Out of the Endless Mountains, into Lake Erie and out into the flat midwestern expanse

The great thing about entering the mountains in Pennsylvania is getting out of them, down a long, winding slope through the Allegheny Forest that lets you open up and really fly. Thursday, we did a paceline for a couple of miles to varied success, but a lot of people are faster than others, a lot more faster. I had a good run until I got a flat going up a hill. It may or may not have been a flat, but just me being delirious and thinking the flex of my tire sidewalls spelling doom for my front wheel. At our lunch stop in Union City, PA the lady at the deli I visited gave Keith and me lunch for free, saying she appreciated what we were doing. The kindness of everyone we meet is just astounding and that was just that day.

I got lost getting into our destination in Edinboro, PA - the expanse of a backyard of a landscaping company. It had a swimming hole, a fire-pit for s'mores, and a full workshop. It was also our first night of what I would consider "roughing it," hearing the symphony of crickets and bullfrogs and sitting around a camp fire, despite the food and indoor showers. I slept a lot and got a hard time for it.

Friday I had one flat going up a hill on my already torn rear wheel, but with a new tear. That being repaired for the short run, I put on an emergency boot at the water stop only to have my front tube blow out going up another hill, and as I was repairing that, my rear repair died. So I threw in the towel and rode shotgun in the support vehicle. It was unpleasant not having a good cycling day, and I realize I hadn't a good, emergency-less day since we began. I saw Lake Erie for the first time and all of its charming seaside houses and post-industrial rust-belt archaeology. The most enduring image is of the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant visible from an otherwise scenic lakeside park near our stop in Perry, Ohio. I went with a few of my teammates, and we climbed down to the barriers to a secluded, pebbly beach. They went in, and my years of being told how filthy Lake Erie caused me to recoil in horror. So I also went in after them. I figure it has the same choliform and chemical run-off levels as Lake Michigan, so how bad could it have been?

Saturday we biked through more seaside villages before coming upon a scary part of East Cleveland that turned into nice wooded, fenced-in, and univiting houses along the shore, which then turned into a lakeside bike path. I saw the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the beautiful urban park that dare I say rivals both Central and Grant Parks. We ran into a bunch of cyclists from Case Western U. who were supporting an alum who would be biking into the city that day after having biked from San Francisco to attend his fiftieth class reunion. I thought that was cool. In all, Cleveland was a nice, little city that's nothing like the place where the river once burned due to the high amount of inflammable solvents floating in it.

Coming out the other end of the city, I joined up with the "A" group who had gotten lost. Then the paceline proceeded. Needless to say, we averaged about 21 mph for nearly an hour and pulling the line was not easy, nor was following in it. Still, the intensty and the heat got my legs churning and it felt great. I question the value of arriving at our destination before the van or before our host even knows about our arrival. In Vermillion, OH I took a nap on the lawn of the church we were staying at before sprawling out inside. The pastor made us pork chops, which were delicious, and even more delicious with a pad of butter melted on top. My eating habits for sure have had their standards decreased. I've been reading nutrition labels to see what has the most calories and figuring out the most calories per dollar. Our ride leader said he got through RAGBRAI on 1200 calorie per dollar's worth of fudge brownies, so that's something to try. The pastor bought the ladies on our team their own hotel room, so we had to shuttle around the car for people to do laundry or to take a dip in their pool. It was needlessly complicated, but in the end, there were clean clothes in it.

Sunday the pastor gave us an inspired devotional that everyone took to heart. It got our spirits up and was another reminder of what we're doing on this ride, something we believe as worthwhile. In that spirit, we stuck together until it began raining. And oh, did it come down, it was torrential. We stayed out of the nastiest, electricalest bits and otherwise toughed it out in our rain jackets. I was more soaked from the sweat from my non-breathable rain poncho than the rain itself, but I kept myself moving and more importantly, warm. Riding away from Lake Erie flattened out the terrain, so it's like we're back in the cornfields of Chambana rather than climbing some ridiculously unfamiliar mountain. This also means we ride a lot faster and I ended up high-tailing it through more rain the last stretch before Grand Rapids, OH. We were fed by the Lutheran Church here and I couldn't move after eating, I felt so good. I talked to my family which was nice because I hadn't spoken to a human on the phone for a few days and because I miss them a bunch, so if you're reading this, that means you.

Pictures to come. Internet is slow when it floats through the wireless ether.