The Director and His Plan”
by Joe Anderson

“Did you ride RAIN yesterday?” Avery’s mom asked as we waited in the food line at yesterday’s deCycles welcome home celebration. “No, I ran it” I replied, and a quizzical look came over her face. “I didn’t really run it,” I explained. “I directed it.”

Everything was under control one week in advance of RAIN. The route was painted, the map was made. The T-shirts and finisher medallions were on order. The food purchases were planned. The lunch and rest stops were arranged and the port-a-potties were ordered. As Barbara once said, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Not everything was perfect, however. A quarter mile Edgewood Road had already been ground up when I painted that section of the route, ....and they were still grinding, .....with a big machine! The crew indicated they normally remove and replace sections within a week. Seven miles of orange barrels along the side of US 40 east of Greenfield were also a little unsettling. Buster Hinds, in Terre Haute, indicated there was construction on US 40 west of Terre Haute.

By the week of the ride, my phone was ringing off the hook, Barbara and her sister were vacationing in Boston and, the e-mail queque was getting filled every few hours. It was the five o’clock phone call on Wednesday that sent chills up and down my spine. Scott Brooks was calling from the south side of Indy telling me that three miles of Edgewood was still ground up, and some large sections around the I 65 overpass were all the way down to gravel. He recommended a detour using Epler, Bluff, and Thompson/Shelbyville roads. White Rabbit called to tell me their copy machine was down and the maps wouldn’t be ready until late Thursday. When Dan Watson of Terre Haute called Thursday morning with news that the Illinois Department of Transportation had shut down the westbound lanes of I 70 and Exit 154 (the exit to the RAIN starting line) was closed, my heart nearly stopped. Plans were falling apart a lot faster than they had come together. 

The Bible says, “All things work together for good.” The broken copy machine allowed time to change the route through Indianapolis, correct the map and have it to the printer Thursday morning, before they’d printed, collated and stapled 2400 double sided pages of RAIN information. The new route south of Indianapolis allowed RAIN to cross SR 37 at a stop light, and, judging from the difficulty painting, the new route was a road less traveled. A phone call to IL DOT indicated a 15 mile detour to IL 1 and back to the westbound 154 exit was my only option. Ultimately the detour resulted in less congestion at the state line because of late arrivals and the decision by many to start at the Drury Inn instead of the state line. 

Thursday evening, Allan Edmonds and Kent MacPherson picked up supplies for the rest stops and finish line. Friday morning I made the RAIN addendum map of the starting line detour at Kinko’s, picked up the red, white and blue RAIN info sheets from White Rabbit,  rented a U-Haul truck, picked up water coolers from home, bread and cookies from Wonder Bread’s wholesale outlet store,  registration material from Phil Cooper, finisher medallions from Indiana Metal Craft and apples and bananas from Beasley Produce before heading to Terre Haute.

Since the fruit was the last thing loaded onto the truck, it had to be off-loaded before I could get at the registration material. Again, “All things work together for good,” even when their are no plans at all. 1,000 lbs of fruit was moved into the motel lobby (70 degrees cool there instead of 100 degrees hot) and not reloaded until after dark.

With Al Abbott and the BBC crew handling RAIN registration at the Drury Inn, Buster and I drove to the starting line to plant RAIN signs along the appropriate I 70 detour exits. Jumping the concrete median at five o’clock with I 70 constricted to one lane in each direction can be even more difficult than “running” RAIN. 

Friday evening at nine o’clock the final piece of information disrupting my RAIN plan was delivered at the rider pickup table. “Twenty miles of RAIN route markings in Hancock county (I-74 to US 40 in Greenfield) have been painted over with black paint,” said a RAIN entrant as he picked up his packet. Thirty “RAIN” direction Dan Henrys, two “Road Cut” marks and one “Caution! Blind Intersection” would have to be repainted from the loaded U-Haul. 

739 registered riders with 68 no-shows and at least a few bandits left from the Illinois border at 6:00 am. The lead bicycles can make it across the state in an amazingly short time. My U-Haul could hardly keep ahead of the pack as I drove the route putting up critical RAIN direction signs, rest stop signs and dropping off  the perishable foods. I stopped for gas at I 465 and SR 37 (unlike the riders, the truck couldn’t go all the way without stopping for fuel). The pack was approaching Epler and SR 37 as I returned to the route. If not for a traffic light that changed in my favor, the little U-Haul would have been trapped behind the bicycles. In fifteen miles, riders would have been scattering like lost sheep as they navigated the unmarked intersections ahead. But, by driving “fast”, while painting “Huge Hole Ahead” at the buckled pavement, and dropping off T-shirts to my lunch help, I was able to repaint twenty miles of route in Hancock County with a few minutes to spare. Deciding how to handle the seven miles of construction on US 40, without opportunity for cars to pass the bicycles, further delayed my arrival at the finish line. I reached the finish line just fifteen minutes ahead of the riders. Luckily Kent, along with Barbara and her sister Marcia (perfectly timing the return from their New England vacation) were hurriedly setting up the finish area as I arrived.

Six riders, Matt Riggs (Indianapolis) and Lawrence Creech (Oak Ridge, TN) on singles and Jim and Sharon McGoff (Indianapolis), and Scott Moon (Avon) and Bret Neylon (Brownsburg) on tandems were the first to finish this year, sprinting into Earlham College seven hours and ten minutes after leaving Illinois. They were followed one minute later by ten others. The 51st rider arrived exactly one hour later, the 101st rider arrived at 3:10, exactly two hours behind. At 5:10 pm the 239th rider crossed the finish line. By 6:00 pm 329 riders had successfully completed RAIN. The 494th rider to finish was rider number 494, BBCs own Katy Ratcliff. And last, but certainly not least, at 7:59, came Stacy Felton, having pushed 523 others successfully across this great state of Indiana. Five others arrived over the next twenty minutes as we were cleaning up. They received “finisher” medallions but will not be listed with a time. At least five others were still en route to the finish as I traveled home in the dark. They were still fifteen miles out and their way was being lighted by PSVs with lights flashing.

I could tell there would be some statistical oddities this year when the A-L preregistration line was out the door and no one with a last name from M-Z was in the building. This statistical anomaly occured three times Friday afternoon and evening, twice with the A-Ls and once with the M-Zs. The statistical oddity for which I am most greatful, however, is zero ambulances runs and no significant injuries. There were some accidents, however. One of the construction barrels on US 40 jumped in front of Turbo, my Madison double century buddy of a month ago, and took him, Rudy and two others down. They all finished dispite some mechanical and physical problems.

A Terre Haute Police escort was requested for this year’s ride, however, they didn’t show up. I was planning a neutral start for this year’s ride, asking the escort to maintain a 20 mph pace through Terre Haute. I believe the police escort in the past may have encouraged the practice of running stop lights and stop signs. I wish to compliment the riders for their safe trip across the state and ask that we strive to improve rider etiquette and rider safety in future years. 

Accomplishing a goal of crossing the state of Indiana in the shortest time possible adds immeasurably to the excitement of the event.  Helping others accomplish their goal, either as part of a PSV team, through the encouragement of fellow riders, by leading a paceline or by safely drafting is also a big part of RAIN. While RAIN is not a race, the importance of seeing the accomplishment in print or on screen is a major factor contributing to the excitement of the event. As such, the RAIN 2002 finisher times will be listed in the true order of finish.

a great way 
to spend a day
one way
one day
across Indiana
162 miles - medallion
159 miles - map 
156 miles - T-shirt
on a bicycle

Even when a plan comes together there can still be some ragged edges.

As Rider Director, I want to acknowledge and thank the following people for a job well done and beg them publicly to help again next year.

Phil Cooper			RAIN Entrant Datebase
Al Abbott			Registration Coordinator & 1st half  Food & Equipment Retrieval
Stan Ellis			Registration Help & Sign Retrieval
Many BBC Members		Registration Help
Buster Hinds			Terre Haute Arrangements & US 231 Rest Stop
Allan Edmonds		Plainfield Rest Stop & 1st half Water Jug Retrieval
Ted and Loretta Hayes	Franklin Middle School Lunch Stop
Jerry Hartgorve		Dunrieth Fire Chief - Dunreith Rest Stop
Pat Thomas			Earlham Track & Cross Country Coach - Finish Line Host
Kent MacPherson		Past RAIN Director, 2nd half Transport & Finish Line Coordinator
Dan & Linda McNabb	Finish Line - Time Log
Phil Cooper			RAIN Finisher Database
Kathy Smith/Mark Napier	RAIN Web Site - www.rainride.org

Mark you calendars - RAIN 2003 - July 12th.