July 12, Day 42

July 12, Day 42
Wooster to Youngstown, OH
Mileage: 95.1
Weather: Warm and windy

Dear All,

Over 95 miles today on top of 2 centuries over the last two days made this a somewhat difficult day. The weather was lovely with the wind coming from the south most of the day which didn't help but also didn't hurt.

By the way, we have now climbed over 101,000 feet during the course of this ride. That's more than three times up Mount Everest (from sea level). There are times our legs feel every foot.

John has concluded that yesterday's hill climbing resulted from OH borrowing the hills of MO and then increasing their steepness. It is his view that OH should return the hills to MO so that they all stay together.

The beginning of our ride today had some pretty good hills but as the day progressed, they slackened in their difficulty making the second half of the ride easier than the first. OH continues to impress us with its perfect small farms and lovely homes maintained impeccably. We rolled into several small towns one of which had a scheduled parade of some sort since there were lawn chairs neatly placed along the curb for several blocks. Like the farms and homes, the lawn chairs were in perfect rows.

Again today we had to go around a road closed sign. It turns out that some of the later riders were stopped by the local police and told that under no circumstances could they use the closed road. As a result, they had to ride the detour route. Sometimes one is just lucky and other times not quite so.

With the day almost done, Amy used her incredible sense of smell and located an ice cream parlor within a mile of the end of the ride. She seems to have developed this capacity to spot ice cream stands at just the right moment. This particular stand was particularly unique in that it sold dozens of sugar free flavors. It was a welcome respite.

As we rolled into the motel, awaiting our arrival were Amy's father, Bob, and her step-mom, Thelma. Bob and Thelma are on route to Chautauqua and stopped in Youngstown for the night to visit with us. They came to route rap and, like John's sister, Ellen, the night before, were introduced to many of the riders. They both look wonderful and it was great seeing them. We had a delightful dinner with just the 4 of us.

Tomorrow is one more hard day of over 90 miles. As we said in an earlier blog, these last 4 days of 2 centuries and 2 almost centuries are making the legs tired.

There is talk of rain tomorrow, but it is our hope that as a result of your prayers to the weather gods, any such rain will be light and of no consequence.

Thanks for reading. We welcome your comments. Above all, keep sending the good vibes.

Amy and John