Day 50, 22 September: Archbold to Fremont, OH
The day started pretty much as usual; breakfast at 0600, the wait for enough light to ride – which took a little longer. We are now in the Eastern Time Zone! The final time zone change!
After a couple of left/right issues within the first 100 yards or so, we settled into cruise mode. The morning was cool but not cold, the slight overcast kept the glare from the morning sun to a reasonable level. The entire route was on rural county roads – which meant a lot of right angle turns – and paved trails. There was a short section unpaved entering Wauseon on the Wabash Cannonball Trail. We had 18 miles paved on the Wabash Cannonball and another 12 on the North Coast Inland Trail. Excellent riding.
Every ride has had some anomaly pop up during the route (recall the Thelma and Louise incident) and today was no different. Shortly after our 15-mile support stop, Mark flagged us down and informed us the route took us through an industrial section difficult to navigate. He redirected us to a suitable alternate course only slightly out of our way – “turn right at 3rd Street”, only there was no signed 3rd Street. Doug wisely chose to stop and “RTFM” (read the f#@* map). Tes and Dave rode boldly on in search of the elusive “3rd Street”… resulting in Dave heading to Toledo and getting in an extra 10 miles – again.
Somehow between “bio breaks”, we all met up at the 45-mile Support Stop, which was right in front of the Lake Township Fire Department station. As we were taking advantage of Sally’s “bumper buffet”, the FD supervisor came out and offered to let us use their restroom. Which we appreciated VERY much. He was very interested in what we were doing – and why. He brought out the rest of the staff, including the “Chief” who had retired after 50 years on the job. We made new friends and got a very nice group photo for our R-2-R scrapbook.
Not too far after that, another “anomaly” struck. As Doug and I – who were in the lead at the moment due to a quicker transition time – got a cue notice to “turn right” in ¼ mile. Problem was a train with 50 cars or so was lumbering between us and our turn. We waited, and waited, and waited until the coast was clear only to see there was no way to cross the tracks other than carry our bikes. I was pleased to have my lighter (by 20 lbs) bike, but Doug with his EliptiGO – not so much.
Tes, Dave, and Bill took a quick detour just before reaching Sally at the 65 Mile Support Stop. As I understand it, Dave noticed a taco truck near the trail, made a sharp right turn and ordered tacos for all. Unfortunately (or not), I missed the diversion, got a much-appreciated sliced turkey sandwich from Mark and was on my way… ready for the ride to be over. Mother N. had other ideas as she threw 10-mph wind at us for the last 10 miles. Ugh!
Ron Bowman
USNA 1973 Ride-2-Remember 
Leave a comment