Day 39 -- Indianapolis to Richmond -- 75 Miles

Another enjoyable day on the cross country challenge. We departed Indianapolis with fresh(er) legs after a relaxing rest day. We were slated to ride 75 miles to Richmond -- most of which were pedaled along Route 40.

It was a pretty straightforward day from a riding perspective, but we did have a chance to enjoy one great tourist attraction: The Hoosier Gym & Community Center in Knightstown. This is the gym where they filmed many of the hoop scenes in the movie "Hoosiers." For those of you have seen the film, you will recognize the gym and locker room in my photos from the day.

It was a great experience. We had an opportunity to shoot around, take pictures, and were given a tour of the facility. As we shot around in the gym, I received some requests to dunk the baksetball -- something I was not sure I was capable of doing anymore. It took me a few attempts (I was in my socks only and was overly cautious and tentative), but I was able to throw one down eventually.

Admittedly, it appears that I do not have the hops that I once posessed, but I am going to give myself a break and chalk it up to pedaling nearly 3,000 miles over the past 39 days, and attempting to dunk without sneakers. Excuses, excuses, I know. I guess I am still just trying to pretend that I qualify as an athlete -- a guy can dream, right?

Anyway, the tour of "Hickory High's" gymnasium was a lot of fun, even in spite of the fact that I am not a fan of the Hoosiers movie. I know that's blasphemous -- especially for a hoops (and movie) fan, but it just never did anything for me. That said, I think I will have a new respect for the movie now that I have seen where part of it was filmed.

The rest of the day was nice, but nothing special. We just pedaled along the highway until we reached Richmond, and, ultimately, our hotel. We have four long days coming up: 104, 104, 93, and 96 miles, respectively. I am hoping to stretch those last two into "official centuries" so that I can check "completing 4 consecutive 100+ mile days" off of my list (what list you ask? I don't know -- it just sounds good). It's easy to say now, as I sit comfortably in my air conditioned hotel room. Hopefully I feel as eager to do it when it's actually time to make it happen.