Hello everyone,

I had mentioned that I was feeling petty bad the day before and was facing our fourth 90 miles day in a row. That morning, my legs were tight and I definitely felt like I had a cold alert a small one. There was a small climb about 1 mile into the ride and I had a real hard time keeping up with the group. Legs hurt bad and had some congestion but just thought that I’d gut it out and see how it goes; if I felt worse I’d get in the van though I thought that the legs would loosen up andI could make it through the day. It was also threatening rain so had the rain jacket and brought some extra cloths in case I might need them.

As we rodeo, I did start to feel better and was riding with Howard and Lou at a good clip. It helped that most of the early going was flat and hardly any traffic. Most of the country roads were of good quality as well. Our first SGA was at a restaurant at mile 34. By that time I was feeling okay and didn’t think I’d have an issue finishing it. I always lied this day as the scenery is quite pretty.

After the first Sag, i was riding with a lot more confidence. Just before the second SAG, we have some climbs and descents that are quite fun. Coming into the town of Conneaut, Howard spied a forestation with a new fire engine and went over to investigate, he rides with firefighters in London and wanted to send them a picture. We get to chatting with the fire chief and he invites the three offs into the fire station for a tour. Turns out that this is the oldest operating station in Ohio and was initially built in 1876. The inside was a veritable museum with a lot of old equipment. The Chief explained how their old fire box system used to work. When the alarm box was activated, it rang an alarm in the fire station and printed out a diet code on the location of the device. The print out was on what looks like Morse code tape. They also had a very nice tribute to Veterans in front of the station. Turns out that the chief and Howard are both veterans and had a good chat on that as well.

The second Sag was at a root beet stand that has been in operation since 1952. We had root beer floats and almost all the riders were there since we had spent so much time at the fire station. It was great fun and good food. Shortly thereafter, we crossed the Pennsylvania state line with the ritual dusting.  Theresa of the ride into Erie was scenic and better than prior years since some of the roads were repaired that were “iffy” in the past. Lou took an alternate route to sire see and Howard and I rolled into Erie and a very welcome rest day.

We went pub hoping foreigner and I felt the affects the next morning. Lots of good laughs. I think someone called Howard Mr. Consistency and I was Mr. Inconsistency since I tend to ride fast some days and slow on other days. Sometimes I just like to slow down but even on a given day, I may hammer for a while and then slow down and then hammer some more. Maybe it is a sugar high from all the sweets.

Tomorrow begins outlast week of riding. Yes, it is bitter sweet. Richard is getting better and hopefully may be able to ride a day or two. He is starting to moves arm . Tracy will return tomorrow and we will all be happy to see her back on the team. Just from knowing her, I know how hard it must be  for her to not be here. She is a doer and doesn’t like folks to help her. If you have a flat or a mechanical problem ands is around, she will fix it. An amazing lady and great business owner.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck