I have never seen so many tandem bicycles in my life as the first ride in the Greater Ohio Bicycle Adventure. Deleware to Newark was 50 miles and took me about 5 hours. I say about as I didn't check the time when I left. But I was up about six and did my yoga as I was breaking my rain soaked camp. For the week over 3000 bicyclists will have traveled 350 miles around central Ohio.
The first 25 miles was fairly flat, but the second half was what they call rolling. Some great downhills, but I spent more time in first and second gear on the 10 speed Schwinn today than I have the last 30 some years I have owned that bike. There were folks walking up at least one hill. My bicycle is a 1960 vintage Schwinn Continental. Much modified, but a very solid road bike with 27 inch tires.
The hardest thing to imagine is 3000 people on bicycles all traveling from point A to point B in one day. The best analogy is moving a small, but very dis-organized army. We overwhelm most of the small towns we visit. The tour stops at my hometown of London on Thursday. London has half a dozen small restaurants and fast food places. The city will be trying to feed 4000 extra people that one night. Every good sized church is putting on a dinner, but the magnitude of the task is daunting. Can you spell "long lines"?
The number of mother-daughter combinations on tandem bikes was astonishing as well as wonderfully reassuring. What a bonding experience! One bike had two adults and two children on it. Another was a three wheeler with the two wheels in front. There were several small children pulled in two wheelers behind tandem bikes. Astonishing variety.
The age range is 2 to 84, with a healthy number of old farts among the adventurers (36% are 50 or older). 50 some miles a day is not that difficult to accomplish and you have all day to do it if need be. Most people seem to be in some sort of group. There does not seem to be many loners like myself. However there seems to be some group dynamic that causes the whole group to head off into the weeds. The route is marked with small letter A's with the apex pointing the way you go. If there is a turn, the A is on it's side. Several times I saw a group either going too fast or spending so much time impressing each other that they missed the turn. Interesting to watch.
While I could have gone farther the first day, mentally I was done at 50 miles. My right knee protested later, but I am hoping the industrial strength Naproxin will take care of that problem... 500 mg per capsule. The only other problem was the amount of weight on my back. But I can fix that as I don't really need the computer or the Rollie camera. And the cell phone battery conked out so that can be put in my bag too. And I don't need much water or any food. There is plenty along the way.
Food was a problem the evening of the first day. The chicken and noodle dinner sold out in half an hour and by 6:30 they only had hot dogs and brats left with no catsup or mustard. The other food place on campus had a single line that was way too long and they closed at 7. I can only imagine London Thursday night!
Monday morning the tent was just as wet from the dew. People were loading the trucks starting at 5:30. What a terrible idea. This 'army' is divided into 4 divisions: pink, white, green and orange. There are the 4 luggage tag colors. Each color has its own semi-truck to carry the luggage. We load it in the morning, placing our own bags in the trailer. It arrives at 11 and the reward for getting here early is you have to help unload the trailers. By 12:30 the trucks are unloaded and hunt is on for luggage. There is actually a fifth division: car campers who carry their own luggage along with dogs, children and who knows what else.
I only thought I did hills on Sunday! Today was the real thing. I pedaled up all the ugly hills in the morning, but did walk one afternoon hill. My left knee was starting to hurt (my right knee is the usual culprit). For much of the day I was either in the highest gear or the lowest, with little use of the 8 gears in between. Ugly! Late in the afternoon some manly young man flew past me and as he sized up the on-comming hill, yelled*I'm getting to hate these things!" That made me feel good! I felt like I was struggling coming into Lancaster, But the radar clocked me doing 13 or 14 miles an hour. That was far faster than it felt.
Winning bikes today were the biker babe on tandem bike with plenty o skin showing and the woman who has her small lap dog riding in a front basket. The later had her picture in the paper.
Lancaster was everything Newark was not. Friendly, accessible, well organized and the phones worked. Such a deal. I walked downtown for a mid afternoon dinner, bought a book from a camera store going out of business, saw a B&W photo show at the library and looked at the Yahoo news. Most libraries do not give you access to telnet on their computer, and this was true in Lancaster. So I could not check email.
I took a walk up the overlook in Rising park to take a picture of Gobaville and my leg muscles were protesting. After a shower, I headed for the massage tent and plunked 10 bucks for a 12 minute massage session on my legs. First thing I hear from Jim is 12 minutes isn't enough... but 10 bucks was. And never having tried this, I was not about to add any more. Boy did I need that! Surprisingly more in the thigh muscles than the calf muscles. And there was more pain in the left leg indicating that I was favoring that leg today. Bingo! That is why my left knee hurt today. When I ran track I started with my left leg... that is my power leg. Jim gave me a handout with warmups to help minimize cramping. Looks like I'll be spending more time at the massage tent!
The shower trucks are astonishing in themselves. The company in Washington state custom builds them. Each truck contains 10 showers and can run continously without running out of hot water. They have a huge propane fired boiler that puts out a million BTU's. It is a thing of beauty and ingenuity. GOBA rented 4 of these for the week. The driver/operator of the one I used was reading Bill Kitteridge's book On The Nature Of Generosity. I complimented him on his choice of reading material and told about randomly buying the book in Oregon and the mentioning a friend of mine in it. He wanted to know who and he turned out to be a huge Peacock fan. We traded a bunch of Montana and Ed Abbey stories for a long time. Life is an amazing trip!
The dairy cow barn at the fairgrounds here is very interesting. The central part is round and the light was raking it at wonderful angle. So I shot the shit out of it, as Kit would say. Color and B&W... hope something worked! I loved it. And now it is time to brush my teeth and hit the sack. tomorrow is a 61 mile day with ugly hills!
Tuesday morning the tent was dry, so pitching it under a tree does help. At six am the tent beside me was gone along with all 4 people. Where did they go so early in the morning? The best first breakfast is a cream cheese bagel with a banana and orange juice. You have to buy it the night before. I have learned to stay far away from scrambled eggs as they can only be described as disgusting.
The eating pattern on GOBA trips is very different. I drifted into the following pattern:
The leg massage worked amazingly well. There were no sore muscles... amazing! And the left knee problem was gone. Naproxin is magic. I do need to talk to Dr. Trowbridge about possible damage to my knee. I certainly could not do this ride without the magic drug.
The route out of Lancaster to the south was as daunting as it seemed last night. Police required everyone to walk part of it... that was a wonderful idea. The trip down the other side really set the adrenaline flowing. I could not believe people stopped at the bottom. I had to ride the rush. The other difficult hill was Blacksmith Hill just outside of Chillicothe... I had to walk part of that. What I really need are some lower gears! Wonder if there are street tires for the LLBean bike?
Best bike today was a recliner with twin propellers, each on a long pole. It was an awesome sight. My personal problem was expecting the PM snack at the wrong milepost today. I expected it at mile 35 and it was actually at mile 42. I barely made it to the PM snack. But the rest of the ride went surprisingly quickly. I made it in at one, meaning my average speed actually increased. It was a cloudless day and very hot. I like cool and cloudy.
An hour after setting up the tent, my leg muscles were complaining. So I hit the massage tent after getting soup and half a sandwich downtown. Apparently what the massage does is increase the blood flow to the legs, carrying away the lactic acid that is formed pushing up those tough hills. Minus the hills, I can ride without any trouble. GOBA seems to go out of its way to find tough hills. I wonder if someone at my age can get the leg muscles used to such hills.
The park we are camped in is lovely, right at the edge of downtown with a huge swimming pool in it. I skipped the shower trucks for a swim and two trips down a huge water slide that is 38 feet tall. I needed two trips cause the first didn't work. I left too much weight on my butt... where else? Second trip was much better, but I will need some more practice tomorrow.
The church lasagne dinner was perfect and I watched a bike race to and from the church. 70 laps on a half mile circuit... and those young bucks did fly... at least 30mph over that distance. That has to hurt!
Most people are staying up late, but at 9 I am done. I'll probably get up at 5 on Thursday as they predict highs in the upper 80's and there will be NO shade the last 40 miles!
I am not bicycle fanatic and that sets me somewhat apart from most of the other 2999 folks on this tour. My 40 year old bike has no interesting technology in it and I have no previous tours nor list of future tours to do. That covers most of the conversation topics here. The interesting thing to me is how good that old Schwinn is (and you can substitute any other brand name bike). The only thing that would be helpful is a third front cog to get the really lower gears. I do pass folks on hills, but only because I can't gear down as low as they can. I am forced to go faster! If I do this again I will put road tires on the LLBean hybrid.
The other interesting thing is that when coasting, I tend gain on other folks, even those on similar bikes with similar sized folks on them. The only factor That might make a difference is the Schwinn does not use a bearing race to position the ball bearings. You just pack the balls in grease. The only other factor is the 10 extra pounds in the frame... but that would not seem to make much of a difference.
Wednesday is break day. There is a long and a short circuit ride set up for the strongest of folk. I took the day off, sleeping through the 6am alarm completely. I had a very restful sleep last night. Leg muscles were complaining, but only slightly. Think there is a massage session in my future later today. After breakfast I walked through downtown taking some pictures. There is no bookstore downtown, but there is a history store where I found a paperback on Tecumsah. GOBA folk had already cleaned out every newspaper except the local one. I was shocked that magazine prices are now in the 5 dollar range, though I was amazed to find a copy of Dirty Linen, the premier folk music magazine. I was looking for a photo magazine, but they only had two overpriced specimens with very poor content.
The most fun this morning was the fellow with an old fashioned high wheel bike, with the huge front wheel and no gearing. The pedals are attached directly to the front wheel as on a tricycle. He put on a show and one of the GOBA guys gave it a try. He did a great job, but it is not for me. The old nickname for it is a boneshaker, and that is the name of the California (where else would such a company locate?) company that makes these modern replicas. The mention of tricycles reminds me of the time in Corning, NY when I gave my mother a fright. When I was 2 or so, I had gone with her to visit a friend who lived at the bottom of our hill (Chemung St for those of you who know Corning). I rode my tricycle down the hill with her. It was a heavy metal thing with huge chunk of sheet metal handlebars. I became bored and rode my tricycle home, straight up that humungous hill. Since my tricycle was no where in sight, my mother was sure I was kidnapped. She could not imagine I could push it up the hill, let alone ride it. When she finally went home, there I was on the porch waiting for her. I have memories of the trip up the hill, but none of punishment if there was any!
Competitive seems to be a defining characteristic of folks on this adventure. It is especially evident in the younger folk, but it seems to exist in everyone that gets out early in the day. It even exists in myself... and that astonishes me. I think of myself as very laid back. But then both the physical therapists and the massage folks try to get me to relax... and all I can do is retort: "Relaxation is relative!" There may be something to massage therapy... for sure my muscles are tightly wound!
I found a lovely place to photograph near Bainbridge. They had some newsletters at the Pumphouse museum here in the park. It seems the lesson I need to learn is to slow down and relax. I was thinking about stopping in London... I didn't need to finish the ride as I had already proven all I need to prove. But everything the past few months has consistently been about slowing down and relaxing. The concert I gave, the workshop in April, my physical therapy and now the massage therapists all are telling me the same thing in so many different ways. So I will finish this trip and I will take the time to talk to other folks. The bike ride is not really the major activity. The ride itself is for most people very private. The social aspects kick in after the ride is over. It has taken me several days to understand that fundamental point. Reading, playing cards, napping or talking on the cell phone are real point of the trip. And if you turn off the cell phone, there are no interruptions. Some hardcore folks head out on the bike again, but many are like me... that bike is parked until it is time to head out for the next destination.
The show started early on Thursday. The mantra for the day was "beat the heat". Just after 5am there were long lines everywhere because of the long 71 mile ride and the 90 plus temperature forecast for the afternoon. Turned out to be a sweet ride. No bad hills, no problems and I walked in the house just before noon. Girls and their families came for dinner and the extra cool basement was heaven after sweating all Wednesday night. Sweet Baby Ethan gained 2 oz since Monday! Things are headed in the right direction there. I had many things to do to switch to the hybrid bike, but with some help from Corey, everything was completed.
Friday was not a sweet day! It was a painful, grind it out day. 56 miles total after they added some extra miles. For various reasons I was late getting off and after getting a mile out of town, I turned around. The hybrid bike just takes too much extra effort. Actually any extra would have been too much. And my bad shoulder did not appreciate the handlebar arrangement. The old fashioned dropped handlebars are much better as you have at least 3 different positions that you can shift between to distribute the pain. So it was back to the Schwinn. I was able to function better, though I had to walk the hill into Catawba... it was just too steep and I had little energy reserves.
I did not eat well... grilled pork and salad. But I was too fuzzy in my thinking to realize what I was doing. Even at 60 I am easily distracted. Received another "act your age" ... I am hearing them from all sorts of directions these days.
The park here in Marysville has few trees and it is HOT! I fear for August at this rate. I could not get in the tent after I set it up... unbearable. So I spent some time writing in the library, which was air conditioned. But cool or not, my brain is fried. I can't think, let alone write. Checked the weather forecast... nothing but heat through tomorrow. By noon I'll be headed home and the AC will be on.
On the surface GOBA is about getting on a bike and riding at least 350 miles over 7 days. What it is really about is devoting a week of the year to a completely different universe. The average speed is about 10 mph making an average ride about 6 hours in length. Most of the day is spent in reading, writing, visiting or sight-seeing. This is totally different allocation of time. Usual communication modes are disrupted as there is limited internet access and few places to recharge the cell phone. For me the most valuable parts of this GOBA trip are seeing the world from a totally different perspective and being forced to change my priorities drastically. I have several possible stunning images and a nice series of trip related photos. Pretty good for a week when photography was near the bottom of the priority list. This is worth doing again.
Here are some sample sayings from GOBA 2002: