Day 31- Richmond, IN > Marysville, OH (105 miles)

 June 9

We are in Amish country, and it was a beautiful ride today. One caveat when riding your bike in Amish country: the horses seem to enjoy leaving landmines in the road that are problematic for cyclists.

The route:

The ride today was definitely a top 3 day for the trip...great weather and perfect roads. Yes, the ride was long at 108.8 miles, but the roads were like back home with beautiful farms and small towns. We had a SAG around mile 42, and we were warmly welcomed by a bunch of friends and family from our Ohio riders. We picked up a few riders from the Ohio crowd, and they were all strong riders who fit right into the peloton. When we got to the hotel, there was another large group of locals with cow bells to welcome us to the hotel, and they had a pizza party for us - I thought we wrote the book in the south on hospitality, but these folks went above and beyond. We ate at Roadhouse and had steaks after the pizza party because it seemed like the thing to do.

Cool photos from the ride today:

Note the vehicles in the parking lot at this church...I would not want clean-up duty.

One of the guys in the group captured this late in the day today.

The crops in MO, OH, and KS still blow my mind...amazing how much bigger the fields seem on a bike versus a car.

Just when Gina was starting to think that my prefrontal cortex had finally developed, I felt the need to chase the truck today...I could have caught it.

This was a typical view on the ride today.

I was listening to some great 80's music today and decided to have the quote of the day be from Bono, who might be deeper than you knew...: "Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will." A bonus quote from him that is probably my favorite: "You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that 'as you reap so you will sow' stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep shit. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace."

Final note/thought for the day...Stuart and I watched a woodpecker flying directly in front of us today on the bikes as it went from telephone pole to pole...a simple thing that we never would have seen in a car. Sounds dumb, but when you are a bike monk, you pay attention to small things.

We have another long day tomorrow at 98.5 miles with 4,500 feet of climbing as we travel to Wooster, OH. Thanks for following our journey!