Friday, June 4rth; and Saturday,June 5th
Well, despite a few bumps we finally made it into Cleveland, and our first day off. Day 6 started off great, with a wonderful breakfast in Youngstown. The whole team made it to the first water stop in about an hour, a record time. And we were all riding along enjoying the beautiful Ohio countryside, the cool weather, and the fact that the road was flat as far as we could see. This was a welcome change from the Appalachians and Pennsylvania. Then as we left the second water stop, my riding group got our second flat of the day. We pulled over, changed it, and kept enjoying the flatness of Ohio. We got a third a couple miles later, but still thought nothing of it. Then suddenly, we went down a hill, and Kevin and Kieran both yell out simultaneously to stop. As we pulled over, we realized that Kevin had gotten his second flat of the day, and Kieran had somehow managed to pop both his tires at once, a difficult feat, to say the least. And as we’re sitting by the road, changing their tires, we realize that we no longer have any spare tubes without holes in them. So we bring out the patch kit, and are sitting there patching and changing tires. Meanwhile, we see every single other riding group, all twenty other riders for the day, ride past us to get first crack at lunch. At this point, the day had passed the point of annoyance, and just turned to comedy. We started joking about attempting to set the 4K record for most tires popped in a day. Finally, after about half an hour of tire patches and changes, we get back on the road and follow Jose and his rubber ducky socks to lunch. The rest of the afternoon went fine, although both Kevin and Kieran each managed to get an additional flat tire. And all the groups still managed to get to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in record time, where we settled into private rooms in the Phi Delta Theta house, preparing for our day off.
Everyone enjoyed the welcome break from our 5:30 am wakeups to Natalie’s iPod, and got out to explore the city. I was able to visit with a friend from Hopkins who is a Cleveland native, and got to see parts of the city that I would never have experienced otherwise. And the team was able to make those much needed trips to Target and the bike shops, buying supplies and bike gear we hadn’t realized we’d needed. A group made a trip to Lucky’s Diner for lunch, featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, where they enjoyed the Reuben, supposedly made with homemade bread and real corned beef. And now I think I’m the only one still awake, it’s almost ten thirty and we are waking up at five am tomorrow so we can get our sixty miles done early and head to Cedar Point Amusement Park for the biggest roller coasters in the United States. Spirits are still high, and people’s legs are slowly getting less sore. It amazes me that a sixty mile ride is now a short day, barely a week into the trip. Hopefully that will prepare us for our first century coming up in a few days. Well goodbye Cleveland, the rest of Ohio, and rumors of a scavenger hunt, await.
-Dan Crankshaw
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