Day 41 -- Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH

Miles: 103.05
Total Miles: 3082.79
Time: 6:13
Average Speed: 16.6 mph
Max Speed: 40.7 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 14
Elevation Gain: 3728 ft
Weather: Low tail wind around 90 degrees and humid
Today is up there with some of the toughest days of the trip. It was our second century in a row, and it had steep rolling hills for a lot of the ride. We didn't have to rush for any reason today, so we just took it easy for most of the day. We woke up at 5:30, ate breakfast at 6:00, then loaded at 7:00. We got out in the second wave of people because they sent some people out early, so we were toward the back of the pack. We got in a nice pace line that was moving at a relatively moderate speed and cruised with them for the first 35 miles to the sag stop. There wasn't much to see for those first 35 miles because it looked just like it does around Sidney. We stayed longer at the sag stop than anyone else, so once again, we were close to the back. We rode with 74 year old Larry and did some catching up with other people. No one seemed to jump on our tail and get into our pace line until we passed Adella. She got on behind us and rode with us for about 20 miles. It was perfect because when we were riding with Adella, we went through Fredericktown, and Frederick is her last name, so we took a picture of her by the sign.

After a few pictures, we moved on past Fredericktown and made our way to the second sag stop. That stretch of road was probably had the steepest and longest hills of the day, but usually we could get enough momentum from the downhills right before it to get up the hill. Also on that stretch, we went through a nice valley along a creek, and the crops were growing right up next to the road. Who needs side ditches anyways. That reminds me of Jeff Puthoff... maybe the people who farm those beans are trouble makers too. Just like when Bob Geuy puts in the side ditches, then Puthoff plows and plants right though them. The property line is the edge of the pavement according to farmers, but these farmers left 2 feet... that's 2 feet more than Puthoff. We took a picture of some of the beans that were close to the road, but just before that picture, the beans were right up next to the road. Anyway, we rode the 40 miles between the sag stops fairly quickly and stayed awhile at the second sag stop. By the way, we've had many people ask us, so I'm sure more people want to know that sag stands for "support and gear."

After the second sag stop, we rode with Judy, one of the staff members, the rest of the way to the hotel. It was just more rolling hills all the way to the hotel. Just before the hotel, we went to a small ice cream parlor and had a large ice cream cone... Wade only had a medium because he's a wimp. Anyway, we ate our ice cream then went to the hotel, swam, and took a shower. When we got done with our shower, my college buddy, Brian Leggett, called me up and said he wanted to take us out to dinner. We accepted his generous invitation and went to a really good pizza place with Brian, his wife Kim, his daughters Mackenzie and Cortney, and their friends. We aren't good enough with names to remember their friends names and we're not good enough with spelling to know if we spelled their names right, but we had a great time. They even brought cherries along for Wade. Thank you to the Leggetts and their friends for a good time and good pizza. Also, last night, Lew and Judy Blackford came and visited me, which was very nice of them to do. Joan and I talked to them for awhile yesterday and we really enjoyed seeing them since it was a bit of a surprise. Then, an even bigger surprise last night was a visit from Chris McDonagh. He got off work from the Honda plant in Marysville and came over to visit us for a little bit. It was quite a surprise and it was nice to see such a young, good looking guy after all these days with older riders... never mind, I take back the young and good looking part. Anyway, we sincerely appreciate those people coming out to visit us.