Erie PA to Hamburg NY

Miles: 78
Elevation gain: 2600 ft

What a beautiful day for a ride. The temperature was relatively cool, the sky was blue, the winds were light, and views of Lake Erie and the vineyards were great.

Yesterday was a rest day and was much needed. While finding a laundromat, Chris and I found a beauty shop and got hair cuts. That was much needed in my case. Then we went down to the Lake and enjoyed just sitting quietly by the water. We also found two very good restaurants, one with French cuisine.

I decided today that vineyards make very good Green Doors. That is a term we use when rest room facilities are not available. The views of the vineyards and the lake were magnificent. We also passed a very old historic light house.

Today we crossed into New York. The roads have shoulders on them. So that is good. However, as with all shoulders there is debris that is hard on bike tires. Cathy hit something which caused her tire and tube to blow. She had lots of help fixing it.

I rode with 5 other riders for many of the miles today. They slowed down a bit to let me keep up and I sped up so I wouldn't hold them back too much. It was good for me to push since it was a lower mileage day.
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Niles OH to Erie PA

Miles: 89
Elevation Gain: 2500 ft

Today was a great ride. For a change it was not raining when we left the hotel. The sky did cloud over pretty soon but no rain fell. By the end of the ride the sun was out. The best part was a substantial tail wind most of the day. And oh yes, there were only a few hills to climb with lots of slight downhill runs.

The second SAG stop was really fun today. As you can see from the picture it as at an outdoor root beer stand. They served the best root beer floats. I talked with the owner and the place has been in their family for 58 years.

There were lots of old barns during the route. The silo picture is of a brick silo. I had never seen a brick one before.

We crossed another state line today - Pennsylvania. The roads improved and they even had shoulders. I also saw the first of the vineyards today. I am sure there will be a lot more in New York.

Today was garbage day in Erie. Because of the high winds they were blowing all over after being emptied. One rolled out into the road in front of me. Fortunately neither I nor the cars hit it. Just shows how alert you always need to be.

Tomorrow is a rest day and we are all ready for it. Hard to believe this is our last rest day.
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Wooster Ohio to Niles Ohio

Miles: 94
Elevation Gain: 4500 ft

Another long ride in Ohio. It was raining (ever so lightly) when we left this morning. Fortunately it was overcast again all day which kept the heat index down.

The terrain continued to be hilly but fortunately the hills were the first half of the ride today. In fact there was a 2 mile climb just as we left the hotel. My legs took a long time to loosen up today. So the ride was not a fast one. Well mine are never fast but this was slower than normal.

The roads were the worst ones on the trip. There was an area that was so broken up there was no way to avoid the holes. I am surprised my bike is still in one piece. The drivers were the worst I have encountered on the trip. There were several close calls today.

There was a lab-mix dog that several of us "rode with" today. It was not interested in chasing us but only in running along with us. It ran with one rider for 5 miles. Then later we came by and it ran with us for 3 miles. We tried to go fast enough to outrun it but couldn't do it. I hope it found it's way back home.

One more day of riding and we have a day off. It is hard to believe we will be in Erie, PA, tomorrow. This adventure is almost over.
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Marysville Ohio to Wooster Ohio

Miles: 86 of 97
Elevation Gain: 5000 ft

I found today to be a very hard day of riding and my legs and mind couldn't quite do all of the miles. I am actually quite tired and the tiredness is slowly overtaking me. I guess I need a boost of firepower.

We left just after a rainshower and the skies were overcast most of the day. That was a good thing. I didn't ride nearly as well as yesterday but plugged along. Once again the country was quite pretty. The fields of wheat are starting to turn.

We had been warned that the last 30 miles of the 97 would be bad hills and they were not kidding. Some were fairly long and were 12% grade. I made it up a couple of them with legs burning. Then I came to three that I could no longer climb and walked up. After a while I didn't even have legs for the flats. The descents felt like the bike was going to shake apart because the road was so rough. Can you tell that I didn't enjoy this section that much.

We have a 91 mile day tomorrow. The climbing will be first thing out of town. Yippee. Won't that be fun.
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Richmand Indiana to Marysville Ohio

Miles: 105
Elevation gain: 3500 ft

This was a great day for riding. The sky was overcast all day but we didn't have any rain. The overcast kept the temperature down which was most welcome given that we had 105 miles to ride.

We crossed into Ohio first thing this morning. I find it hard to believe we are this far east. I am starting to realize this adventure will be coming to an end.

Today was a great day for riding because we were on back roads all day. Since it was Sunday the traffic was light also. We saw a lot of the midwest farming areas. I enjoyed the ride a lot. The only problem I had was the pain of sitting on top of that saddle all day. I guess that problem will stay with me the whole way. My legs seem to be doing ok and I felt stronger all day. That is good because the next two days are century rides.
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Indianapolis to Richmond Indiana

Miles: 84

We left in the rain this morning. It wasn't raining very hard but the prospect was for rain all day so we were all appropriately covered. It didn't rain very hard or very long. However, the clouds stayed all day and kept the temperature down.

The countryside changed a bit today. The last 40 miles we started to get the rolling hills of eastern Indiana. There were a lot of old buildings. The picture is of a very large old barn that must have been quite a fantastic structure in its day. We saw the first of the Amish buggies on the road. There was an orchard that must have had 50 scarecrows in it. I couldn't get a good picture of all of them so just tried to get one of them.

One of the big challenges for these rides is getting us into and out of the big cities in a way that avoids as much heavy traffic as possible. Today we were coming in on a four lane road which had construction shutting down two of the lanes. The drivers were not too impatient (probably because it was Sat). But it is hard to negotiate traffic when you are really tired.
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Crawfordsville IN to Indianapolis IN

Miles: 70.4

Today started out very slowly. This was a day that I really didn't want to get on my bike and ride. However, the interesting part of doing this ride is that you have no choice but to go - either on the bike or in the van. I didn't sleep well last night. Add to that the fact that we left an hour early because of the threat of storms this afternoon. So I got on my bike and started pedaling.

The cue sheet for today was long and complex. We went through the countryside and subdivisions in order to void heavily traveled roads. It turned out to be a wonderful ride. Making so many turns actually made the ride go faster. You never knew what was around the next corner. There were still a lot of corn fields but we started riding on roads that were shaded by trees along the side. Our SAG stop was at a dairy farm. The couple open up their house for us to use the restroom. And they thoroughly seem to enjoy talking to the riders.

The highlight of the day was a side trip to the Major Taylor veledrome. Major Taylor was a black rider/racer from Indiana. He was not well accepted in Indiana (or in the rest of the US). They let is ride on the veledrome. That was a cool experience. You never change gears, use brakes, or look down once you are on it. But I felt quite secure. I didn't look down to see how fast I was going. I doubt it was that fast.

We didn't get caught in any storms today. Hopefully our luck holds out tomorrow.
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