Rain. Really steep hills - great people
Today we rode 64 miles from Oberlin to Canton, Ohio. We climbed 2,720 feet.
Evidently we are NOT a learning organization. We looked at today's mileage and elevation profile and thought we'd have a bit of a recovery day. Slow learners, I guess. We started with another fire department escort out of town at 0900 on roads wet from rain in the night. Wet roads get you just as wet as rain, except it starts with your feet and works its way up your body. Every bit as unpleasant. Once we had a good soak from the road it began to rain. One of those days. We had a nice SAG at about 19 miles and got fueled up. One of our teammates brought some excellent doughnuts from Oberlin, a welcome treat.
OK, we've dealt with rain before. As one of our teammates likes to say, "On! On!" We continued with rain gear and pressed...on.
The highlight of the day happened in New Franklin. We received an invitation to lunch at Tudor House (www.newfranklin.org/1256/Tudor-House) and when we got to about one mile away, a police car pulled into our path and escorted us to the location. As we rode in, the driveway was lined with people waving small American flags and clapping for us. Hard to comprehend. We had a very nice welcome speech from Mayor Paul Adamson, and then a hearty lunch in the waterfront pavilion. We'll never get used to this kind of generosity; it will always overwhelm us. Thank you New Franklin.
We still had 12 miles to Canton, and the remaining hills challenged us the entire way. The hills in this part of the country are not the longest we've ridden, but they are as steep as any we have seen. More rain, some traffic mixed in to keep it sporty, and it became an interesting ride to the hotel. We all arrived generally intact. Another day in the books.
Seven days remaining...
Tomorrow we will ride from Canton to Steubenville, Ohio. We will cycle 79 miles and climb 4,211 feet.
Totals to Date
Miles: 2,733
Elevation Gain: 82,587
Flat Tires: 45
States crossed: 8
Centuries: 7
Dog bites: 1
