Finishing up in Ohio

(1) At the top of a monstrous 13% hill

(2) A great picture on OSU's field.

(3) Me in the Horseshoe, home of the Buckeyes

(4) A group of us at the OH state line.


Onto riding updates for the last few days...

The June 29 ride from Tallmadge to Gambier was a challenging one, but I'll look back on it as one of my favorite of the trip thus far. We had 80 miles to do, and after a slow start (I didn't get out until 9 AM), we hit a somewhat hilly stretch between about miles 10-30 with significant headwinds. Trevor, Danny, and I pacelined for awhile and that helped, but we were pretty tired heading into lunch. I tagged along with a big group in the afternoon, but the hills got bigger and bigger as we marched through the Ohio countryside. As many blogs have discussed, the scenery was beautiful and the experiences were rich; many people stopped at an Amish market for some fruit, and Scott had a race with a couple of young Amish boys in a horse-drawn carriage down a hill. However, as we hit Nashville, OH, the hills weren't disappating and the afternoon was getting long. We'd been stopping at the top of a lot of hills, but as the group stopped at the top of what had to be a 12% grade hill in Nashville, I decided I had to keep going to get the day done with.

I biked alone for the remainder of the day, about 30 miles, in grueling but gorgeous hills. OH-514 will always hold a love-hate relationship with me. I'd feel great cresting one hill only to be crestfallen when I saw the next one looming. It was a day defined by mental willpower. Unfortunately, it claimed a few casualties physically, as 7 people either started or finished the day in the van due to various injuries (a few already existing, of course). However, coasting in Gambier I felt a real sense of joy. I gladly accepted congratulatory hugs from Isabel, Eileen, and Shawn and totally flopped on the grass.

One neat thing about Gambier that I had no clue about: it houses Kenyon College, one of the finest schools in the country and the alma mater of my closest childhood friend, Mike Dash (his sister Becca went there as well). I had no idea until that morning that we'd be staying there. The school is incredibly beautiful and it was a treat to see.

The Gambier to Columbus day was a direct contrast to the day before. It contains what may be my favorite moment of the trip thus far. It was short, incredibly flat, and held a huge treat at the end of the ride (2 treats, actually). Natalie is from Columbus so she mapped out a great ride on some really cool bike paths leading into the city that kept us off busy roads. The bike paths were a lot of fun to ride, as the wound around gorgeous parks and had many friendly users that we passed along the way. I also enjoyed a really neat paceline with Eileen (who taught most of us how to paceline well), Susanna, Trevor, Kristie, and Elizabeth that knocked out about 15 miles like it was nothing early in the day.

Coming into Columbus, home of The Ohio State University, Kyle and I really wanted to see the "Horseshoe," or Ohio Stadium, where OSU plays football games. The Shoe holds upwards of 107,000 people (I believe), one of the 3-4 largest stadiums in the country. Kyle and I vowed to get inside. The large group we rode with came to the stadium around 2 in the afternoon and it seemed closed, but Kyle and I started biking around looking for an entrance just in case. Fortunately, we came across an open door. We popped our heads inside and asked some equipment managers if it was cool to go in. They agreed, and we like a couple of giddy 1st graders, we basically skipped into the stadium. The rest of the group found another way inside as well, so 15 of us got to run around the stadium and jump on the field for about an hour just fooling around. It was so cool to think about playing in front of so many fans just surrounding you. We have some great pictures of the crew lined up in a football formation, tackling Kyle, on the midfield O, and all sorts of other poses. Just a ton of fun. Highlight of the trip so far.

We also got to stay at a really nice athletic club that took care of us (thanks to Natalie's connections, once again). Columbus is a neat town and I enjoyed walking around to a few bars and sampling some of their ice cream (Jenni's... yummy!) Overall, a great stay in Columbus, one of my favorite of the trip.

The next day to Dayton started off a little rough, as I had to ride "sweep," meaning I would have to be the last person on the route the whole day to make sure everyone gets in safe, and it was raining. However, the rain ended early and Shawn and I had some good conversations (Shawn is definitely one of the most interesting individuals on the trip, besides being our best cyclist). I also enjoyed the company of Maso, Lauren, and Caroline, who regaled us with stories about crew and different road games. We got into Dayton kind of late, but it was a good day.

Staying in Dayton has been fun, and Sinclair Coommunity has really rolled out the welcome mat for us. We have had some great food, a productive build day today, and a neat tour of the Wright Brothers airplane and bicycle national park site where they produced the world's first airplane. While they flew it in Kittyhawk, NC for the first time, they did their research in Dayton, something the locals are very proud of. It was a neat experience. 10 of us also played some mega games of basketball tonight since we are staying on a gym floor, so we cleared out the air mattresses and ran up and down the floor for about 2 hours (Chong, Beth, Natalie, Eileen, Kyle, Tino, Lauren, Isabel, and Ashley). I had to take a double shower, but it was well worth it. Plus, I got some free throw shooting in, so my mind is right heading into the next phase of the trip.

Tomorrow we have another state-line day, this time to Indiana. Next week, we have our first off day, and my grandparents are coming down from Wisconsin for dinner. I'm looking forward seeing them! We are also crossing 1,000 miles tomorrow (I think). Thus, it's time to get to bed. Excuse the long post.