Sunday, June 15, 2008

June 15 Richmond, IN to Marysville, OH: 103 miles




This was the second day in a row that we had perfect weather for cycling. That is a record on this trip! We've had half a dozen great weather days, but this is the first time we had 2 in a row!!! 84 degrees, light SSW breeze, partly cloudy... perfect!




We have 2 new riders who joined us in Indianapolis, so they missed the awful rainy day INTO Indy. Jim and Carol are experienced cyclists, and in fact have already done the portion of the ride from LA to Indy by breaking it up into several years, 2 weeks at at time... so they KNOW that these 2 lovely lovely days are not indicative of the average on the coast to coast ride...


The ride was wonderful... the terrain was rolling, on well paved roads, little traffic. The barns pictured above were a couple of the more interesting barns I saw today... not your average barn where I come from! In the morning we saw a lot of Amish families in their buggies, pulled by high-stepping horses. There were also Amish families on their bicycles, and one young man on a unicycle, pedaling down the road on Sunday morning. I assume they were all headed to their church, which I did not see. I did see some of their very neat farms. I said good morning to them all, and they returned the greeting. Their lovely farms make the messy houses and yards with half a dozen trucks and cars (some up on blocks) look almost obscene.


Our route today was exactly what I expected when I signed up for this tour. So much nicer than riding on the busy freeway, although I understand that sometimes (out west) that is the only road to connect two distant towns.


We were warned that there would be a lot of climbing in the last 40 miles of today's ride, but it was OK. The climbs were long and gradual (although I did go into the small chain ring a few times) and the descents were just as long. A half-mile coast down a country road is ample reward for a long gradual climb! 3,500 feet climbing today.


I saw about a dozen buzzards in a field this afternoon. No, they were not waiting for cyclists to drop in the late stages of a century ride--they had their feast (deer) provided by a motorist. First time I saw buzzards on this whole trip!


There were still a lot of flooded fields and raging creeks and rivers, one washed out bridge adjacent to our route but not on it. It seems like there is less flooding the farther west we get in Ohio.


Drama and trauma at home--it's tough being out here with all home things out of my control! I do miss my real life, but this is a super opportunity and I'm glad every day that I am able to do it! Don told me that we have already ridden over 2,500 miles, and we are 75% done with our ride. That black line is sneaking across the map every day...


2 quotes of the day, both from the late Tim Russert:
"Work hard, laugh often, keep going"
"The best exercise for the human heart is reaching down to pick someone else up".
Amen.

2 comments:

historicstitcher said...

I'm surprised you didn't see more buzzards out west! They used to follow us all over when we were hiking, biking, and rock-mapping...

Always creepy, and little disturbing.

No - a LOT disturbing!

especially when there were hundreds of them circling over the ares we were to map that day...

Anonymous said...

So glad you finally had some great weather two days in a row. Let's hope that keeps up. Loved your Tim Russert quotes. Matt L. spoke with his son this morning on the Today show. What a sad loss.

We missed you at the '66 lunch on Saturday. Only 7 of us but we had a nice time. By the time you get back you'll have the official invite to the reunion.

See you soon. Chris