XC Day 5 - Rossford OH to Oberlin OH
Today we rode 86 miles from Rossford to Oberlin. While the clouds threatened in the afternoon, we managed to avoid rain.
The day started off beautifully with cool temperatures and sunny skies. Here are a couple of men fishing in a river we biked over.
We spent much of the day biking on the North Coast Inland Trail. Here is a photo of the trail running through corn fields.
Periodically, we would pop out onto roads. I loved the contrasting colors of the sky, trees, barn and field.
I spent the last 65 miles today just biking with Jesse. Here is a photo he took of me on the bike path.
We pass through a number of towns each day. This house was quite different than the others we saw, so Jesse and I each took a photo.
Our route today passed by the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum. Jesse and Ruth have nicknamed me the Kengine. I am generally a strong rider on the long flats, so I will often lead or “pull” a string of riders behind me. So, it seemed fitting to take this photo.
Here is Jesse on the bike path. Today, the Kengine was more of a Kenboose. My legs decided to protest after lunch. With the way the summer has gone, I have not ridden hard multiple days in a row. Yesterday was very challenging, but I felty strong. However, today the legs were not there. I told Jesse to mark today in his diary since he had to pull me in to the finish on the flats. Over the years, Jesse has always been a better climber than me but I have been stronger on the flats. However, with all of his training and all of the miles since Oregon, he is much better shape than me.
Today was the last truly flat day of the trip. Beginning tomorrow, we will start riding hills which will continue through to Maine. This means that I will almost certainly struggle more and more as the days go by, both because of the accumulated stress on my legs, but also because of increased climbing on the rides. When you are riding with a group and you can’t keep up, it is called being dropped. I half joked yesterday that I know I will be in trouble on the hills, because I am almost getting dropped climbing the overpasses.
To finish off, here is a picture of me eating a chocolate toffee cookie from a local bakery at the end of todays ride.
Hopefully after a good night’s sleep, my legs will bounce back tomorrow. If not, I will simply go slower. Red, one of our fellow riders, turned 60 yesterday. He commented to the group that the word that came to mind when he looked around the room was grit. He said that no one gets through a trip like this without lots of grit, because at times, it is simply very hard. I have only done but a fraction of the riding that they have on this trip, but from my 2019 cross country trip, I know this to be true. I am sure that it will be true for me on this trip since I am not as fit as I would like for the challenge this type of riding presents.