Day 44 -- Rest Day in Erie, PA

Miles: 33.30
Total Miles: 3319.95
Time: 3:06
Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Max Speed: 28.2 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 14
Elevation Gain: 864 ft
Weather: Wind from all directions around 80 degrees
What do 2 crazy bicyclists do on their day off after 4 centuries in a row?... they ride 33 miles. Believe it or not, I had to convince Wade to go, but both of us rode our bike on our day off. We woke up at 8:00, went downstairs and ate continental breakfast, then went back up to our room and watched TV. After about an hour of debating whether we should go or not, we decided to ride our bikes to the state park. We got our bike clothes on, put sunscreen on, got our bikes ready, then we got all the way downstairs and realized it was raining. Our curtain was closed up in our room so we didn't see that it was raining, so when we got downstairs and realized it was raining, we laughed at how stupid we were not to look outside before we got ready. We went back upstairs and waited for the rain to stop and the streets to dry a little bit. Once we decided that it was dry enough, we went back downstairs and started our bike ride on our day off.

It was 8 miles to the state park, which is an island on Lake Erie. The 8 miles to the island were almost all downhill, which meant one thing... the ride back would be all uphill. When we got onto the island, we rode on a nice bike path through trees with brief views of the bay between the island and the main land. Once we got about 5 miles onto the island, we came up to a large monument. It was called Perry Monument, which rang a bell. It didn't take us long to remember that there was a Perry Monument at Put-in-Bay Island where we've visited before. We took a picture by the monument, then we turned around and took a picture of the bay with downtown Erie in the background. After we finished with pictures there, we continued our ride around the island. When we were about 3 miles further around the island, the actual Lake Erie came into view. There were a couple of beaches that we stopped at and took pictures at. Since were at a beach and the front wheel dipping in the Atlantic Ocean is coming up soon, I decided to practice... I'm going to be really good at that wheel dipping thing when the actual ceremony takes place.

After some pictures at some beaches, and a picture by a lighthouse on a pier, we finished up our ride around the island. When we got off of the island and climbed some hills back toward the hotel, we stopped for some food at a deli. The sandwiches were huge and we both barely finished our food. It was great because at 4:00 it filled us up for the rest of the night... it even made Wade say that he was full. After we finished our lunch/dinner, we rode the rest of the way to the hotel, took a shower, and finally started to rest.