If I were to put a label on today, I would have call it Forrest Gump day – because we had all kinds of rain – stinging rain, rain that came in sideways and yes, even big ‘ol fat rain. We were just on the southern edge of a weather system headed northeast and were moving away from it most of the day, but not fast enough to stay ahead of it. It was raining when we rolled out and within 8 minutes, my feet and gloves were soaked. We even pulled off the road for safety given the downpour we were in 10 miles out as we were concerned that approaching cars couldn’t see us. The machine shop guys where we pulled in graciously allowed us inside for a bit but we were back on the move within 4-5 minutes. It wasn’t going to be a fun day – but it could have been worse, at least no one was shooting at us! And that’s about all I have to say about that.
Our route had us doing 92 miles today with about 2,500 feet of elevation gain but we only had a few “registered climbs” (meaning it is recognized as such by the Garmin GPS) but it seemed more than that with all the short “rollers” we had. With SAG stops at mile 17 and mile 38, the rain was intermittent but the pavement was puddling wet so we remained soaked for the distance with all the water being kicked up. I think the car drivers felt a little sorry for us today because we were getting a good bit of grace for our turns and a generous distance as they passed us on the move.
We had a very nice “surprise” at our lunch stop at mile 59. Over the past year, I have also been “coached” by my virtual friend Katie, who did P2P last year. She had also worked with my cycling coach Tom Murray as she prepared for the trip and I was able to follow her journey last year. After her trip, we had a series of video and phone calls as my training progressed and her input gave me a lot of confidence as our start date got closer. There is no better way to prepare for P2P than to get the feedback from the people who actually did it. In any case, she lives nearby in Kalamazoo, MI and she was able to arrange our lunch stop at the Gilmore Car Museum – a 90 acre site that is North America’s largest car museum housing the collection of businessman Donald Gilmore, who was the longtime CEO of Upjohn Pharmaceuticals in Kalamazoo. It was great to finally meet Katie, but it seemed much more like seeing an old friend for the first time in awhile. Thanks Katie!
After lunch we had 1 more SAG stop at mile 79 and by then the rain had stopped and we had a few glimpses of sunshine. The last 13 miles had most of us out of the rain gear and shedding the arm warmers and other outerwear as it had warmed up considerably. Rolling into the Holiday Inn Express in Marshall, our guides were ready with cleaning equipment for our bikes as we have a long 120 miles to Rossford, OH – our 10th state!
Dinner tonight was at The Dark Horse Brewery and we all ate more that our fill, followed by ice cream from the True North Ice Cream next door. The weather forecast for tomorrow looks a little “iffy” right now but our luck has to get better at some point – let’s just hope it will be tomorrow!
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