light at Scottsville Road.  The Hobknobb Roasting company is a good stop there, but I was only 5 miles out and looked forward to a fresh cup when I was circling back about 10 miles later.

Turning left, go up to the next stop sign, St. Mary Road, and go right for a delicious, curvy roll along the base of Spickert and Moser Knobs.  It's shaded in the mornings and traffic is usually light unless its rush hour or school is just starting or getting out.  St. Mary's of the Knobs church is a nice place to stop, stretch and drink some water if you, or the less experienced riders with you need a short break.  The cemetery also has headstones from many older area families, some dating back to the early 19th century.

At the church, take a right to get on Campion Road and continue a meandering ride along the creek bed until you come to the marked intersection where Atkins Road goes north, Moser Knob Road, to your right, heads northeast straight up hill and So. Skyline Drive, also to your right, curves back right and southward.  

Atkins Road is the easiest way to get up on top of the knobs and, after a right turn at Von Allman a couple miles later,  makes for a sweet ride along the ridge crest on North Skyline back to Moser Knob where you can hapilly come down the hill back to Campion.  If you want a few more miles, take it;  it's great. 

But today, I wanted to do a figure eight that included some of the western part of the county and one of the sweetest creekside rides out here, Hamby Road.  So, I turned up South Skyline, which starts level but in about a third of a mile turns into a good uphill climb to get your heart and lungs pumping.  Once on top, it's an easy ride and, once past some extravagant subdivisions and antenna farms, turns lovely as you follow curving rollers through a mostly wooded ridge crest back to Spickert Knob Road (it comes up the knob on your left) and on a gentle grade downhill back to St. Mary.  At Scottsville Road, watch for traffic as you turn left and book it back to Paoli Pike.  Now might be a good time for a coffee and bagel or morning muffin.  They roast locally, so the brew will be good.

From here, you backtrack west on Paoli Pike, just after the Post Office turn left on E. Luther Road and follow it back uphill to U.S. 150 and onward to Old Vincennes where you take a right and can enjoy a gleefully quick downhill back to Floyd Central H.S.  If you start here, you've done a good 15 miles or so, with lots of aerobic sections, hill climbs and shady country road down hills to put you in a good mood.

GREENVILLE/HAMBY ROAD LOOP

 If you want a bit more, about 17 miles more, keep heading due west on Old Vincennes.  Go straight through the stop sign in half a mile at Edwardsville-Galena Rd., and in about 150 yards go straight again (despite the yellow line curving left to John Pectol Rd.) to stay on Old Vincennes.  There's a testy little rise .4 miles ahead, but once up and over, it's smooth sailing.

After Featheringill, you pass a horse farm and ride over some rollers into a gentle downhill into the Indian Creek basin.  At early morning or evening dusk you might see a Great Blue Heron or deer along the creek before climbing out and up for a mile to Buttontown Road.  On your left is the old Greenville cemetery worth a check if you need to stretch after climb.

Turn right at Buttontown and you're heading due north towards Greenville.  Just after passing the park and before getting to U.S. 150, take a left on an unmarked street along a chain link fence.  It will bring you through the backside of Greenville where in less than a mile, you will come to Georgetown-Greenville Road.   On your left will be the neat-as-a-pin, beautiful, white United Methodist Church, which is celebrating its 108th anniversary this year.  If you need some drinks or a sandwich, the Greenville Mini-Mart is one block to your left and worthy of your patronage.

Turning left, you enjoy a gradual downhill ride southward out of town.  After passing some pretty cattle farms, the road turns right and quickly climbs up a rise, but it's not too bad.  Keep going and enjoy the better direction of the rollers that will take you down to Richland Creek, which you generally follow for a few more miles before the road ends at a T where you'll turn left. This is about 10 miles out from the high school.

As you continue along Georgetown-Greenville a couple more miles, you'll see the classic suburban fringe:  new single family homes along the county road like punctuating active farm fields of handsome corn and soy beans as you get back into the Indian Creek watershed.  After crossing the creek, keep a look out for Cooks Mill Road on your left, it appears quickly.  Take it and in only a third of a mile take another left onto Hamby Road and gear down to climb your last hill.  It's short and the last one of the day other than climbing back up to the Floyd Central

parking lot.

You'll quickly leave the soybean covered hilltop and start down.  BE CAREFUL, there is a wicked switchback to the right which you have to take s-l-o-w-l-y.  Once around it, let it go and enjoy one of the sweetest stretches in the county.  You follow the cooler air of wooded creek bed, see more farming, break out into the sun as you cross the creek bottom and re-enter the woods as the road ends in about 1.5 miles at Buttontown Road to your left and John Pectol to the right.  Turn right, cross the one-lane, wood plank bridge, and continue along similar shaded road (without the creek) about three  more miles back to Old Vincennes Road where you curve to the right and go .8 miles back to the high school.  

While the elevation changes sum up the same, this loop to me seems easier to do counterclockwise.  Maybe it's where they occur in the route, but the climb up from Indian Creek over the hill into Richland Creek drainage and the climbs up rollers back into Greenville seem more challenging.  So, on those days you need more pepper in your ride, take the loop clockwise.

Now's a good time for us all to be posting what we think are "best rides".