Breaking Away 300K

If Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher of Breaking Away fame were just starting to cycle together now, surely they would be randonneurs, and this would be their favorite route! This route offers a rich tapestry of farmland and woods, with an occasional small town thrown in for refueling.  Our circuit either traverses or skirts a wide array of public parks and facilities, incluidng the Hoosier National Forest, Spring Mill and Brown County State Parks, Camp Atterbury, Lake Lemon and Morgan-Monroe State Forest.  We pay for the scenery with our legs, but the expenditure is well worth it.

The Breaking Away 300K starts and ends at the venerable Cascades Inn on North Walnut Street, which offers affordable rooms and good views out to Cascade Park.  We begin our journey by riding down Walnut Street, through the center of town and past the Monroe County courthouse, and then we turn onto the B-Line, the converted train line that has become central to the cycling community.  From there we, make our way to Bedford, the seat of Lawrence County, and one of the centers of the still-active limestone industry.  The climbing for the first part of the ride is fairly tame, but it becomes more serious as we turn onto Peerless Road and approach Bedford.

From Bedford, we follow the twisty-turny course of the White River, through the small town of Williams, and on to Shoals, the seat of Martin County.  Just before you enter Shoals, you can see the notable Jug Rock limestone formation on your left.  Shoals is one of the smallest and most remote county seats in the state; a short detour from the route will take you by the diminuitive courthouse.   From Shoals, we turn west , and pass through extended stretches of the Hoosier National Forest.  The roads on this section are twisty in all directions–left, right, up and down–and sometimes rough as well.

Eventually, we come to the small town of Orlans, in Orange County.  From there, we head north, and follow the soutthern end of Spring Mill State Park.  We continue north to Freetown, in Jackson County, just south of Brown County State Park.  From there, we go through long stretches of farmland until we finally reach Edinburgh, in Bartholomew County.  We will pass the Outlet Mall in Edinburgh, so make sure you have room in your panniers for imulse buys along the way.  After we leave Edinburgh, we soon come to Camp Atterbury, a vast mililtary base that has long been evolving into forest land.  After Atterbury, we come to the small town of Nineveh, in Johnson County, and from there to Bean Blossom, the home of the Bill Monroe Music Park.

From Bean Blossom, we travel along some heavily forested roads and some farmland, and then along the south short of Lake Lemon.  From there, we have a few good climbs before we return to our starting point, at the Cascade Inn in Bloomington.