Ohio: The Land of Better Pavement

Thursday, August 1, 2013
Day 26 - Coldwater, Michigan to Lima, Ohio (including a brief stint in Indiana)
129 miles

1,672 feet of climbing

Today rates as one of the best days of the Tour.  The weather was absolutely perfect - it was partly sunny (or partly cloudy, depending on your general outlook on life), with temperatures reaching only the mid to high 70's.  We traveled on quiet country roads for most of the route.  As we headed out of Coldwater, we were on some roads with bumpy pavement, which is not unusual.  Every now and then, we have to ride on roads with chewed-up pavement or chip seal.  At mile 18, we cut into the northeast corner of the state of Indiana, riding through the towns of Fremont and Angola.  Then at mile 37, we crossed over into Ohio.  Our route sheet actually said, at mile 31, "Ohio Border . . . better pavement".  And let me tell you, the pavement was noticeably better!  As soon as we passed the "Welcome to Ohio" sign, the pavement went from bumpy to smooth like a baby's bottom, and stayed that way all the way all the way to our lunch stop at mile 77, when we entered the town of Defiance.  Defiance, Ohio - what a great name for a town.  I had a lot of fun with that town's name.  We rode in Defiance, stood in Defiance, ate in Defiance, drank in Defiance, and finally, used the port-a-potty in Defiance.  I could tell Art was very glad when we rode out of Defiance so that he did not have to hear any more of my clever plays on the word "Defiance."  The remaining 50 or so miles of the day's ride was as pleasant as the first part, and actually went pretty fast, despite a quartering headwind that hit us as we traveled south.  At our final rest stop of the day at mile 105, we were treated by PAC Tour to an ice cream cone at a shop adjacent to our rest stop.  It was a nice treat to relax at the rest stop and enjoy some ice cream in the sunshine with some of our fellow riders.  From there, it was only 25 miles to our hotel in Lima.  We arrived at the hotel about 3:30.  We cleaned our bikes, collected our luggage and got into our room just before it started to pour. It only rained for about 15 minutes, then the sun came out and soon enough it was like it hadn't rained at all.  Art & I had a nice early dinner at Pizza Hut just a short walk from our hotel.  Looking forward to tomorrow's ride to Circleville, Ohio - my sit bones are really liking the smooth pavement of Ohio!
     

Elevation profile of today's ride

Art of the Corn

We rode on quiet, country roads all day

"Welcome to Ohio!  Enjoy our pavement!"

I rode behind Art a lot today

Art - riding in Defiance . . . Defiance, Ohio, that is!

Lunch in Defiance

    

The cornfield-lined road to Lima