Flatter

We finally took a rest day – a much needed break for our legs. We stopped in Wooster, OH and had a whole laundry list of things that we wanted to take care of, but in the end, didn’t get to do because everything in Wooster is closed on Sunday’s, old school style =) Oh well. We took the opportunity to eat a great pizza, wash our clothes and clean our bikes, which were much dirtier than we were.
The night before, Saturday, we went to Javapalooza, hosted by Seattle’s coffee shop and it seemed like everyone in town was there. Ages 2-90 came out to enjoy the local bands.
After our restful Sunday and after loading up on allot of free breakfast foods at the Super 8 we were staying at, we set out and did a 60+-mile-day. We are finally starting to see some flatter terrain, but the wind is picking up! Not a moments respite! Riding into the wind is like swimming upstream or constantly riding uphill, with out reward and the added discomfort of loud rushing in your ears. Imagine biking up a hill with someone blowing really hard in your ear! How annoying is that!
Anyway, we saw a bunch of other cyclists that Monday. GOBA, I think it was, is an organized cross Ohio tour and then we ran into a group riding LA to Boston! Woah. They were doing 80 miles a day, but they did have support vehicles. Cheaters =).

Monday night we stayed in Jim and Dagmar’s yard and also enjoyed the company of Mike and Melissa (We'll lighten this photo, when we get a chance!). Not only did we get to enjoy their lovely company, but also their lovely pool, outdoor shower and tasty PiÑa Colada’s. Talk about luxury camping =) Thanks so much guys! And thanks for breakfast Dagmar! Vielen Dank!

On Tuesday we biked through Carey, but didn’t stay long and then on to the Indian Trail Caves. Which were, closed =( Yup, just our luck. But don’t you worry, we didn’t let that stop us =) After using our fence hoping skills and our headlamp skills, we managed to see the first couple halls of the cave anyway.
That day was officially dubbed Bike Hell in my journal – we did 65 miles into the wind and the caves were closed. When we finally stopped at a field near some trees that looked like they might offer some shelter from the wind, our luck took a turn for the better though.
Grant stopped his mowing for a moment and took a chance on some scraggely cyclists and introduced us to his sister, June. June has a bunch of boys, but we only really got to hang out with Brandon (who has declared Lara to be straight off the Sunny Up show – see reference below: Kelly on the Sunny Side Up Show). June, Brandon and Grant fed us an amazing dinner of ribs and mashed potatoes and VEGTABLES – mmm, lacking in our lives at the moment. They set us up on their campsite (how cool is that! They actually have a campsite on their property! It has oil lanterns and a port-o-john and a fire pit and a bunch of chairs and old car seats =) so great. We soon also got to meet Beth, June’s partner, and some friends and family. We would have loved to hang out longer, but after our disaster day, were ready to hit the hay. Beth and June also made us breakfast, which I am really sad I don’t have a picture of, because you should have seen the mountains of sausages and bacon! Intimidating, really. Thanks again to all of you!

Wednesday was more bike hell. We really wanted to make it to Monroeville, Indiana and so we committed ourselves to doing the 70 miles in one day, but it was SO WINDY! At least when we finally got to Monroeville, we had the amazing comfort of a cyclists-only free lodge.Every town should have one of these. Free shower, free laundry, and a free place to rest your weary head! What more could you ask for? I’m definitely taking this idea to city council in Palo Alto.

Here is a picture of the ‘feast’ we had for dinner. I know it doesn’t look very appealing, but it was truly delicious. Beans, rice, corn, and Jack and coke. Hot damn!

The next morning – Thursday, we packed up and had breakfast, set out and went to a café in Monroeville and had a second breakfast (!! this is why I really love biking) and ran into the most awesome group of old men, who dominated the scene at the coffee house. I’m definitely doing that when I’m old. Anyway, we biked out to Huntington, off-route, since I’ve been having allot of neck-pain (and elbow and shoulder pain – hence “bike-of-pain”) and we knew they had a bike shop. We finally got there (40 miles into the wind, again) only to find that they were celebrating ‘Heritage Days’ and everything was closed! The bike shop was actually going out of business anyway, so I don’t know if we’d have had better luck with out Heritage Day festivities.
We were pretty worn out at that point and so we did what we always do to brighten our spirits – EAT! The mother of all sandwiches! The sandwich to end all sandwiches! So delicious.
So I continued in pain and we finally got to Salamonie Forest State Park. On the way we passed a sweet house that was in a hill, or under a mound of grassy dirt anyway. It had a façade on the front, but the entire rest of the house was just a grassy knoll =). We also saw baby ponies! Not baby horses, baby ponies! They were so ridiculously small. It was really like My Little Pony come to life. Sorry no photo =(
I’ll end this novel of a post on a bright note. The pain is coming to an end! We went off route again today and are currently in Peru (Yes! Peru, Indiana). We went to a wonderful bike shop, Breakaway Bike, and there I got all set up with a stem extension and new tape on my handle bars (Thanks a million guys!), so hopefully this will cure the crick in my neck and if not, at least my handle bars are an awesome shade of blue =)

Happy travels,
Maya

PS – we are soooo sore!

PPS - Tomorrow we are going to hit the 1K mark!!