Free food day!

I got started at my usual 8 am. My legs felt sluggish and heavy and the miles were not easy in the morning. Shortly after starting, at a trail head, I met Pete and Walt. They where out for a day ride and we stopped to talk. With out even knowing about my budget, Walt gave me a healthy candy bar. I don’t know what else to call it. I opened and ate it with out reading the wrapper. It was really good. So good actually I wish I knew what kind it was. We talked for a bit and they shared some important info on the trail ahead. Thanks again guys!

About 3 miles later,on a rather bumpy section I found a reeses nutrageous. It was off the path and in the grass a little bit but it did not look opened. I went by it quite a ways at least a couple hundred yards. I wasn’t willing to lose my momentum over someone’s trash. I decided to go back and if nothing else I would at least pick up the wrapper and throw it away. It was unopened! Score!

At 11:15, even though I had only been 15 miles I stopped to cook some lunch at a pavillion in Danville. I thought maybe my legs could use some carbs. A pack of Ramen and chicken was lunch

It turned into a very busy spot. I had just finished eating when one guy sat down at the table with me. Bob was leaving in 4 days to do the G.AP so we talked about that mostly. A married couple from Delaware were out for a 60 mile day ride. Lots of people were stopping to chat. Will showed up around then too. Will and I were the only ones with loaded up touring bikes. He has a real nice Bianchi. By this time I had answered the same 8 questions 15 times and was happy to see Will. I was hoping some of the questions would be directed to him and he could answer for a while. It didn’t work as well as I had hoped. I was content to let people think I was riding to Columbus to Cleavland and back the same as Will. After all that is quite an accomplishment too. But not wanting to steal my thunder, Will would always point out that I was heading across the country. And that would put me back in spot light. It was a fun break.

I left the pavillion with the intention of really getting some mileage in. But I hadn’t been 2 miles before an elderly lady on a mobility scooter stopped me. I really didn’t want to stop but politeness won and I pulled up beside her and answered the typical questions. Where are you from? Where did you start? Where are you going? Where do you sleep? When did you start? When Will you finish? And why would you do this? Those are the standard questions. With agility that confounded me, she leapt off her wheelchair and said I have something just for you. On the back of her scooter was a insulated shopping bag and she pulled out a bouquet of purple flowers she had picked along the trail. My first thought was how am I going to refuse flowers then I thought where can I put those until I’m out of sight of her? Thankfully she only pulled them out to get them out of the way. She proceeded to root in the bag and came out with a grocery bag and said “here,this is for you! I could see a hard boiled egg through the bag. I said Ma’am I cant take your lunch besides I just finished eating 15 minutes ago. What did you have? She asked. I told her I had cooked a pack of Ramen noodles back in Danville. She slapped her thigh laughing and said Ramen noodles for a big guy like you and on a bike! Look how sweaty you are. You need this. So I took it but said I didn’t feel right taking her lunch she said she lived close and it made her happy to feed me. I thanked her profusely and told her i was going to put her in my blog. She was said her name was Jill Stricker from Danville Ohio. About a half mile down the trail I stopped and had a second lunch. She had two roast beef sandwiches and 4 pickled eggs. It was a big lunch for someone so petite.

As I was eating the first sandwich Will caught up. He is a really strong cyclist. A good bit faster then me. I shared half the lunch with him. We each had a sandwich and 2 eggs. I was glad he stopped because I would not of wanted to eat it all and then bike. After that we rode together for probably 8 or 10 miles one section was a 3 mile uphill and talking to someone made it go by a lot quicker. After a break at the top I headed down the other side.

I’m not sure what the elevation gain and loss was but it was a very nice downhill. Probably 3 or 4 miles without pedaling and cruising along between 11 and 15 mph. To me those are the best grades. Steep and fast is fun but its over too quick. At the bottom is the town of Glenmont. Actually I think its just 20 houses and a school. I needed water and I was directed to a watering trough that the Amish use for there buggy horses. The water was actually great, cold and clear. I was able to fill my bottles from the pipe feeding the trough. I did rinse my shirt in the water though and for that I would like to apologize to all the horses in Holmes county Ohio.

On a long straight stretch I saw Will up ahead of me. I tried my best to catch him but was not able to. He is packed a lot lighter than me. Just two rear panniers and a tent on top the rack. Other then just being in better shape then me and haveing less gear the other advantage he has are his tires. On his bike he has Panaracer gravel kings. A really nice supple tire and if I remember correctly 180 threads per inch. Mine are schwalbe marathon plus tour and 60 threads per inch. The more threads per inch the softer the tire and less rolling resistance. The trade off is also less puncture resistance. Im digressing… Sorry for getting a technical about tires.

I caught up to him at a gas station on the edge of Killbuck I think. We then rode together to Millersburg. Along the way on a bench I found strawberry shortcake mini muffins. They were completely smashed. I ate them with a spoon for desert tonight and they were delicious.