Day 37: Richmond IN to Marysville OH

Loading the truck in the morning before leaving for Ohio

Many nice farm homes along the route

Well today turned out to be a really fun century. The WX forecast was 80% chance of afternoon rain (they missed by 20%...read on), temps in the low 90s, humidity around 70%, and W-SW winds around 5 - 10.
The day dawned with high humidity and high clouds and winds as forecast which made the first 50 miles very pleasant. We were averaging almost 17 mph and life was good. Shortly after we started we crossed into OH, our 9th state on tour.

 I mentioned yesterday that unfortunately there seemed to be a large number of raccoon road kill in the last few rides so I was at the ready today with my camera. Now you too can experience a real noteworthy sight of our cross country bike tour.  They don't smell to great either.

 I also have been meaning to stop to take a close look at both the wheat and the corn crops. One particular wheat field caught my attention today with the top of the stalks being highlighted by the sun. I parked my bike at the roadside and wandered over to the field and took this photo. I think it turned our really pretty well; and after so many pictures of fields of wheat, you finally get to see it up close and personal. Simple things amuse even the most sophisticated city boys.

I've mentioned that I've been riding closely together many days with Mike K. Mike K's mom Mary lives in southern Michigan and today Mike's wife Diana brought Mary down to our route and they were waiting at our last SAG stop at 78 miles. Mary was established in her chair so as to watch the arrival of each rider. We had a great time meeting her and even later had a chance to chat with her some more later. She was the hit of the SAG stop.

And finally, after departing the SAG with still 27 miles to go, the clouds got more organized and ominous. I kept looking over my left shoulder to see the rain coming.

After hearing the first rumbling of thunder, we really started pushing trying to beat the rain. Four of us were cruising at about 23 mph heading due east. It looked like the storm was going to pass slightly to the north of us, however, at the 94 mile point our route swung sharply to the NE and I knew we were going to get smacked. Amid frequent thunder claps, we finished the last 10 miles in a rather strong downpour. As the roads became more and more awash, we backed our speed down for safety reasons but the damaged was done....we finished up totally soaked. All that said, this century was really fun especially the last 30 miles trying to beat the rain.

Tomorrow the WX is forecast to again be messy and we have a 97 mile ride to Wooster, OH with some serious climbing late in the ride. Probably going to get again. Oh well. That's part of the adventure.

Talk to you later.

By the way, Happy Fathers day to all you dads out there!!

Tom

Click here to see details of today's ride:
Day 37: Richmond IN to Marysville OH by xctom2012 at Garmin Connect - Details