Day 2 ended miserably and Day 3 ended with with me drinking a lot. So the recap for them is being written the morning of Day 4.
Day 2 started not too badly, I had found a bike shop about 25 miles away that was open to repair Plonker’s spoke, and it wasn’t drastically off route. In fact there was a bike trail that left from the place and connected to the rest of the trail we were headed. Of course, first we had to get there.
Things were going ok until about Louisville, Ohio when it started raining. I wasn’t a pounding rain, but we were quite wet. It continued on for the most part through Canton. I changed a GoPro battery in Canton and got one drop of water on the camera and had fogging issues in the housing the rest of the time I was able to use the GoPro (more on that later).
We made it to the bike shop, which was a pretty nice set up at the trail head. They had a deli and various other facilities that we didn’t use. It had stopped raining while we were there, so that was nice. They were able to do an emergency repair on Plonker’s spoke, adjusted the brakes (that I had to open up to make clearance for the rim being untrue), and of course truing up the rim. All for an amazingly low price. They also gave me a screw for the my cargo rack that had fallen out, causing my rack to lean to one side.
We leave there and I immediately get a flat tire. At the top of the trail. Almost wiped out. I’m not sure if I ran over something and it went flat while we were waiting for Plonker’s bike or if some of the kids hanging around screwed with it while we were eating. The tubing seemingly held air when I tried it while changing it, but I didn’t want to risk it and changed it anyway. Plonker was ahead of me, and didn’t get the message about my flat until he was a half mile ahead, then had to back track. To top it of from the moment I got the flat until the moment I finished replacing the tube it rained fairly hard. It continued to sprinkle for a while after that.
We followed the trail a while and got back to the main trail we were headed for, and while crossing a wooden bridge my bike lost all traction and I wiped out. Hard. On my right side. I have a huge bruise there now and a lot of swelling. It hurts to lay on it, but doesn’t affect pedaling. Shortly after that I saw my GoPro mount cracked and I had to remove it. So months from now when I actually finish the time lapse videos of this trip Day 2 will be a fail.
This was all by mile 30 of a 62 mile day. We had to get into Millersburg by 8 as that’s when the Subway closed and it was basically the only food near the hotel within walking distance. We were initially making pretty decent time, but after being held up at the bike shop, hitting some slow running gravel/sand trail, and large hills in Amish Country, we were cutting it pretty close. I was well ahead of Plonker on the trail in the last few miles and thought I would be able to catch Subway before closing so they could wait for Plonker. Unfortunately I went too far on the trail and didn’t get off until I was a little too far south, and had to back track to the Subway and hotel. Luckily Plonker made it to Subway at 7:52 and I walked in as they were making his sandwiches. We were never so happy to Eat Fresh.
The hotel was nice. Generally have a nice stay at Comfort Inns. The vending machine on out floor was broken, and I was dying of thirst. The one on the first floor worked, but none took credit cards. The girl at the desk couldn’t run my card and give me cash, so I had to walk over to the gas station, which was quite painful after the fall.
Overall Day 2 was longer than Day 1, in time and length, but was more miserable with all the mishaps, hills, and especially rain.
Day 3 consisted mainly of trail riding. there were some areas that had some hills, but they weren’t that horrible. The weather was also on our side as it turned out to be a beautiful day. There was a detour heading into Mount Vernon, but it wasn’t too bad to get around. Our original destination was a Comfort Inn, but they had no vacancies. From my understanding the local college had booked all the rooms for students. We had to stay in the Super 8.
I’ve only stayed in a Super 8 once before, and don’t remember it being too bad. This one is pretty dated. It kind of smells, my shower has been running all night (it was dripping when I arrived but after I showered it turned into a constant trickle). And it’s cramped, there’s barely room to navigate the bike, and the chair that I’m sitting at it angled to miss the mini fridge.
The highlight was the Buffalo Wild Wings across the street, where we stayed until closing, eating, drinking, and listening to Chumbawamba 25 times.
Today we’re headed to Columbus, it’s about 53 miles, with a good portion of it trail, and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.
