Draper is headquartered in Spiceland, Indiana—a small town with a population of about 800, located 45 minutes east of Indianapolis. The vast majority of our 500 employees live within 30 minutes of the office, although a fair number do live in other parts of the world. Several of our Regional Sales Managers live in their regions of responsibility, and travel back to Spiceland occasionally for training and general meetings.

Ross Rhoades (left) and Richard Wilson ready for their bike ride.

Such a gathering took place a couple of weeks ago, and during their meetings a few took time out to enjoy the area’s recreational amenities. Two of our regional managers—Ross Rhoades and Stu Milligan—and Richard Wilson, who works as a consultant on exterior solar control—got together for an evening bike ride along a section of the Cardinal Greenway—one of the “rails to trails” projects that have made use of old railroad rights-of-way to create recreational trails. Richard shared with us his experience:

When I’m on a trip to the US, I always try and get some exercise. Sometimes it’s using the hotel gym; other time’s it’s walking around whichever city I happen to be in at the time. Last week, however, was something different as I managed to get out on an evening bike ride. Stu Milligan (fresh from his exploits on the Hilly Hundred) supplied the bikes and he, Ross Rhoades and I took a brief ride on the Greenway from Richmond. It’s a shame that we started later than we had planned and that we also had to get to an event a bit later in the evening as it meant that we weren’t able to ride for as long as we had hoped. We did, however, ride from Richmond to Webster and back before the light gave out on us.

Map of a portion of the Cardinal Greenway.

I felt a bit overdressed (if that’s the right word) for the ride – I arrived in full Lycra gear while Ross was in shorts and a T shirt! The ride wasn’t too demanding – I hadn’t actually noticed one of the inclines that Stu said we were going up – but there were some interesting sights and smells, notably the biscuit and dog food factories. Apart from two people on bikes who we saw at the beginning of the ride and a few dog walkers, we also had the trail to ourselves. On our return to Richmond, Stu took me to a nearby hill which we rode down and then raced back up after which we went off for a well deserved beer and a barbecue. Hopefully, we’ll manage to get in a longer ride when I’m next back at Draper – maybe the 100 mile round trip from Richmond to Gaston and back.

Editors Note: The Cardinal Greenway features 62 miles of paved trail through east central Indiana. For more information, visit http://cardinalgreenways.org.