UGRR Day 31 Mt. Vernon to Oberlin, Ohio

Three modes of transportation, bike, horse drawn wagon and pickup truck

We got an even earlier start today, as one of the group was eager to meet up with a friend coming into Oberlin from Cincinnati. The rest of us just wanted to get as much of the long ride done as possible before the day got stinky hot and humid. We are all still feeling dehydrated, sunburned and mind blasted from yesterdays' ride and looking forward to a day off before the last final 6 days of riding into Canada and the end of the ride.

As it turned out, we had a light cloud cover for most of the day which helped to moderate the heat a bit and enough of a side wind or head wind for most of the ride, to further help moderate the heat. Nothing helps with the humidity, and most of the riders, my sister Kris especially, are really feeling it.

Today was also an adventuresome ride. We started out with a couple of miles of rollers even before our legs were warmed up, but at least the sun wasn't entirely up so it still felt relatively cool. We caught the SAG at the first 20 mile point and then figured we wouldn't see her again all day, since we were riding early, and briskly and others had gotten a later start. She was stopped at the side of a river with a convenient swimming hole. Unfortunately, it was only 7:00 AM and none of us felt motivated to take advantage of it.

The Coffee Shop in Mifflin

In Mifflin we passed a coffee shop and a warning sign about buggies in the road which was a clue that we were getting close to "Amish country". We would have loved to stop for an iced coffee and a brief potty break, but alas, it was closed.

We passed the state park amphitheater where they do a Johnny Appleseed drama. My sense of American history and geography is so sporadic, I hadn't ever associated him with Ohio. According to one of the riders, he was one of the first real estate developers in the US. Somewhat of an eccentric, and not liking people around him much, he would scope out where he thought people would be settling next. Then he would go in ahead of the population wave, buy up land, plant apple orchards and then sell the land to incoming settler and move on to the next location. And here I had always thought of him as an eccentric philantropist, so much for fourth grade history.

We also passed a sign referring to the Mopaw Massacre where the first white settlement in the area had been wiped out by the Mohigan indians. Again, although I knew that they were eastern woodland indians, I didn't associate them with Ohio, but further north and east. Apparently they were active in the area as they were pushed out of other areas. It gives the entire history of the area, of which I'll admit I knew very little, a whole new perspective.

We were riding on a combination of county roads, township roads and state highways for the next 50 miles or so. Transitions from one to another were marked by the variation in paving and repair, but they were all pretty much universally, two lane, narrow and no shoulder. At least the county and township roads had the advantage of very little traffic to compensate for our irradic progress while maneuvering through rough spots in the paving and patches of gravel on top of the paving. Continuing on one county road required that we cross a state highway with a median and two lanes (supposedly) in each direction. This meant that we came off the township road, turned right, rode through torn up under construction road for 1/4 mile, turned across the median on a gravel stretch, located at the bottom of a hill, eased ourselves out into the barely passable left lane of the road going in the other direction while hoping no car came speeding over the hill and then crossed the dug up section of the outside lane to continue on from a point directly across from where we came onto the road. In retrospect it would have been easier, and possibly safer, to have ridden directly to the median and portaged our bikes over the grass.

Once that obstacle was safely past, we were pretty much riding steadily in Amish country for the next 10 miles or so. Lots of gentle rolls, a mixture of Amish (no electric lines, cars or power driven mechanical devices) and non Amish (lots of trucks, cars, tractors and the real give away, the dish satellites) farms. We passed one farm where they were harvesting hay and taking it off down the road in a horse drawn buggy, another where an angelic child with blonde curls of about 5 pumping water into buckets, stopped and waved to us, and several others where bearded men of various ages, all in dark sober clothes and hats, waved to us and called good morning.

At one of the crossroads we came up behind a horse drawn buggy and eased our way past it one by one so as not to startle the horse. About a mile later, it came trotting briskly by us and turned onto a side road.

Since the Amish drive steel wheeled buggies, the roads were rutted with bike eating grooves and large patches of very poorly paved or maintined road. Between the vibrations, and having to keep both hands on the bike, and not wanting to stop before any of the hills, it made honoring the tradition of not taking close up pictures, very easy to observe.

The rest of the ride after Jeromesville and the steepest climb of the day was pretty level and mostly farmland.

At 70 miles we finally hit SR 58 and stayed on it the rest of the way into Oberlin. There was a narrow shoulder, but the traffic was pretty fierce. At least most of it was a gentle downhill which made peddaling easier. It's a nice way to finish a long exhausting day, except that, as always, there was another hill to climb into Oberlin, this one made more difficult by cross traffic.

We rode through the center of Wellington which could have stood for a model of "small town Americana" with beautifully restored and maintained houses and gardens, a house with what looked like the back of a bronze dragon decorating it's top ridge, a city hall that looked straight out of Walt Disney. Unfortunately we were all so busy trying to keep an eye on the traffic, that it made any real sight seeing difficult to do except in brief glances.

The Inn in Oberlin is right on the town square, and the whole town looks very much like a college town with lots of interesting little shops and galleries, lots of parks and things to see.

Once again we got in before the luggage van so after a quick consult with the desk clerk, we rode out and found the rail trail that runs between the next town north and the next town south, 14 miles in all. We went out and rode along it for a couple of miles out and back, just to stretch out our legs and to pass the time.

After claiming luggage, and hauling it and the bike (yay and elevator) upstairs we got cleaned up and went out to the "Java Zone" for iced latte's and paninnis all around.

We have a volunteer from the Oberlin Historical Society coming to talk with us tonight about the town history so that should enliven the pre dinner "cocktail and nibbles" at the Trailer Cafe.

Today's Stats

Distance 90.43

ride time 6:11

average speed 14.6

elevation gain minus 357 feet