ChicagoTreeMD: Day 3 of The Tour Des Trees---RAIN!

We woke up this morning with no rain falling. This was the first century (100+miles) of the trip so far and everyone was itchy to get moving. We knew the rain was on the way. The goal was to get to the first rest stop dry. Almost. We had to climb our way out of the Mohican State Park.....a grueling climb up the road, one we've done before. A nice descent but then another climb out. Already cashed at 8:30am! The ride, however, smoothed out and that was the last of the 12%+ pitches until after lunch. Then the rain started. We have a great pace line going lead many times by our 2014 Purdue graduate Dustin. I named him the Boilermaker Express as he pulled us along like a locomotive. For those of you who don't ride, those who follow a lead rider can experience 15-20% more efficiency (comfort) due to the slipstream that is created. It is a wonderful thing for guys like me. So we pounded out the miles and it began to rain harder. The deal with rain is that the roads become dangerous for skinny tires, you can't see potholes filled with water, it is cold, and you can't see very well because your glasses don't have wipers. Also, when you are drafting you drink alot of road water, water from the road thrown up by the rider's tire in front of you. But once you are wet, you are wet. We don't wear rain gear in the summer as it is too hot. So you put on a light jacket, some arm warmers and pedal.

Lunch sucked. It was outside, in a gazebo out of the rain. Sitting on cold concrete. No one's fault but you quickly get cold and start to stiffen up, especially when you are 56. So we didn't linger and got back on the road. A good hill helped to warm us up. Then the Boilermaker Special was on the move.

We had a Bartlett sponsored stop by my Cleveland office leader. Planted two trees including a tree clone of a tree give to Jesse Owens during the Olympics in Germany. Pretty cool. The other tree was a Johnny Appleseed tree, yep from Johnny himself. Cold, still raining, off we went. Then....the rain stopped and the sun came out! It was amazing. Off went the jackets and arm warmers. We were almost dry when we arrived into Kent at mile 100. Our last pull was on a great bike trail. We all stopped to see a one legged Coopers hawk. Think about that. How does a one-legged hawk eat. Probably infrequently, but he looked good. Bet he doesn't even know he's supposed to have 2 legs. Three legged dog, one legged hawk. I love Ohio.

Massage helped. If you have ever had a massage after a long workout, race, run it is awesome. Your legs are so tight that any pressure hurts like heck but man do you feel better the next day. Even had some work done on the quads at a rest stop.

Tomorrow says no rain. Let's hope but if it comes, so be it. You can't appreciate the sunshine without a little rain. We ride our biggest mileage day tomorrow. 116 miles. Going through Cleveland and back to Kent. Should be challenging but the elevation will be mild or so we hope. Going to stop at Arborwear, purveyor of fine arborist clothing. Bill Weber who founded it is a friend and one of the best. Great company. Check them out, you can buy online. Everyone want's arborist clothing!

Thank you for all the support. It may seem like a small thing but when you are not wanting to pedal anymore you do, at least I do, think about all the encouraging messages.