Day 29 – July 15th

Waking up way too early, according to me not Friedman, I glanced at the clock and saw it was time to start prepping for today’s ride. Pushing myself out of bed, I glanced down and couldn’t help but give a slight chuckle when a looked at my hand. I realized I was at the point in my ride where I could count the days remaining on a single hand; wow, crazy realization to wake up to! Who would have thought it’d be here already? Five days to go and then I would be standing on those sandy shores gazing into that ocean and inwardly smiling with the knowledge that I had made it. But, there are those five days of pedaling, so I had better focus on today and deal with Saturday when it gets here.

Rolling out onto the cycling paradise that the roads of New York are turning out to be, Gary and I set to work early and were off and flying. Rolling over the terrain, I couldn’t help the constant glances I cast over my shoulder to the gargantuan body of water Lake Erie is. Every time I topped a small rise, or came through a clearing of trees, the silent watcher was within view and I couldn’t resist another quick peak. I was definitely enjoying my time in the Great Lakes presence.

Stopping for a quick bite about 30 miles in, we saw Larry talking to another cyclist; the same cyclist he’d run across the day before. Gill (pronounced Jill, but short for Gillian. Great name by the way), is a Scottish cyclist currently biking across America to raise awareness of arthritis; a disease that has been a plight to her mother. After stopping at Larry’s cycling shop for a refuel, we got back on the road and soon found ourselves pedaling along side Gill. She was a great conversationalist; as eager for human conversation as I was. I learned that she is not only a cycling nut, but a librarian; how cool! She works for Scotland’s equivalent of the Library of Congress; sounds like a career that I would enjoy. We lunched with Gill, and then went our separate ways. She was a strong cyclist, a very bright individual, and I am sure will have no problems making her final destination in Maine within the next two weeks. Best of luck Gill!!

The day was starting to get late, after taking a long lunch and spending some quality time chatting with Gill on the bikes, so with nearly 80 miles to go after our break at Applebee’s we started to knock it up a notch. But the speeds were not to remain consistent, as we encountered multiple hills on our route today. I have noticed over the last several days that we have definitely left the plains behind and wheeled into the hill country again. No worries. Hills are much preferable to mountains!

Gary and I made good speed over the remaining miles, and with about 20 miles to go Friedman put in a Superman pull. With a nice breeze to our benefit, he knocked it up to 26 mph and more; it was great. Not to be outdone, I took over after he put in a long pull and did a fair share of pulling as well. It was a trip to push the bike in excess of 30 mph and to be able to switch off the lead like that. After that, we rolled through a few miles, as then entered some small towns, with about 5 miles to go I hit another climb and I figured with the legs still feeling fresh I mine as well burn em up. So I let the Goat loose and we climbed the hill as fast as I could push her and then kept the pace going till Lima. The legs were screaming at a few points, trying to remind me that there were still 4 more days to go, but after passing a sign stating Lima had been established in 1788, I figured if it could last since damn near the signing of our Constitution I certainly could hold the pace another couple miles.

The ride wrapped up at the American hotel, a 150 year old antique of a hotel that has more history than some countries. I also loved the fact that the hotel had a bar with some local micro brews on tap; it was calling my name as soon as I dismounted. It was another great reward to a great ride. Cheers!