Day 40 Richmond to Marysville.

Yesterday's ride was lkely to be the easiest of the 5 rides into Erie and now there was a chance to do 4 century rides back to back. The gang of 4, as we were now, did not have very much of Indiana left to do because we reached the Ohio state line after less than 3 miles and of course that meant a photo, but so near the start there were lots of people there at the same time and when we arrived, last as usual, Audrey and Sue were upside down under the sign doing headstands with someone holding them up. I don't know why they were doing it, but it was funny.
At this point Fred and Gerrard (the mechanic) joined us and from then on with good, flat roads on a gloriously sunny day we made good time.
After 41 miles and the SAG we ambled on amid very pretty scenery and nice well maintained properties. This part of Ohio seemed prosperous, though the farms were not the giant affairs of the praries, but smaller, more like in the UK. The route stayed reasonably flat, for a lot of the way, but after the second SAG at 76 miles ther were a number of hills that hurt the legs and our group started to split up. Steve and I spent the last 20 miles cruising in together with some of the group behind us and others ahead.
Marysville seemed a nice town and we went for lunch before arriving at the hotel. Later that evening Sarge showed me the ipod 'water bottle' he had bought. It is the size of a water bottle so fits in a bottle holder on the bike frame, but has an ipod in it that is attached to a speaker. There is a remote control on the handlebars so he can have music while he is on the go. Crazy. He usually rides with Steve Foley in the 'daycare group' and I'm not sure what Steve makes of Sarge's choice of music!
Today's distance was 105.4 miles. The total distance covered is now 3001.23 miles.