The travels of the Rambling Roses: May 7...Greenfield, Indiana to Beaver Creek, Ohio

101.11 miles in 8:35....average speed 11.8....max speed 21.2.....ascent 1818 ft....descent 1726 ft.... Total trip mileage 1979.87....total trip ascent...39,631 ft... Average trip distance...82.5 miles a day

By the time I got out the door at about 8:30 am, I hadn't heard back from Brett, my potential host for the night, so I didn't know if I was riding 102 miles to his house in Beavercreek, or if I was going 115 to Springfield. It didn't matter, because I would start out the same way, with either destination. I was staying on US 40 to Richmond, Indiana, which was about 48 miles away, and by then hopefully I would know. Those first 48 miles were very rolling, with the long, gradual climbs that I am not so fond of. The road was just not good anywhere. Shoulder width varied, sometimes there was two lane road, sometimes four, traffic was very quiet, but generally the pavement has seen its better days. There has not been any recent paving done on US40 in any of the three states I've ridden through. There are many small towns along the way, each with some historical building, or museum, or something associated with national road. Abe Lincoln is also a part of the history in this area, so there is many attractions related to Honest Abe.

Richmond is a larger town than I expected, and it took me some time to get through it, because I stopped for lunch, and for pictures at the Indiana Madonna of the Trail, and also at the Ohio state line, which is right on the east end of town. Whereas the terrain had been rolling in Indiana, with lots of wooded areas, things leveled out some in Ohio, the trees became less numerous, and corn fields prevailed. Just before I got into Richmond, Brett made contact with me, so I would be heading to Beavercreek to spend the night at his home, and it will only cost me a few extra miles. Basically I will be going south of Dayton, whereas I would have stayed north of Dayton on US40. The road in Ohio was consistently a two lane road, but the shoulder was a little wider, and the pavement smoother. The wind had been out of the south all day, so it was pretty much a neutral wind. That explains why my century time was slower than other days. I rode into Ohio about 15 miles before I picked up the Wolf Creek Trail, a beautifully paved trail that headed in a southeasterly direction, and took me towards Brett's house. There was a mishmash of roads and trail that took me right into the big city. Near downtown Dayton, I picked up the Miami River trail, which I was familiar with because I ran a half marathon on it in 1978. I placed 74th out of thousands of runners (Frank a Shorter placed 37th). It was in the heyday of my running career. Anyhow, there was a detour on the trail, and GPS girl totally loses it when there is a detour. It took a while, but we got that straightened out, I got across the river to the proper trail ( because there is a trail on each side of the river), and headed out the Mad River Trail ( there are five rivers that meet in Dayton), then to the Creekside Trail, then to the Iron Horse Trail, then through a residential area to Brett's house. As I traveled all these trails I went through many areas that I recognized because of my days as a coach. Many Dayton teams would come to the Bellaire Relays and the Wheeling Park Invitational back in those days.

Brett was cutting the grass at his very nice property when I got there. He finished up while I cleaned up, and we had a few beers, a nice dinner, and good conversation until about ten o'clock. He is a former catholic high school principal, his wife, who was in Washington DC on business, is still a nationally competitive age group swimmer, and they have four children from college age to recently graduated from college. I'm glad things worked out the way they did, because it was a nice evening. Brett has plans to ride The National Road from Cumberland to St. Louis, and also to wind sail on his recumbent trike from Canada to Mexico. It will be interesting to keep in touch and see how that goes!