Hello everyone,

Today’s ride was our last official century (ride of over 100 miles) but it definitely won’t be the most difficult of the remaining riding days. We left Richmond Indiana and within 3 miles crossed into Ohio. The day was already humid and showed hints of the heat to come even though it was before 8 o’clock. It was to be a busy day in that our Cue sheets had quite a bit of turns so that one could’t relax or you might miss a turn. In fact Lou, Howard and I saw a couple of riders go the wrong way and we yelled to no avail. Luckily, the van was nearby and we sent them to get them back on track.

We saw quite a few of the Amish folks today riding their carriages down the road or in their years. Most of them gave us a friendly wave and I heard that a couple conceited to a photo when asked. The farm land and frame here are quite picturesque and no could easily spend the day taking photos of barns, homes, streams and fields. From the beginning though we had something of a headwind and it got tougher throughout the day. I rode all day with Lou and Howard and the pace was tough. It was hard to keep up with them on the climbs and I had to play catch up often.

Our first SAG was in the police station in Covington Ohio at mile 42. The officer let us use the facilities and answered quite a few of Howard’s questions about his side arms, other equipment and the protocol  of arresting someone. he said that he likes the small town and his job and for themes part doesn’t have to deal with big city issues. You may recall that Howard is a retired police officer from London and all the officers spend some time in the city and are rotated into the suburbs for a spell.

From the first SAG to the second SAG seemed a lot more difficult to mile 78.The wind was more brisk and usually in our face, the temperature was riding and the hills seemed steeper. At the second SAG, we had tuna fish sandwiches and other goodies. Earlier in the day I had lost my small handle bar mirror and at the second SAG, I lost my pump. Richard (the Welsh chap who broke his collarbone in Champaign), retrieved it for me and gave it to me at dinner. Somehow I managed to lose my rear flasher twice yesterday and both times another rider picked it up as they passed it. So I lost 4 things and 3 have been retrieved – not a bad ratio but I need to stop losing stuff.

From the second SAG it was pretty much a slog to the finish. As you get closer, the end acts as a magnet so the wind and heat don;’t seem to matter as much. At the Hampton Inn, several folks had friends show up and I lounged in front to wait as some of the other riders got in.

It was a long and satisfying day but tomorrow is a bigger challenge with many climbs of torture and 97 miles of beautiful landscape. The following two days also are high mileage before the rest day in erie. So we almost ride 400 miles in 4 days and the rides are challenging so we take it one day at a time.

Hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer. I just want to remind folks that i am riding again for the wounded Warrior Project and a link for donations can be found on my site.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck