USNA 1973 Ride-2-Remember

Day 48, 20 September: Goshen, IN to Archbold, OH

Mark switched me to the Scattante today – much better for the vast majority of the ride.  There were about 2½ miles of gravel that RWGPS reported as paved, but passable on road bikes.  Also a few rough stretches of county roads.

Then there was 10 miles of the Wabash Cannonball Trail near the end.  The condition was very uncertain from Google Maps, and we had briefed an option to bypass it on county roads if it didn’t look good.  I bypassed it initially, but Mark passed me, pulled over and asked me why I was skipping it (he wasn’t at quarters yesterday and didn’t hear the brief). Sort of shamed me into giving it a try.  Doug, who was just behind me and listening to his cues, forgot about the bypass until he was at the trail, now just ahead of me.  We rode the first mile, which was pretty rough, and Doug bailed out back to the south.

I looked ahead and it appeared better so decided to give it another mile.  It was pretty nice so I decided to keep going at mile 3, which turned into a mix of everything: gravel, packed dirt, grass, even a bit of pavement.  Now I figured I was committed for one more mile, which would take me to the 75-mile mark for a SAG stop, so I pressed on.  It would have been fun on the Trek, but a lot of work just getting through on this bike, and by mile 4 I had had enough.

At the 75-mile mark I came out on US 123, which cut across at a diagonal, and no sign of a SAG. I figured everybody else and the SAG must be on the county road, so I asked a hiker coming off the trail ahead of me if 123 took me there. He said he had no idea and was from out of town. I asked where he was from, he asked about our ride, and we struck up a conversation.

He was Ron Dodge from Santa Clara, CA. He’s here visiting relatives on the family farm (Sadowski’s Produce). He’s retired from various jobs at UPS, from ops to investigations, and enjoys hiking the Wabash Cannonball whenever he’s in town.  He allowed as how it’s a lot better for hiking than road riding.  He appreciated our mission, thanked us for our service, and will follow our progress east.

I headed down 123 and found my way back to the road in. Apparently the 75-mile SAG never happened, and Sally was just another ¼ mile from where I came out if I had kept going. Mark passed me on the way in – he had been looking for Ron who they thought was lost but wasn’t. Another day done.

Bill Montgomery