Spring is here, the grass is not too high, the trees are just leafing out, and the landscape is as soft as the lamb’s tummy. This is a story about sheep and rural roads. Odd combination, wouldn’t you say? Read on.
There are hundreds of bucolic gravel roads hidden around the Upper Left-Hand Corner of Illinois and never enough paved ones. So, when we discover a remote and scenic tarmac, we treasure it, hold it in our collective memory, and praise its aesthetic rewards.
One Sunday morning in late April, Lyle Krug introduced us to just such a route. Growing up near Orangeville, Illinois, Lyle has had ample time to sample nearly every road between Freeport and Monroe. So come ride with us in the charming lambscape where sheep safely graze, and please hold all jokes about our four legged friends.
To get to the Ewe Turn from Highland Community College, take Kiwanis north to Stephenson Street and west to Van Brocklin Road. Continue north on Van Brocklyn to Lily Creek Road. Turn right on Lily Creek and ride to the next left at Harlem Center Road. Continue north on Harlem Center Road across Business 20 and over the US 20 Bypass. Take the first left on Winneshiek Road after you cross over the Bypass, and ride west up the hill to the "T" at AYP Road.
Turn right on AYP, and ride north to the next "T" at Cedarville Road. Turn right and ride 2,000 feet, across the Pecatonica River bridge, to Damascus Road. Turn left and ride north on Damascus Road three and a quarter miles and turn left on West Empire Road.
Now, enjoy the first leg of the Ewe Turn. You’ll have just enough time to peek at the scenery as you descend eight tenths of a mile down this narrow tree lined road. Just before the gravel at the bottom of the hill, turn right on Korth Road.
This is the second leg of our Ewe Turn. We’ll ride north with the shade of the hillside on our right up the grade to the iron fence styles. Now, you may stop, look, and listen for our fuzzy friends grazing peacefully in green pastures.
After bidding the ewes adieu, Korth Road falls away and jambs into McConnell Road. Watch for traffic as you turn right, and commence the third leg of the Ewe Turn. You are riding east two and three quarter miles over Richland Creek into rustic Buena Vista.
Lyle’s Ewe Turn is a three-legged ewe which rams into your quads as you climb out of Buena Vista. Once on top, turn right, and ride south on Red Oak Road into the hamlet of the same name.
At the end of Red Oak’s main drag, turn right on Beaver Road and ride over the Richland Creek watershed up to Scheider Road. Ride Scheider south to Cederville Road. Turn right on Cederville and left on Scioto Mills Road. Watch behind for fast moving vehicles as you prepare to turn on to Scioto Mills Road.
Follow Scioto Mills Road south and east into Scioto Mills. Just after you cross the Jane Addams bike path, turn right on Iris Hill Road and continue south until you "T" into Winneshiek Road. Turn right on Winneshiek and follow that back to Highland College via Harlem Center, Lily Creek, and Van Brocklin Roads, Stephenson Street, and Kiwanis Drive.
So there you have it. Thirty miles with a Ewe Turn of sheeply splendour. What more could you desire on a bright spring Saturday morning?
Ewe Turn Trivia – You’ll cross the Jane Addams Bike Path four times at Buena Vista, Red Oak, Scioto Mills, and Winneshiek Road.
Finally, our thanks to Commodore Dennis Robinson for naming one of our favorite bike rides in Stephenson County.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Pilgrimage to El Sanctuario de Chimayo
El Sanctuario de Chimayo in northern New Mexico is a sacred place long valued for its healing powers. On Good Friday and Easter Sunday the roadside up from Nambe will be jammed with pilgrims young and old who park their cars and hike to El Sanctuario.
Somehow the Spiritual Presence eludes me in a large crowd. Rather, a quiet May Tuesday was a better time to make my pilgrimage. And rather than hoof it, I rode up on an Eddy Merckx CHM road racing bike. David Bell at Mellow Velo in Santa Fe rented me the Merckx in exchange for installing new shifter levers on my vintage Vitus 979.
We drove north from Santa Fe to NM Route 503 in Nambe and parked my mom’s ‘89’ Pontiac “amigo- mobile” along the shady road side just up from the intersection at US 83/285. Carefully lifting the brand new carbon fiber Merckx out of the boot, I inserted the Campy front wheel and water bottles, and we were off.
NM 503 is smooth and shaded as you ride up the gentle grade. Nambe nestles in a quaint valley of cottonwoods and mountain streams. Then the road rises up into the high desert of pinons and junipers, and you are rewarded with grand vistas of the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains.
The climb up NM 503 is steady and not at all punishing providing you've adjusted to the altitude. We’re riding between 6,000 and 7,000 feet and need a day or two to get our lungs acclimated. After seven and three quarter miles, we turned left on NM 520. Very soon, we were flying down a long grade into Chimayo. I could hear the sound of swarming cicadas over the wind in my ears. It was coming from the Campy freewheel.
The front brake of the Merckx protested a little as we approached the cattle crossing at the bottom of the hill. Immediately after the crossing, I turned right on Sanctuario Drive.
El Sanctuario de Chimayo was peaceful humility in the May morning air. In the absence of pilgrims and tourists, the silence was only broken by a gentle breeze off the mountains. I was tranquilized by this Holy Place and could very nearly hear my heart beat. Riding a bike seemed the perfect pilgrimage.
I believe I reflected on my ailments— the achy back and knees and knotted quads we bike riders endure. I thought I might leave a water bottle or my spare inner tube in the tiny room off the sacristy as a confirmation of my faith in the curing powers of the dirt contained in this lovely sanctuary.
Then my mind briefly turned to the climb out of Chimayo, and before I knew it, I was on the Merckx peddling up the long steep road. The effort was surprisingly little, and my cadence was deliberate and not at all anxious. I stayed in the saddle transfixed in a rhythm coming from deep inside.
Then, I recalled last year’s bike ride to El Sanctuario where the same phenomenon occurred. It was not the light and agile Merckx which was helping me power up the grade but something more significant.
Perhaps here was a formula for the mystery of faith-- rigorous exercise rolling up to a lofty view then plummeting into the solitude of a pastoral sanctuary. The reward is to be refreshed and refocused on the task at hand. And after you have recharged your spiritual batteries and have crested the climb out of Chimayo, a magnificent vista and roll await on your eight mile descent back to Nambe.
I do admit that the Eddy Merckx CHM was very comfortable and responsive-- a light but firm “big guy’s” carbon fiber bike. David Mill’s set-up may have over-geared me for the climb out of Chimayo, but I had acquired something extra special on my pilgrimage.
Somehow the Spiritual Presence eludes me in a large crowd. Rather, a quiet May Tuesday was a better time to make my pilgrimage. And rather than hoof it, I rode up on an Eddy Merckx CHM road racing bike. David Bell at Mellow Velo in Santa Fe rented me the Merckx in exchange for installing new shifter levers on my vintage Vitus 979.
We drove north from Santa Fe to NM Route 503 in Nambe and parked my mom’s ‘89’ Pontiac “amigo- mobile” along the shady road side just up from the intersection at US 83/285. Carefully lifting the brand new carbon fiber Merckx out of the boot, I inserted the Campy front wheel and water bottles, and we were off.
NM 503 is smooth and shaded as you ride up the gentle grade. Nambe nestles in a quaint valley of cottonwoods and mountain streams. Then the road rises up into the high desert of pinons and junipers, and you are rewarded with grand vistas of the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains.
The climb up NM 503 is steady and not at all punishing providing you've adjusted to the altitude. We’re riding between 6,000 and 7,000 feet and need a day or two to get our lungs acclimated. After seven and three quarter miles, we turned left on NM 520. Very soon, we were flying down a long grade into Chimayo. I could hear the sound of swarming cicadas over the wind in my ears. It was coming from the Campy freewheel.
The front brake of the Merckx protested a little as we approached the cattle crossing at the bottom of the hill. Immediately after the crossing, I turned right on Sanctuario Drive.
El Sanctuario de Chimayo was peaceful humility in the May morning air. In the absence of pilgrims and tourists, the silence was only broken by a gentle breeze off the mountains. I was tranquilized by this Holy Place and could very nearly hear my heart beat. Riding a bike seemed the perfect pilgrimage.
I believe I reflected on my ailments— the achy back and knees and knotted quads we bike riders endure. I thought I might leave a water bottle or my spare inner tube in the tiny room off the sacristy as a confirmation of my faith in the curing powers of the dirt contained in this lovely sanctuary.
Then my mind briefly turned to the climb out of Chimayo, and before I knew it, I was on the Merckx peddling up the long steep road. The effort was surprisingly little, and my cadence was deliberate and not at all anxious. I stayed in the saddle transfixed in a rhythm coming from deep inside.
Then, I recalled last year’s bike ride to El Sanctuario where the same phenomenon occurred. It was not the light and agile Merckx which was helping me power up the grade but something more significant.
Perhaps here was a formula for the mystery of faith-- rigorous exercise rolling up to a lofty view then plummeting into the solitude of a pastoral sanctuary. The reward is to be refreshed and refocused on the task at hand. And after you have recharged your spiritual batteries and have crested the climb out of Chimayo, a magnificent vista and roll await on your eight mile descent back to Nambe.
I do admit that the Eddy Merckx CHM was very comfortable and responsive-- a light but firm “big guy’s” carbon fiber bike. David Mill’s set-up may have over-geared me for the climb out of Chimayo, but I had acquired something extra special on my pilgrimage.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Photos Galore
Thanks to J.Paul Getty, we have Getty Images. And thanks to Getty Images, we have a wealth of cycling photos. Check them out sometime when the weather is lousy, and you're indoors with a hankering for such things. Who knows, perhaps one day Getty Images will feature photos of the Upper Left Hand Corner of Illinois.
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