Hello Everyone,

It will be another long riding day of almost 90 miles which will bring our four day total to almost 390 miles. Overnight in Niles, we had storms and the sky was threatening when I peeped out early in the morning. I opted to not bring a rain jacket as it was warm and I figured if it rained, it seemed warm enough and was supposed to approach the high 80’s.  As we left Niles, we had a few climbs but the day was supposed to be mainly flat. My legs complained when i climbed and I kept finding myself needing to ride faster in flats to catch up.

The skies continued to get worse and between mile 15 and 20, it was obvious that it was going to rain. the wind was picking up and the clouds were moving rapidly across the horizon. At one point, Robin told us that there was a shelter about 1 mile after our next turn and it was starting to rain and we could see lightening in the distance. Tom D was waving us into a covered shelter in a little park and then the clouds opened up. We were lucky as these are few and far between. The temperature dropped as well. I and everyone else retrieved a rain jacket off the truck if they did not already have one with them. The staff decided to have the SAG there rather than 10 miles down the road.

All of the riders were at the shelter and I was able to welcome Michele back for the first time since she returned the day before. Their was and his fiancé was there as well. The younger Michael was going to ride a spell with us but instead opted to get in the car with his fiancé. Probably a good move on his part.. The food was especially welcome as we were cold. Starbucks would have been nice but the strawberry shortcake parfait was superb. Well done Carol!

Pretty soon we were alb ego hit the road again and we seemed determined to make up for lost time. I was struggling to keep up with some of the riders and then got separated at a stop. I was able to cash up in town near the Pennsylvania border. By this time the sun was shiny and the last vestiges of rain were evaporating from the riding surface. I didn’t linger long at the second SAG even thigh most riders wanted root beer floats. Big meals, carbonated beverages and ice cream usually don’t sit well with me when we still have almost 30 miles to ride. So i left for Erie alone.

The rest of the ride to Erie was nice and very close to the lake although I couldn’t see it. There was one spell with a big descent and then climb out were the road was in terrible condition. I was descending fats when I hit a big pothole and decided to slow down to a crawl. I didn’t have a problem slowing down when I ascended th either side. It was the only section of road that wasn’t in fairly good shape so I made good progress to Erie.

I remember that I got lost a couple of years ago in Erie and when i asked a lady for directions, she sent me off in exactly the wrong direction into what I would term a “rough looking” part of town. I will never make the mistake of asking for directions again. Having broke the code once, but never twice….

Our hotel in Erie is the Sheraton Bayfront and it is probably the nicest place that we would stay. Another reason to get in quickly was that we were taking my bike to the shop to hopefully rep[air the bottom bracket. The part had arrived so I was good to go. Unfortunately, I was to find out that they were unable to change the bottom bracket but did manage to lube it up for the remaining 500 miles. I hope it holds ….

Stay tuned for more…

 

Tailwinds

Chuck