2 Wheels, 7 States, 1500 Miles

Wooster, OH Day 12, 99 Miles, Toughest Day of the Trip!

Ironically, yesterday was my best day, and today was my most difficult. It started off with 20 miles of small town turns and low speeds. I felt like we were on a scenic guided tour. I figured that was okay, because I knew that we had a challenging 80 miles ahead for the day, and that we still have 95 miles to do tomorrow. I pulled into the first SAG at mile 35 with not much issue and plenty of gas in the tank. However, it was becoming quite hilly and this surprised me because it was not mentioned in our briefing. As we began to climb hill after hill, I was getting a bit miffed at the guide for overlooking this. It was silly really to have issue, because the course is the course, I just have to deal with it. But with my knees and right foot aching like crazy, I guess I needed something to complain about.

I did have at least one rational reason to be irritated (to put in softly) with the guides. Much of what we drove on today was beautiful roads in the Ohio countryside, and with very few cars. But there were some roads that we rode on today that were the most dangerous that I have experienced on this trip on at any time on a bike. It takes a lot to rattle me, but having an 18 wheeler 6 inches off your hip at high speed, is not for the faint of heart. In the video below, you can see that the shoulder is only 6 inches wide and big rig trucks are flying by at speeds in excess of 60mph. One wrong move, and you're dead!

Living a bit Dangerously!

http://youtu.be/iYYE-5MpjnY

Fortunately, all went well, but I was feeling a hell of a lot better when we left that road.

When I pulled into the second SAG stop after climbing hill after hill, I was hot, thirsty, and looking forward to finishing the last 20 miles and going to the hotel. One good thing about climbing hills, is I figured it couldn't get much worse. I was dead wrong.

Leaving the SAG site, we started an immediate climb that lasted 15 minutes with a 2500 foot elevation. I kept shifting lower and lower and still couldn't find a gear that would do the trick. For the first time in my almost two weeks of biking, I wanted to get off the bike and walk. Obviously, there was no way that I could do that, but the thought did cross my mind. It was also the only time on the trip that I wished that I had a third gear wheel on the front of the bike. I came to the trip with only two, but the third was recommended. There are so many redundancies in gears when you add a third, that it seemed pointless to me back in Maryland as I was preparing for the trip. But at the moment, it made all the sense in the world. When I arrived at the top of the first climb, I was almost fried. With temperatures at 90 plus degrees and having biked all day, to say I was spent is an understatement. It didn't make me feel much more comfortable about the next 18 miles when I saw signs for a ski resort ahead. This clearly meant more serious climbing. It was at that moment that I realized why the guide hadn't mentioned any of the other hills that I had been climbing throughout the day. Those were babies compared to these. Just to give you an idea, these new 'hills' were so steep, that we coasted down the backside of them at 40+mph. If you haven't gone that fast on a bicycle before, it's a bit unnerving. The speed is so great that pedaling has no impact and so you have to wait to slow down to wear you can feel the pedals. I started to question the quality of my helmet and thinking about how I could fall in the safest way possible if I hit a pothole, and quickly realized that it would be hopeless. I didn't even attempt to slow down which seemed at the time to be more dangerous than just using any available mind space to focus on every crack or imperfection in the road and attempting to steer clear. In case you're wondering... while the speed might have been a rush, it did little to help me climb the next peak. One picture below gives a little idea of how steep the climb was ...

The pain lasted for about 12 more miles until we dropped into the valley below. Normally, I finish the last 10 miles very strong, today was the exception. I limped in, and I have never been so happy to see a broken down Best Western in all of my life. I didn't have my Garmin computer today (broken).. but talking to the other bikers that did have computers and that arrived at the same time that I did, I did 99 miles in 7 hrs and 20 mins. It's not impressive, but at least it's behind me. I am happy to write that I will never ride that course again. Ohio is still my favorite state to ride in, but I learned today that the terrain is not all beautiful country roads.

Rider Update: I sat with a man named Bob tonight at dinner. He just joined our group and plans to ride to Boston. He is 73 years old and had ridden from Los Angeles, CA to Marysville, OH with the same company back in 2009. His trip was cut short when he was struck by a speeding motorcycle and was very seriously injured. He doesn't remember the accident, but he remembers being air lifted to the hospital and spending four months in recovery. The stories continue to be just incredible and once again I am humbled and forced to realize that my little aches and pains are nothing alongside these people. He was 69 when he made his first attempt! I hope that we're all lucky, smart or brave enough to keep living our lives to the fullest, no matter what the age. It has been a great life lesson and inspiring for me to witness so much stick-tu-it-tive-ness.

Tomorrow, we will leave Wooster, OH and head to Niles, OH, for a 95 Mile ride. I plan to hydrate and rest well and hoping my day will go better tomorrow.

Some Pictures from the Road: