Day 41 Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH
What was supposed to be a 104 mile day turned into roughly a 115 mile day for me. After staying up to about 11, I arose at 6 am for a light breakfast and said goodbye to Larry who yesterday had a fall and was still suffering the effects of the pulled groin. Tim and Mary Anne Fyda would now take care of Larry while he recovered at their house on the northeast side of Columbus, OH.
I left the house about 6:45 am and after about 1 mile I had no odometer/speedometer. Usually this is no big deal but for this ride it would have helped as I was leaving from a different location than my biking group. Last night I studied a hand drawn map and a regular map to rendezvous with the group at about 38 miles. Without my odometer along with the morning rush hour traffic through Columbus, I was BUSY!
It was warm when I started and humid again and I was riding with my hand drawn map in my hand the whole way. I rode almost 2 hours before I just couldn't be sure I was going the right direction and I forced myself to buy an Ohio map and I also asked directions. And yes, sportfans, I did surrender my "Man Card" for both of these offenses. Ugh!
To my surprise, I was only about 2 miles south of joining the route. Unfortunately, I joined the route at a point just past the scheduled rest stop. The earlier challenging conditions coupled with missing the "refueling locations" spelled pain and suffering for me later. The course was filled with the same kind of rolling hill seen in Missouri earlier--500 ft up and 500 ft down for miles and miles.
With about 25 miles to go, I joined Clarence and rode with him all the way to the hotel. The last mile was up hill and into the wind and one last reminder that if you combine challenging terrain, heat, humidity and lack of hydration, any ride will be an above average challenge. Humbled and dehydrated, I slurped up that chocolate shake and cleaned up as fast as I could. I was proud of accomplishing this 115 mile beast, but I received no style points given my judgement errors along the way.
After I cleaned up, I got directions to the local CVS Pharmacy to pick up a pair of flip flops since I'd intentionally left my only pair of shoes with Larry at the Fyda's. As fate would have it, this trek was three miles out and back each way, down a monster hill and up another. After this journey, my T-shirt and gym shorts were ready for the toxic waste bin, and another shower was mandatory.
All in all, another great day, although my humility/mortality factor was definitely elevated. I've always had great admiration for our riders who are spending over eight hours on the bike seat day after day, but having just done this myself, I have even more respect for their efforts. There are some really hard constitutions on this trip and I take my hat off to each of them. My "seat" has greatly improved on this trip, but I still have much to learn and earn.
I left the house about 6:45 am and after about 1 mile I had no odometer/speedometer. Usually this is no big deal but for this ride it would have helped as I was leaving from a different location than my biking group. Last night I studied a hand drawn map and a regular map to rendezvous with the group at about 38 miles. Without my odometer along with the morning rush hour traffic through Columbus, I was BUSY!
It was warm when I started and humid again and I was riding with my hand drawn map in my hand the whole way. I rode almost 2 hours before I just couldn't be sure I was going the right direction and I forced myself to buy an Ohio map and I also asked directions. And yes, sportfans, I did surrender my "Man Card" for both of these offenses. Ugh!
To my surprise, I was only about 2 miles south of joining the route. Unfortunately, I joined the route at a point just past the scheduled rest stop. The earlier challenging conditions coupled with missing the "refueling locations" spelled pain and suffering for me later. The course was filled with the same kind of rolling hill seen in Missouri earlier--500 ft up and 500 ft down for miles and miles.
With about 25 miles to go, I joined Clarence and rode with him all the way to the hotel. The last mile was up hill and into the wind and one last reminder that if you combine challenging terrain, heat, humidity and lack of hydration, any ride will be an above average challenge. Humbled and dehydrated, I slurped up that chocolate shake and cleaned up as fast as I could. I was proud of accomplishing this 115 mile beast, but I received no style points given my judgement errors along the way.
After I cleaned up, I got directions to the local CVS Pharmacy to pick up a pair of flip flops since I'd intentionally left my only pair of shoes with Larry at the Fyda's. As fate would have it, this trek was three miles out and back each way, down a monster hill and up another. After this journey, my T-shirt and gym shorts were ready for the toxic waste bin, and another shower was mandatory.
All in all, another great day, although my humility/mortality factor was definitely elevated. I've always had great admiration for our riders who are spending over eight hours on the bike seat day after day, but having just done this myself, I have even more respect for their efforts. There are some really hard constitutions on this trip and I take my hat off to each of them. My "seat" has greatly improved on this trip, but I still have much to learn and earn.
posted by Steve King at 10:31 AM
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