Day 26 – Thursday 19th May 2011 – Marysville OH – Wooster OH

It must have been declared Ohio State Lawn Mowing day as every man, women, child and dog were out mowing their lawns. Perhaps the fact that it was the first day it had not rained for a while may also have had something to do with it?

Opening the curtains this morning, it was still dark and the ground was wet. The sky appeared heavily overcast. A basic breakfast was taken at the hotel at 6am. This had cereal, eggs, bacon, biscuits & gravy, large muffins, hot cinnamon buns, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate, toast, French toast and waffles etc.

We left the hotel just after 7am under a heavy gray sky with rain looking possible. It was a mild 13°C with little wind. Setting out on course, the conditions gradually improved and the road was even dry in places. The bike decided to squeak in a few places in protest at having being ridden in the wet for the last few days.

After a few miles, we caught up to a group of other riders who joined us through various twists and turns. One rider shot off down a hill the wrong way but turned up again by the first sag. In the remaining bunch, Patrick decided to engage in some excessive tootling and raced past one turn while I casually turned the correct way at the back of the bunch. After that effort, the bunch relaxed and we rolled on.

The first sag was at around 31 miles outside a church from the town of Peru. A police car that had been following us all day also pulled in. The officer was actually joining the ride at that point so a few riders took the opportunity to be photographed in the car.

A few miles after sag, Patrick saw a church sign that said, “Want to hear from God? He still answers knee mail!”

Further on, we were supposed to cross some railroad tracks but did not. Accordingly, we stopped to study the route and the map. While doing this, a householder came out so we asked her which road we were on and we were on the correct road so continued riding.

We had been told that prior to lunch there were some good climbs on route 603. At 68 miles we turned onto this road and yes, it climbed steeply with 15% gradients reported in places. Most of the climbing was short but there were several in a row before a good, straight descent. The big chain ring was used for the first time in several days. From there, it was only a few more miles to lunch at 75 miles at the Charles River Park which has a dam.

The route for the day was tree lined in places with the whole area green and wet. The road surfaces varied from good to some that were extremely rough. The sun even appeared in places and the temperature peaked at 24°C.

Leaving lunch around midday, we had less than 30 miles to ride to Wooster. There were again plenty of turns but we stayed  on course until Patrick commented that we were lucky to get through due to all the water lying around, some of which had clearly been well over the roads we were on very recently. We then went to turn into road CR1950 to see big “Road Closed” signs across the road and water at least knee deep over the road for several hundred metres. As such, we stopped and were about to call the ABB staff when one turned up in the van. He used his GPS and plotted an alternative route and painted arrows on the road so we rode on.

After a few more turns, we were on Heyl Road which we were told we would call Hell Road. Initially, it was downhill but then the inevitable short, steep pinches appeared. Once was very steep and crossed another road at a stop sign which was interesting. The 25 tooth chain ring was again used.

Arriving at the hotel at 1:47pm, we had covered 167.0km in 5hrs 56m on the road at an average speed of 28.1km/h. The stated vertical climbing was 3,657ft (1,115m – about four Te Mata Peaks) with some steep gradients.

Checking in, the hotel was organised and must have been aware of our previous key problems as they gave us not one, not two, not three but four room keys – a little excessive and abnormal. The WiFi connection was very poor which caused frustration.

Rap for tomorrow was at 4:45pm. The weather is expected to be similar today except with a head wind. Breakfast is from 6am with luggage load at 7:30am as it is only a scheduled 98 mile day. A wife of one of the riders brought a basket of cookies which the cyclists devoured.

For dinner, we walked up town to a restaurant called Henry’s Station for chicken cordon bleu. After eating multiple lots of free bread and refills of drinks, we had no room for cake.

Numbers for the day:

Departure time: 7:01am
Distance:  103.8 miles (167.0km)
Riding time: 5hrs 56m
Average speed: 17.5 mph (28.1km/h)
Maximum speed: 41.6 mph (66.9km/h)
Vertical climbing: 3,657ft (1,115m)
Temperature range: 13-24°C
Arrival time: 1:47pm
Weekly (Monday – Sunday mileage) to date: 442 miles (713km)
Total kilometres ridden to date / approximate kilometres to go: 4,303km / 1,287km
Rolling last seven days total kilometres ridden including today: 1,008km