Niles, Ohio to Erie, Pennsylvania

Another day's ride and another state now also!

We rode 89 miles today. Leaving Niles, Ohio, we probably went more north than east, and we finally crossed into Pennsylvania at 62 miles into the ride. We are now in the city of Erie. This is our last stop that will be associated with a subsequent full rest day. We relax here tomorrow, and then Friday morning begins the final push to Boston!

I really am tired. I guess that is not difficult to understand. Looking back, this is the fifth consecutive day of rather long mileages. In the five days ending today, we have ridden a total of 464 miles. That's an average of effectively 93 miles daily. I guess that I don't feel too bad that I am tired. I will definitely rest up here in Erie tomorrow. My goal for tomorrow is to do nothing. (Nothing, with the exception of one load of laundry, of course.) Starting then on Thursday morning, we make our final non-stop push to Boston.

Aaaarrrrrr! I can already smell the salt water in the air!

Today's ride was good. There was nicer road quality today than was the case on the pre-Niles pothole-riddled roads yesterday. The winds today were favorable also. There had been some prediction of rain, as a possibility, but mercifully none came. It was a good day.

On getting into Erie, we had the option to take a 2 to 3 mile side trip to Presque Isle. I did that. It really is a pretty area. It is neat to see Lake Erie again, after all of these years. As I think back now, probably the last time that I saw Lake Erie was just about exactly 10 years ago now. That was at the time of our 30th High School reunion, when a few of us went to the beach at John's Dad's house, up at Mentor on the Lake. Maybe we will do that again next month!

Jan, Janie, LaVern and I just had lunch, in the past few minutes. We went to a sleazy place on State Street called "Stevo's Pizza". It was OK. It was fun to be with them after the ride today, even if the food was not the greatest. It is just fun to be here, and to be on this trip. Eating at Stevo's Pizza is all part of the experience.

Incidentally, thanks very much to Andrea for the comments on yesterday's post. I am sorry that both the Dinner Bell restaurant and Frizell's Freeze are gone now. At least I have the awareness that I am not alone in remembering them. Thanks!

I do have some photos from today's ride. Due to my current abyssmally poor Internet connection now however, I cannot upload them. I have repeatedly tried, unsuccessfully so, in the past several minutes. Perhaps I will try later today, if I can get a better signal strength somewhere arround here.

Wooster, Ohio to Niles, Ohio

Today's ride was, once again, another long and difficult ride. I recognize that my recent postings probably all carry a recurrent theme of commenting on how hard things are. But that is, honestly, pretty accurate. The past three days, plus tomorrow, constitute four very long, hard, and consecutive rides, all with very hilly terrain.

I grew up in northeast Ohio. I don't remember it as being this hilly! What happened?

We left Wooster this morning and it was actively raining hard. That is always a deflating way to get started on a ride. It felt like it did on the morning that we left Indianapolis. Happily enough however, the rain stopped after less than an hour on the road. Overcast skies persisted throughout the rest of the day, but no more rain.

Leaving the city, we did go by a fair amount of the Wooster College campus. It was nice to see that. It was deserted, as you would expect for this time of year, but a very attractive college campus nonetheless.

I am not entirely sure how we got out, as the route was difficult to mentally follow. We had a very complex cue sheet today. Indeed, today is the only day in the entire trip in which we had a two-page cue sheet, that stapled together. There were innumerable short segments of riding, with equally innumerable right and left turns. One could have the feeling that we were being led through a maze.

I know that we did go through a town called Canal Fulton. That was a cute small town. There were red brick roads in the center of the town. Those may be pretty, but riding a road bike on those bricks was no fun.

We went by Canton, at one point. Our first SAG stop was at a parking lot next to a church cemetery. That location was just a short distance from Shuffel road, which had taken us by the Akron-Canton airport. (I was impressed with how big that airport is.)

Leaving the SAG, we went through Marlboro Township and then the Town of Marlboro. During that time, we were traveling east on highway 619. It was at that time that we crossed highway 44, that going north and south, as we continued east on 619. I saw at that crossing the sign indicating that a left (north) turn on 44 would take us to Ravenna.

Seeing that sign immediately brought to me a flood of memories from my early bike riding years, back when I lived in Painesville, Ohio. That same road, highway 44, continues further north, beyond Ravenna, all the way to Painesville. In addition to being called 44, the more northern section of that road is called locally "Painesville-Ravenna Road". It starts from Painesville an intersection not far from my old home, the intersection with Liberty and Bank streets. (That intersection is where Frizell's Freeze and the Dinner Bell restaurant were both located. I loved both of those places. I wonder if they are still there.) We could bike over to that intersection and then take 44 south from that point. I remember that it was a nice initial downhill ride, leaving that intersection. We used to take that road to Chardon and back, a nice ride for us at the time.

Needless to say however, today I did not turn on to 44 and go north. I dutifully followed the cue sheet and stayed on route 619, continuing on eastward.

The ride today really was arduous. In the latter part of the day, we had a constant headwind. The unpleasantness of that was exacerbated by the deteriorating road quality. Indeed, in the last 25 to 30 miles before arriving in Niles today, we experienced probably the worst road quality of the entire trip thus far. Getting close to Niles, the road had potholes large enough for me to hide in! It was difficult to avoid holes in the road, as swerving away from one would generally only lead you into an adjacent one. That is not fun ever, but it is very much not fun when you are tired and near the end of a long ride.

Oh well. You can't always have perfect roads.

We rode 91 miles today. Everyone was tired. Very tired. Even the fast riders arrived at the destination in Niles quite late today. I did not get in until 3:45 PM. That late arrival really makes life difficult on a trip like this, as it dramatically cuts down on your post-ride "recovery time". After you clean your bike and shower, there just isn't a lot of free time left before the daily 5:45 PM group meeting ("Route Rap") when we get our briefing on the next day's ride.

Tomorrow is our ride to Erie, Pennsylvania. A new state line crossing again tomorrow! That is another long ride. Hopefully tomorrow's roads, winds, and other variables will be better than today's were.

We get to Erie tomorrow (Wednesday), and then we have our last full rest day of the trip on the next day (Thursday). On Friday, we start our final week of riding! How exciting is that? It is difficult for me to believe!

Marysville, Ohio to Wooster, Ohio

Today was probably one of the most physically challenging days of the entire trip. They had warned us that we would have lots of climbing today. I had no clue how true that statement was.

The weather was kind to us again. Overcast and phenomenally humid, but not really hot. No rain at all, despite the appearance of the sky that I tend to still perceive as threatening.

The ride today was hard all day long, but it was REALLY difficult in the final 20 to 25 miles. Our approach into Wooster was on highway 95, coming in from the southwest. Since the ride was long (97 miles totally) we had two SAG stops instead of only one. The second one was at probably 72 miles out into the ride. I was feeling tired then, but not totally wasted. I had no idea that the really difficult climbing was only then about to begin. That last 20 to 25 miles would have probably been difficult for me even if I had been fresh and well rested. After over 70 miles however, it really was placing me pretty much at my physical limit. I think that I will remember highway 95 for quite a while. The hills on highway 95 put everything that we saw in Missouri to shame. We had long hills with 11 to 12% grade, as well as short (50 yard) hills at 14% grade. Nice!

Oh well! Enough complaining!

Tomorrow we do a short 91 mile ride to Niles, Ohio. That will be our last stop in this state.

Richmond, Indiana to Marysville, Ohio

Today was our last official "century" ride of the entire trip. We will have rides to come in the 90+ mile range, but today was technically the last 100+ mile ride of the entire trip. The ride today was a 104 mile long adventure.

We left Richmond, Indiana, on a very overcast morning today. Rain had been predicted as a possibility, and I surely thought that it would come. Happily enough, we never received any rain from the ongoing very threatening skies. Nice. (Even though it was very overcast all day, I still wore more than plenty of my sunscreen.)

Richmond, Indiana, is almost on the Ohio border. We found ourselves at the "Welcome to Ohio" sign at only 2.7 miles on our cue sheet this morning! That was neat. Prior to this adventure, the only states that I had fully biked across, from west to east, were Iowa and Wisconsin. As of today, my list now also includes California, Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. (We were also in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on this trip, but those were not full state crossings.)

It is neat to think that I am back again in Ohio. This is my state of residence from my infancy to young adulthood. I grew up and lived in Painesville, Ohio. Many, many great memories. We will be perilously to Painesville in a couple of days from now, then when we are at Niles, Ohio.

Today's ride involved a whole lot of scenery that was honestly pretty much similar to that of Illinois and Indiana. If you ask for details however, I feel that the corn was higher in Indiana and Illinois than it is here. I don't know why that would be the case. There was no rain here today, but they must have had a lot of rain recently. Indeed, some of the corn fields today look like a rice paddy.

I did see some people of the Amish faith today. A horsedrawn buggy went by, going the opposite way on the other side of the road. All inside were smiling and waiving at me. I waived back, of course. I had the feeling that they were more pleased to see a bicycle than yet another gasoline user.

It seems that most people in Ohio own dogs, generally large ones. Quite a number of dogs had really unpleasant statements for me as I rode by today. They don't seem to like bicycles. I don't know why. Fortunately, they were fenced in or otherwise physically restrained.

Most of the cyclists on this trip have pretty high-tech bike computers. One of the guys has a really fancy Garmin bike computer. At the end of each day of riding, he downloads data from his GPS-enhanced bike computer to his separate laptop. The laptop then has software which interfaces with Google Earth. This is far more technology than a luddite like me can understand, but it turns out that he can generate, on Google Earth, a map of the USA with our actual route superimposed! That seems so neat! He made this into a picture and shared it with all of us today. That photo is directly above on this post, just below the "Welcome to Ohio" photo. (The one with the remarkably handsome gentleman.) This map is current to today's location at Marysville, Ohio.

I will end this post now, so I can get something to eat. Tomorrow will be a 97 mile ride to Wooster, Ohio, so I need to eat up, and rest up, starting now.

Indianapolis, Indiana to Richmond, Indiana

The weather was bad today. In fairness, I guess that it is about time for us to have bad weather.

It was pouring rain early this morning, in Indianapolis. No lightening at the time, so we simply set out in the rain. Hard rain. It was not nice.

After 83 miles of rain, we arrived here in Richmond. At least no one had a mishap today. Wet roads and wet brakes often combine to greatly lower the threshold for accidents. That didn't happen. We all arrived safely, albeit very dirty and very wet, in Richmond.

Crawfordsville, Indiana to Indianapolis, Indiana

This was a good ride today.

The weather once again, mercifully so, was less bad than had been predicted. We had been warned of not just precipitation, but thunderstorms, by late morning. That never materialized. I am in Indianapolis now, and the sky looks increasingly ominous, but no bad stuff so far. Nice!

Bad weather in this region is again predicted, for the next few days or so. That does have me concerned. Still, I guess that it is what it is! (Maybe I should say that it will be what it will be!)

The ride today took us from Crawfordsville to Indianapolis via an unbelievably complex and circuitous pathway. I guess that is necessary, in order to avoid the high-volume roads. Our cue sheet has generally had only two to three panels (quadrants) on the piece of paper, even for longer rides. Today however, the cue sheet was double-sided and had literally eight panels of information and directions.

We went through an absolutely beautiful region of farmland, largely corn and soy beans. These all seemed to be smaller family farms. Navigating all of the multiple left and right turns, each for relatively short mileages, on generally unmarked roads, was more than a challenge. Still, it was fun and I can say honestly that I never was lost.

Once in Indianapolis, we had the option to take an additional 3.8 mile side trip and visit the "Major Taylor Velodrome". I am so glad that I did that. This meant extra time in the saddle for me, something that I am otherwise trying to limit, but it was worth it. We were able to actually go in and ride our bikes on the track! this is a 300+ meter track, with remarkable slopes. What an experience! (It can bring out the kid in you!)

This also gave me the oportunity to actually read up a little bit about Marshall "Major" Taylor. (If interested, Wikipedia does have a nice short article about him.) He had the misfortune of bad timing, being an absolutely incredible athlete in this country, at a time when this country was simply not yet ready to have successful black athletes. The story of the adversity he experienced then is more than sad.

Today's ride was short, only 68 miles long. Still, with the extra time spent in the side trip to the Velodrome, it ended up in long hours today for me. That's not entirely good, as I need to somewhat minimize my time in the saddle now because of the long mileage days to come. On the next five consecutive days, those ending ultimately in Erie, Pennsylvania, we will have no short distances at all. Our next five days will be 83, 104, 97 , 91, and 89 miles long respectively.

Oh well! No rest for the weary, as they say!

Champaign, Illinois to Crawfordsville, Indiana

It was a really great ride today. Perfect weather. Sunny, but not hot, and really no significant wind at all. The road surfaces were great and traffic was minimal. Other than a still sore right hip and right shoulder (both of which do seem to be slowly improving), I felt great.

The ride today was stated as 79 miles. I will go with that. (The odometer on my bike's computer says 80.9, but who is counting?)

Yesterday had been a full rest day in Champaign. It was great. It is almost difficult to reflect back now and think about how truly little I did, or accomplished, during the entire day! It was great.

Chris Hall's husband surprised her. He flew in to Champaign on the day that we arrived, just to see her. It was great to meet him. Chris' sister, Kathy, also showed up in Champaign, that arrival as entirely expected and planned. She is joining the trip, and she will ride with us all the way to Boston.

Chris' husband had a rental car. Neat. While she was holding ice on her freshly traumatized right hip, exactly as I had been doing last week, he kindly drove some of us to a really nice bike shop in Champaign. I got a new helmet there, as the helmet that I had purchased in Chillicothe, (my only choice there then) was really too small. I got a nice new helmet, one that fits perfectly, as well as a nice lightweight rain jacket and a pair of new riding shorts. Pretty cool.

Today's trip was a really nice ride. People who travel from Champaign to Crawfordsville generally have the good sense to use vehicles with internal combustion engines. They travel on I-74, and the whole trip probably takes barely over an hour. Obviously we with the more primative means of transportation are not about to take that road.

We left Champaign and traveled east on highway 150. That basically parallels I-74, and it is what Bobby Frost may have been referring to when he wrote about the "road less traveled." With I-74 taking away what we didn't want to see or deal with, we had a really nice ride to Danville, Illinois.

We got to Danville at a little more than halfway into our ride. That is the last Illinois city before the Indiana border. We had a SAG there at a park. (That park had restrooms!) People seemed to be only mildly annoyed when I made a point of personally welcoming them to the city that had been named after me.

In Danville, we left highway 150 and connected to highway 136. That basically did in Indiana what 150 had done for us in Illinois, nicely paralleling I-74 and taking us into Crawfordsville.

One of the last things you see in Danville, just south of highway 150, is a HUGE State of Illinois Prison. It is enormous. It really looks ominous and frightening. On the road nearby is a huge sign telling motorists not to pick up any hitchhikers, due to the proximity of the Prison there.

I really wanted to get my picture taken, hitchhiking right by that sign, but no one was riding with me at the time. Missed opportunity.

Once in Indiana, we traveled through truly beautiful small towns. We went through Covington, Veedersburg, and Hillsboro. It was a really nice ride. I love the sign you see as you ride into Hillsboro. Indiana means now Eastern Time Zone.

Tomorrow we ride to Indianapolis. That's the home of Mary Anne Jones and Troy Haider. Maybe time will enable me to contact them then. Time is short on this trip, but we will see.