I felt a lot better today. I got more sleep and my legs were rolling ...
The mileage today was essentially the same as yesterday -- 105.7. We left at 6:35 and arrived around 1pm -- 6:25 elapsed time; rolling time 5:59. There were two SAG stops, which is typical for a day like today.
The motel had a veggie dip and a selection of cheeses out for us. It was setup in the room where they serve continental breakfast, so, being a bold type, I asked if they had milk available -- sure enough, and several of us had cereal with milk. That was the good part.
This motel is probably at the bottom of the barrel. We have stayed in a couple of Super 8 motels but this hits new lows. The room smells musty -- it is damp out after all -- and it is in rough shape. Oh well, I'm only here one night and I'll survive.
There was a little play in my crankset last night that I noticed when I was giving the bike a cleaning so Shane tightened it up. I did not notice until getting back to the room (and after the mechanics van was closed for the day) that there was a fair amount of resistance when I backpedaled the cranks to oil the chain. I met Shane after breakfast and he loosened it up until I was satisfied ... I did not need that extra work !!
Today's route entered Ohio within a few miles of Richmond. It was county roads and secondary roads (eg. gravel pit road) -- going through New Madison, Jaysville-St. John's, Arcanum, St. Paris, Woodstock -- basically keeping us away from any major centers. The first part of the day was pretty -- wooded areas and winding roads -- but then it turned into fields of corn.
The weather was cool. The rains moved through last night and stayed away from us all day, except for the occasional water drop. There were always black clouds around but thankfully nothing hit us. It was quite cool at the lunch SAG so I retrieved my vest that I had stashed at the first SAG and wore it for the afternoon, along with my long sleeve jersey over a short sleeve jersey -- this was probably the coldest riding day that we've had. We have had day start out colder but warm up. Today's temperatures never got above the low 60's. Tomorrow sounds like it could be even colder with highs in the mid 50's. brrr.
Our group today was the usual crowd -- me, Geoff, Jerry and Ken. Ken, however, decided to hang around the lunch SAG for an extra hour because he was going to meet some ex-collegues from Nestle at their plant on the outskirts of Marysville and he did not want to arrive too early. Ken retired last September but still does contract work for Nestle.
We had tailwinds out of the rear quarter -- NW -- a lot of the day that were cross winds when we zigged instead of zagged along the county roads. Occasionally they were headwinds but not for long.
I have had lots of compliments on my bike -- everyone likes the simple shiny tubing look of the Litespeed titanium -- and they are amazed to hear how old the frame is, given the good shape that it's in. Most people are riding carbon bikes of a variety of sorts and some much heavier as well. After the Roark tour my bike is getting even more attention ... since their standard finish is shiny titanium. Most bikes are heavier than mine -- because heavy riders cannot afford to ride lightweight wheels on this kind of a trip. With my light weight -- I may be the lightest male -- lightweight aero wheels work.
Some pictures - from today and yesterday:
Two Roark timetrial bikes:
Two road bikes -- one classic with round tubing, one with aero tubing:
Rapt attention:
Tubing couplers are an option, even on the aero bike. Here you can also see the aero seat tube:
A new state ...
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