Thursday 17 July 2008

Day 43 Youngstown to Erie.

Walking up to breakfast my knee was still sore, but the swelling had gone down. The direction in which we were due to leave was black with a storm and did not look at all inviting. Our 4 was the last to leave and it was not raining then, but I took the precaution of wearing my waterproof and after about half an hour I was glad as the heavens were unzipped and all the water therin came cascading down. The roads were awash and there was a mist abot 18 inches above the road as the rain bounced up. It kept up this rate for a lot longer than I was used to, about an hour and then it eased off to torrential. I had spent most of this time at the front, but made the mistake of moving to the back where I was then treated to a dirty shower off the wheels ahead of me. I had to take my glasses of as I was unable to see much. Fortunately the roads were flat and of good quality. On Ridge Road, Ohio near route 87 east I reached the 50,000 miles mark of my cycling. Pales into insignificance compared to Dave in Abergavenny who has done loads more.
By the time we reached the first SAG at 33 miles the rain had stopped, but it was cool and we were wet so we didn't linger. Kept the pace up to the secod SAG at 69 miles and as we entered a root beer stand there was a speed bump and Steve went over it without realising it was there and fell off in front of an admiring crowd. The Russian judge only gave him 4.5 as he didn't point his toes. Fortunately he was not hurt and his bike was OK. Later in the day George did exactly the same thing.
Soon after the second SAG we left Ohio and moved into Pennsylvania, but we will not get to see much of it, just skim along the top. Usual photos.
Rode into Erie and got glimpses of Lake Erie, looks like the sea it is so big. Brought back memories of geography lessons. I did a couple of extra miles to get the century up and that meant I had done 4 back to back, I was glad that tomorrow is a rest day. On arrival I was pleased to see that Gary had arrived and was looking well and ready to go. He has fully recovered from his pneumonia.
We later found an Irish bar and celebrated reaching another rest day.
Today's distance was 100.16 miles.

3 comments:

Diane said...

Congratulations on the four consecutive century rides and reaching the 50,000 mile mark, you are amazing! You must have been so glad of your rest day in Erie. It sounds a lovely area so looking forward to seeing the photos.

Hope your knee is now much better and that you are enjoying the final few days of the tour. What a fantastic journey.

I hope you and Neil have managed to make contact, and I can't wait to see you both back home next week.

Meanwhile, keep safe and keep those pedals turning!

All my love, Diane xxx

sandra sharman said...

Hi Wayne!
Sorry to hear about the knee - that's the last thing you want at this stage. We're really enjoying the news and photos.
Bob continues to improve. Meanwhile he's keeping a good eye on the Test and the Tour.
Diane and I had a great weekend together, and loved 'Hairspray'.
Hope it's not too long before we see you again.
Love Sandra & Bob x

Gareth Poulton said...

Le Tour update:

Yesterday, Mark Cavendish became the first Brit to win 3 stages in a single tour, 3 from 12!! Good work. Today he made it 4! Incredible effort from the young man. Trouble was, it took ITV ages to catch up with him for the interview because he was riding around the car park to make up his mileage!
OK, the last part wasn't true.

Keep going Dad, can't wait to see you next week. Take care.
G & H
xx