Apologies first on the delayed response. For the four of you out there reading this blog, you are probably wondering what happened to our postings. I was updating the Blog for Day 3 at Wittenberg University but lost my wi-fi connection after a few minutes and it was bedtime. For the finish in Cincinnati, Internet access was not in the schedule and I'll explain further below. Most importantly, the promise of 'Guest Editors' from my fellow TEAM BOB riders never happened - next year I am only riding with bloggers!
We left Otterbein University in the Northeast quadrant of Columbus at 0730 Saturday morning. The day's ride was only 68 miles and clear skies were forecast. We were forewarned that Day 3 may appear easy on paper but could be the hardest day. The ride was nearly due West into the heart of Ohio cornfields with little natural shelter from the consistent westerly winds. Sunny and 75 degrees with headwinds of 5-18mph as forecasted. TEAM BOB rode as a group to our first rest stop (mile 18) and were greeted by a crazy field of 7' high corn statues. It's hard to explain so check out the photos here. The group went ahead while I had a minor adjustment to my bike from the friendly mechanics. John was my domestique and we made up the 20 minute gap back to the group in no time. We picked up Kelsey and the 3 of us cruised ahead at a nice 19-21mph pace. As you can see from our ride detail, we stayed off the course outside Plain City. With the help of a GPS enabled Blackberry phone, we corrected our ways to meet Bob, Anne, and Andy at the lunch break / stop #2. The group consensus was to pass on a big greasy brunch and to move on while the westerly winds were still modest.
John, Kelsey and I pacelined ahead while Bob, Anne & Andy did the same at a slightly slower pace. We hit rest stop #3 around mile 50 in no time, downed some fruit, danced to the latest Black Eyed Peas song, and topped off the water bottles. Andre & Christy joined us along with 20+ other riders for the home stretch to Wittenberg. Riders settled into their own pace and Kelsey, John, and I were soon riding along again. We stopped for a great photo op (corn fields - not surprising) and Christy & Andre caught us again. The five of us rode the last 8 miles into Springfield as a group.
We arrived at the finish line with less than 10 cyclists ahead of us at 1pm. Kelsey graduated from Wittenberg 10 years earlier so we headed out to a well-deserved lunch of burgers and beer at "The Station". With a few phone calls and two beers later, Hilary, Kate and the kids met us The Station. At about the same time, my rear tire deflated...25 minutes after we stopped riding. It was a good thing the family support wagons had arrived.
When we got back to campus Bob, Anne & Andy has just arrived along with our brother Tom and his family. The kids helped us check into the dorms while the spouses headed to the local Frank Lloyd Wright house. After a shower, tire change, and beer, Kelsey gave us a campus tour. Later that evening, we all went down to the dreadful town of Fairborn, Ohio where we had 3 rooms reserved at the Comfort Inn. The highlight of the town is the Wright Patterson Airforce Base which houses the official US Air Force Museum. And if you ever make it there, Pizza Hut is about the best option
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