posted by Steve Largent at 7:47 AM
I hope I don't repeat myself too often, but without some background it's hard to follow, so here's some background on the riders:
Chris put this ride together. He chose some great roads back one lane pave routes and county roads for the most part. However, he didn't do the easy part, a spreadsheet showing distaance between planned nightly stops! Chris started out in marginal shape for the ride and hates hills. He talks about them like Rosetti did two years ago before learning to LOVE hills. Although we agreed to ride an average of 60 miles per day, Chris would like to have a maximum ride of 60 miles per day. However, his strength is improving steadily. His self-image lags the improvements in his riding.
David is a strong rider. He rides a bit faster on the flats than I do, but is quite a bit slower on the hills. It's a bit like riding with Rosetti three years ago, except back then Corrie was faster on the hills than David is and Corrie had greater endurance. However, now after Rosetti's weight loss, Rosetti is faster than me everywhere!
The first striking thing about Ohio is the lack of a clean indoor air act. People seem to smoke anywhere and everywhere with no hesitation to blow smoke in other's faces almost like the 1960's in Idaho but not quite as bad as Europe. They'll light up anywhere even in a line to order food in a cafe!
Chris would say the next most striking thing about Ohio is the hills! Unbelievably steep, but generally short. The worst was a 1/2 mile hill as steep as McIntosh Hill with a corner in it that hid the upper half.
The rains that were almost constant in Maryland and Penn finally stopped though it did rain a day or two. David's son was graduated from college, so he broke off from the group for 3 days, missing the first 3 dry days! I made my first visit ever to my first cousin, Laretta Largent Fiorentino's home. Had a great time. They fed us an excellent dinner, and a breakfast that stuffed two big eating cyclists (sausage- an old receipt from Bob's Italian history, bacon, English muffins, eggs, coffee, pancakes, the fancy dessert we didn't have the night before). That put us well on our way to our 6,000 daily calorie consumption! Hope they don't think I eat that way everyday!
Getting into and out of Columbus was a bit tricky with moderate to heavy traffic in contrast to these wonderful county roads we've been on.
Yesterday, we found our first good- really good bike shop in Oxford, OH. Chris had "fixed" his derailleur when nothing was wrong with it, and it was performing poorly- both front and rear! His & David's chains needed replacing. David had too large spacers on his front rings, so the chain would get caught between the rings and sometimes make him say a bad word. The mechanic asked him if that was a problem! That's fixed as well as several other small things. The mud of the C&O & Allegheny Passage had eaten up everyone back brake pads.
Indiana is starting out great! We had tail winds yesterday and so far today (it's 9:30 a.m. and will soon be time for our 2nd breakfast). There are more hills here than I ever would have expected. bit the hills, patches of forest (deciduous forest), and patches of farm ground, and occasional winding draws along creeks make for great riding conditions.
We'd let the Crazy Guy on a Bike website suffer, but Chris is working hard at this library to update it though we have an 80 mile day planned with camping tonight. Having a great time and could write more, but that 2nd breakfast is calling!
Happy Cycling for Fun, Fitness, and Transportation!
