Erie, PA

Well, we zipped right across Ohio with four days of decent mileage. Today is a rest day in Erie, letting us catch our breath before we start the home stretch of the tour.
The Ride to Erie (yesterday): Our ride from Niles, OH to Erie, PA put 89.7 miles on my odometer. This was very lucky; if it had gotten to 90 miles, we would need to round up to 100, and that did not sound fun on a day like yesterday. We had steady rain all day. Along with some wind and general road muck , I found my biggest challenge of the day to be the short bursts of pain when grit got in with my contact lenses. Made it a bit difficult to read the cue sheet and see the road! Luckily I was able to just pedal through it.

Our team rode smart, taking our shortest SAG stops ever to avoid getting too cold with inactivity. Our motto of "Just Pedal" served us well today. We worked steadily and kept a decent pace to "get the ride done". We did get to see some nice scenery at times, including a few vineyards.

As some of you know, I actually like to ride in the rain, so I was thrilled to have a group of folks also willing to be out in it. While folks in other groups were griping, I was heard saying things like "Hey, every day on the bike is a good day, as long as the rubber side stays down". So I did get called Pollyanna today. (I was wondering when that would come out)!

The photo above was snapped by the legendary Jim Lyle. Because he had of course arrived to the hotel hours ahead of us, he was clean, dry, and rested so he was amused by me waltzing into the ritzy hotel lobby looking like this.
Rest Day (today): The bike got a good cleaning after yesterday's wet and mucky ride. After some chores and errands were done, there was all the basic R&R. With a short walk downtown, I got my first glimpse of Lake Erie. (OK, so maybe you had to be there - much more impressive in person than these photos show).


Later on, just as we were walking back from a fun dinner in an Irish Pub (thinking the evening was winding down), we heard a band playing out in the street near the hotel. Downtown Erie was having a Block Party! Another chance to mix with the locals, so we couldn't pass it up! You probably know these guys by now, but from left to right, it's Ira, Champ, Alec, and Harry. Don't ask me why they were drinking Bud Light.