The River City Ride is an MSTA rally that had eluded me for years. I’d wanted to go since shortly after I joined the MSTA in 2014, but each year I had a scheduling conflict that didn’t allow me to go. When the dates for the 2024 rally were announced – and had moved one week later from its traditional weekend – I finally had a chance to attend it. And I’m glad I did.
From MotoAmerica clients racing to the Fuel Cleveland show taking place on the same weekend, something always kept me home on the River City Ride’s usual last-weekend-in-July dates. For 2024, the event was moved to the first weekend in August, and I immediately blocked that weekend out on my Google calendar.
I didn’t have any experience riding in southern Indiana prior to this year’s River City Ride. I’d been told the roads aren’t nearly as technical as other MSTA rally locations like Marietta, Ohio, or Lewisburg, W.Va. I did check out the region on Google Maps with its terrain filter, and the topography reminded me a bit of the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York where I learned to ride.
The ride to the rally was an eventful, frustrating one. I left work early in one of Cleveland, Ohio’s eastern suburbs and made a stop at the Taco John’s near Bellville, Ohio, for a late lunch/early dinner. When I got back on the road, my GPS showed my ETA was 6:56 p.m., which was about what I expected to see. I had to make a fuel stop to get to Corydon, Ind., so I was well on track to make it to the hotel by about 7:30 p.m.
Within a few miles of getting back on I-71, my GPS updated my arrival time to 7:28 p.m. There was apparently a crash on I-71 south of Columbus that had traffic backed up. The GPS then rerouted me through Dayton, Ohio, via I-70, I-675 and I-75. While it was supposed to save 15 minutes over waiting in traffic on I-71, the new route ended up delaying me even more. The weave patterns for the exits on I-270 through the northwest side of Columbus were ridiculous, and a couple brief but heavy downpours after I got onto I-70 slowed traffic even more. The ride got smoother on the way to Dayton, but traffic was again slow at the I-675/I-75 interchange.
I got gas at a Meijer station on I-75 just north of Cincinnati, and ended up taking the I-275 bypass around Cincinnati when my GPS and the travel times on the overhead message boards gave me two very different answers on how backed up traffic was through the heart of Cincinnati. Shortly after getting on I-275, the GPS updated my arrival time to 10:25 p.m. and then 12:13 a.m. due to a section of I-71 being closed between Cincinnati and Louisville. It then rerouted me … but through Lexington, Ky. That was going to have me getting in at about 9:30 p.m. Never one to fully trust a GPS, I stopped at a rest area and plotted my own course along U.S. Route 42 and ended up arriving at the Holiday Inn Express in Corydon at about 9:15 p.m.
I stayed in the room for the night after I got the luggage off the bike. I needed some time to recover from the haphazard ride. I was impressed with the room, as I liked the modern accents, decent space and ample outlets for charging my phone, smartwatch, power bank, laptop and more.
The biggest highlight of the hotel was the breakfast. I made my way down to the breakfast area at about 7:15 a.m the next morning and was seriously impressed with the variety and quality of the breakfast bar. The cinnamon rolls were absolutely stellar.
After some good breakfast conversation with Norm Kern, Larry Ward and others, I geared up and started my ride by heading west on Indiana State Route 135. From there I turned right onto Indiana State Route 62 and began what turned out to be a fun-filled morning of mostly sweepers with a few small twisty bits mixed in. My route took me west on Route 62, then south along Indiana State Route 66 to the outskirts of Cannelton, Ind. I stopped at a very nice scenic overlook near Leavenworth, Ind., as well as a stone lighthouse that’s under renovation along Indiana State Route 166.
When i reached Cannelton, I turned north along Indiana State Route 237 and followed by GPS’ guidance along several fun backroads to Indiana State Route 145, which I followed to get back to Route 62. I then headed west along Route 62 – enjoying the many sweepers along the way – to Indiana State Route 162. I turned right onto Route 162 and headed north through Ferdinand, Ind., to Jasper, Ind. From there, I started a trek east along Indiana State Route 164 to its junction with Indiana State Route 545. I headed north on Route 545 to Indiana State Route 56, which I then took to French Lick, Ind., to complete my morning ride plan.
My first stop in French Lick was Larry Bird’s childhood home, which is located on the southeast side of town. I have no idea how he became such a good shooter with a drive sloped that steeply. After refueling the bike and taking a hydration break at a nearby Huck’s gas station, I started doing some time calculations and realized I wouldn’t have enough time to complete my afternoon ride plan and still make it back for the rally meeting at 6pm. I quickly began going over how I could cut the ride short while still getting as much of the route in as possible.
I ended up hacking two small loops on the route plan that would get me back to the Holiday Inn with about 20 minutes to spare. I still thoroughly enjoyed the truncated route, which began with a scenic ride south along Route 145 past Patoka Lake. I then continued south on Route 145 to I-64, which I took east to the exit for Indiana State Route 237. That portion of the ride was a lot fun, as Route 237 has lots of fun curves to navigate. I then continued my trek north on Indiana State Route 37 through Paoli to Mitchell, where I turned westbound on Indiana State Route 60. I followed Route 60 to its terminus at U.S. Route 50 and continued west to the village of Shoals. There, I took a left and began heading back east on U.S. Route 150, which was a lot of fun in its own right and even surprised me with a few tighter-than-they-looked sweepers along the way.
The trek on Route 150 came to an end when I reached the northern end of Route 66, which I followed south to Indiana State Route 64 eastbound. I’d planned to then take Indiana State Route 337 south, but was pressed for time. I ended up staying on Route 64 to its intersection with Route 135, which I rode back to the hotel.
The evening after the ride began with the end-of-rally meeting in the hotel conference room, and I was pleased to learn the rally is scheduled for the same weekend next year. After the meeting, I ended up eating a delicious dinner at the Mexican restaurant next to the hotel with three fellow attendees.
The ride back to Cleveland was relatively uneventful, with just the small detour around downtown Cincinnati on I-275 being the only noteworthy item.