ChicagoTreeMD: A pretty tough first day

The first day of riding for the Tour des Trees is complete. 93 miles and a ton of climbing. The climbing was in shorter, very steep hills as opposed to longer climbs. Some of the hills were so steep it was tough to keep the bike upright. The first day is always fraught with nerves at the start and sometimes crashes. This day had no incidents! We had a couple of good stops early in the ride, including planting a huge birch tree with at tree spade that was dedicated by the mayor. The afternoon portion of the ride was where the hills really kicked in and so did the cramps. A few of us locked up. I was able to fight them off by slowing the pace and later taking a Hot Shot. Hot Shot is in my opinion a miracle shot of cinnamon tasting liquid that stimulates the nerves in the back of your throat to almost immediately stop the cramps. The nerve impulses are disrupted that cause the leg cramps, and for me, stopped them right away allowing me to power on. Our last stop was at the Methodist Church and it was amazing. The people were so welcoming and the bathrooms....best so far. Even had stained glass windows in them! We deemed it our "pray and pee" stop. They loved it! Oh...an important, and first ever, offering at this rest stop was pickle juice! Awesome. Used to fend off cramps. I think it is delicious. In small quantities.
Our final destination for the the next two nights is the Mohican State Park lodge. It is a very, very clean and wonderful state park "resort." We are fortunate to have this space for the next couple of nights and again when we make our way back from Cleveland. All the buzz tonight was about the ride on Monday, the Queen Stage. Queen Stage is the term for the toughest day of a multi-day tour. It will only be a 75 mile loop but we will be going back up those extremely steep grades and will climb about 6000'. Cramps stay away. We are thinking we will stay dry tomorrow but rain is in the forecast. Climbing 6000' in the rain will be epic if it happens!