Take this job and shove it, I ain’t working here no more”  -Johnny Paycheck

Hello everyone,

This is a day that I remember vividly from 2 years ago. About 70 miles into the ride, we begin a series of VERY steep climbs at what is the hottest time of day that covers about 10 miles. It was 95 degrees and I recall the agonizing, painful and slow pace of those miles. I was resolved to feel better about it this year.

Overall, this was a day that evoked quite a few memories from the ride 2 years ago and I will relate a few at the appropriate junctures. For the most part, this was  a beautiful ride today – small towns, inviting creeks and lakes, forest, farms and barefoot Amish children waving to us with unabashed ear-to-ear grins. The day also had a lot of climbing and a few of the roads were bumpy, but we did have good winds for most of the day.

The first SAG was at mile 35 and I pulled in, I flashed back to 2 years ago. Tracy put a FOR SALE sign on Mike F’s bike  and it was one of those gregarious stops were we all goofed off. This year was a little more serious and we all loved Carol’s yogurt and fruit concoction. We had our fill of snacks and the whatnot and sped off in search of adventure.

Most of the ride was enjoyable and the scenery was something to behold. I knew what waited for us, however, as we pulled into SAG 2. By now the temperature was warming quite a bit. Barry, Richard and I left the SAG and we immediately began the series of steep climbs. I watched my speed decline to single digits and a couple of time to less than 5 mph. However, as they say, what goes up must come down and i recorded some every fast speeds on the descents. I tried to really push coming down the hills so that my momentum would carry me part of the way up the other side.

I recall 2 years ago, Roberta remarking that the ants on the road were traveling faster than we were. I recall one extraordinarily bad climb are I thought to myself, “If I make it to the top, I am going to lay down under that big tree in the shade”. I didn’t, but the memory was vivid. It wasn’t quite as hot as 2 years ago and that helped plus slight tailwind. Overall, I think I felt better this time than I did before and there was plenty off things to distract me on the ride. At this point, we did see a lot of Amish carriages and folks working.

After the 10 miles of agony, we tend to have a lot more downhills and the ride into Wooster was an enjoyable end to a long day. I felt not the worse for wear, but my crank did start to make some noises again. Not as bad as before, but not silent. Big Shark Bicycle is overnighting a new bottom bracket and special tool to Eire so that the bike shop there can fix it. I want to thank all the staff there for their extraordinary dedication to service. They have alway been responsive and Mike W runs a very nice operation.

Today was Richard H ( the physician from the UK) first official day of retirement. The staff planned a special ceremony for him and enlisted me to help sing the Johnny Paycheck song “Take this job and shove it”. For some odd reason, someone got the idea that i could sing and am a little crazy. One out of 2 isn’t bad. I rout rap Tom D and I with some chorus accompaniment sang to Richard with appropriately timed arm features. Everyone seemed to enjoy me making a fool of myself and Richard gave a very nice speech afterwards. At dinner several folks offered to but me drinks if I promised to not sing any more. Richard advised that should not consider a second career.

Tailwinds

Chuck