Yesterday’s push to Akron in the heat was a bit of overdoing it. Rick was willing to drive sag as far as I wanted to go today. But the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms, so we decided to just pack up and head home. Once home I immediately began packing up Kuroko in the…

After a day curtailed by the heat (Day 2) and a fairly easy day in the shade (Day 3), we were ready to take on the challenge again today. Following a fairly brisk start at 7 on flat roads, we got into the climby bits at the 20km mark. The first and biggest climb of…

Yesterday we called a halt to the ride before noon because of the heat. We’d covered 71km out of a planned 118. While we waited for the sag wagon we discussed the plan of action for the rest of the week. Rather than try to finish the entire route, we would hit the highlights: sections…

We set out from Xenia quite a bit earlier than yesterday, hoping to get in as much pedaling as we could before the heat came on. Once clear of Xenia, the path is straight and flat. While trees line both sides, they don’t overhang the path for the most part. There’s far less shade than…

We aimed for a 7 a.m. departure, but Rick and I chatted on at breakfast. We finally got underway about 7:45. The first few kilometers were along the riverside park and then a bit of broken city pavement. Soon after that we turned northward on the cycling course, and remained on the course for the…