Day 48 - Powell, OH to Cambridge, OH (92 miles)

We set off from the Mann's house loaded with food and clean clothing all thanks to their great generosity. They had showed us a less trafficked route to follow to the Olentangy Bike Trail that would let us avoid busy roads packed with Columbus commuters. Without much trouble we reached the Olentangy Trail through Powell and Worthington and began paralleling the river of the same name towards Downtown Columbus. The trail was in great condition with good signage and many other people out for recreation and commuting. The trail was great at avoiding busy road crossings, instead offering above and below road level crossings for bicyclists. The trail led us right past Ohio State University and Jonathan was able to see Ohio Stadium for the first time. Photos captured and then we hopped back on the trail down towards the Arena District.

Emerging in the Arena District we road some sidewalks to get around waterfront reconstruction work, before arriving on East Main Street, which would become Highway 40.  We headed out of the Arena District and into a more "interesting" part of Columbus.  Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by Starbucks and Chipotle as we entered the wealthy suburb of Bexley.  By this point we had gotten used to riding on a minimal shoulder and dodging traffic as it pulled in and out of local businesses along 40.  Although we had not covered a huge amount of distance, this type of urban, stop and go riding is tiring, so I turned to Google and found a Bob Evans on the border of Reynoldsburg.  After stuffing ourselves with whole grain pancakes, we headed off on Highway 40.

The riding was comfortable, with some slow rolling hills and flat agriculture that allowed us to maintain a comfortable pace. The closer we got to Zanesville, the larger the hills began to become.  We could no longer maintain our momentum as we climbed these hills, and for the first time in a few states, we were shifting to our lower gears to creep up each hill.  Finally in Zanesville we grabbed some lunch at a gas station and met a very interesting woman who was convinced that we were twins.  We apparently looked so much alike that she could not keep our sandwich orders straight, and we each ended up with a combination of what we had each wanted on our own sandwiches.

The hills leaving Zanesville were even less hospitable to biking and exceeded 10% grades.  The shoulders were nonexistent and the locals were kind enough to verbally harass us as they sat in the backs of passing pickup trucks.  We also saw a young boy walking around, trying to get a piece of plastic sheeting to stick to his sweaty back, he greeted us politely as we passed.  What an interesting section of the Midwest!

Around 7pm, we reached the town of New Concord and decided it would be best to grab dinner before continuing on to Cambridge.  We got sandwiches from Subway, which curiously did not have any seating available.  Luckily for us, the town of New Concord has outdoor concerts and the Muskingham Valley Symphonic Winds were beginning a performance across the street right as we emerged with our food.  We ate quickly and took in two songs before we headed back to the steep Eastern Ohio hills.

While we wished to continue past Cambridge, there was no real options for lodging that would keep us under 130+ miles for the day.  With the terrain continuing to through large hills our way, it was unlikely that we would have made it much further anyway.  We planned to stay overnight in Cambridge, and had to endure many hills on the way there.  About two hours after we settled down for the night, a large thunderstorm rolled through the area.  It was definitely a good idea that we had not tried to push on for a late night of riding.

Photos by Jonathan Kobles

Day 47 - Piqua, OH to Powell, OH (69 miles)

We slept in a bit, and planned to deviate from our normal routine, and grab breakfast before biking.  Conveniently, across the street was a Bob Evans.  Bob Evans is essentially a better, Midwest version of Denny's (which if you follow the blog, you have seen is definitely one of our favorite meal choices.  Breakfast is packed with carbs and protein, exactly what we need to bike many miles each day).  Many carbs and grams of protein later and questions answered about our trip from local diners, we were off towards Powell.

We headed off through the small towns of Fletcher and St. Paris.  While both towns were small, they still had a more Northeastern feel than towns that we have seen before.  It looks like Ohio might be the state where we start feeling more at home.  Only time will tell.  About twenty five miles in, we arrive in Urbana.  The downtown is very picturesque and we take in some of the historic sites as we make a short northern diversion up to Urbana's sole bike shop.  We need tubes to replace what we used in Indiana, and Jonathan is in pretty serious need of new tires for his bike.  I ask the shop owner what he has for puncture resistant touring tires.  He then grabs a few options which I can tell are in fact not puncture-resistant, and then proceeds to Google features about them and recite them to me.  I am not impressed, and after looking a bit more around his shop decide that we have wasted enough time here, and head off towards our destination.

Leaving Urbana, we left Highway 36 and jumped onto routes 29 and 161 that would lead us from Mutual to Plain City.  Our ride led us through more and more agriculture, something that has become routine, only to be occasionally "spiced up" by some of these increasingly present Ohio trees.  The towns we passed through, such as Irwin, were not much more than a couple buildings along 161, with no sources of food or drink.  Thus it was up to us to make it the 55 miles from breakfast to a Subway lunch in Plain City.  The riding was not bad, and despite our later start and hearty breakfast we were eating lunch about 15 miles from our destination by 3pm.

The rest of our route got busier and busier as we approached the suburbs of Columbus and passed through Dublin into Powell.  As it was the beginning of evening rush hour, the roads were filled with aggressive drivers that were much more confident in where they were headed than we were.  With only one wrong turn, we soon found ourselves on the very busy Saw Mill Road, before turning onto our destination's street.  Tonight we are staying with my girlfriend's aunt, uncle and cousin in Powell.  They have graciously opened up their home to us and treated us to an all you can eat fish and chips dinner.  Mrs. Mann also helped us with laundry, the first we had done since Wyoming (and possibly the first time that my non-biking clothes have been washed the entire trip... possibly).  Thank you so much Mann family!

The first thing we did when we arrived was get a ride up to Wheelie Fun Bike Shop (http://www.wheeliefunbikeshop.com) in Powell.  I had talked to the owner, Ryan, on the phone earlier and he told me that he also was a bike tourer and had some options for puncture resistant tires.  When we arrived he showed us the tires and had two great options that we could use for new front and rear tires on Jonathan's bike.  We also made some tuning adjustments to both of our bikes.  I asked him to take a looking at my rear derailleur, which had been shifting poorly since Illinois.  Ryan fixed this quickly and also recognized my rear disc brake rotor was warped.  He fixed this as well.  When we tried to pay him for the service/installation work he did, he refused.  We ended up leaving the shop with free tubes and a new bottle of lube too!  Ryan was fantastic and I hope that Wheelie Fun Bike Shop is very successful (it's been open just three months and is the only bike place in Powell).  Unlike some shops we have run across this trip, Ryan definitely knows and sells quality products and service.  Thanks Ryan!

Day 46 - Carmel, IN to Piqua, OH (114 miles)

We set off into the light fog that hung around Carmel and Noblesville. Heading east we were lucky to head through these beautiful suburbs on a bike path that paralleled the busy road for about 11 miles. We made great time and we were in good spirits. We planned to reach Pendleton and grab breakfast. Part way there we reached a Waffle House, something that Jonathan had been looking for this entire trip. We decided that we really ought to get at least the 25 miles to Pendleton of biking in before we ate and slowed down.

We found a great pancake house online and headed off. We were flying along back roads with small hills helping us to maintain our momentum. Our speed led us to pass a group of local cyclists out for a morning ride. Unfortunately our directions from Google led us astray as they tried to direct us through an Indiana Correctional Facility that was gated and fenced off from the public.  We decided it was best to not push our luck, or push past the fence, and instead we headed to another diner and dug into a hearty meal.  Once more, we were the only spandex clad patrons, and we stood out compared to the old farmers that were seated for their daily breakfasts.

After we ate, we headed off on Highway 36.  The road was flat, as was typical in Indiana.  Still, we made decent time, despite the weak crosswind.  (While headwinds are by far our least favorite thing to encounter on this trip, crosswinds are unfortunate because they still do slow us down a bit).  Eventually, I noticed that my shorts are catching on my seat, looking down noticed that I had tar on both my seat and shorts.  I stop to wipe this off, only to realize that my bike, bags, water bottles and left leg have quite a bit of tar on them.  I do my best to wipe this off with leaves from a roadside tree, but eventually just accept that I will have tar on parts of my legs/gear for the rest of the trip.  We set off, and not 100 yards later, a small explosion of air leaves Jonathan with a flat rear tire.  Upon inspection, nothing pierced the tire, and his tube had spontaneously exploded. (Maybe our repair of the tire sidewall slice from yesterday was not strong enough).

Tire swapped out, and a new tube in place we keep setting off towards Ohio.  We have one last stop in Lynn, IN where we look for an open restaurant, but instead must default to another gas station meal. Yum.  After an extended break, and with the Ohio border only seven miles away, we set off.  20 feet later, Jonathan realizes his front tire is flat.  We change it, and set off to Ohio!

Five miles later, another front tire flat for Jonathan.  Patch the tube, and we are off!  200 feet later, flat tire number four for the day.  We swap tires, and use our last spare tube.  Finally we get into Ohio, knowing that ten miles later a Walmart would hopefully have more spare tubes for us.  With gentle terrain, and decent road shoulders we make our way into Greenville, Ohio.  Sure enough, the Walmart had a few tubes that would work, and we ate a dinner at Subway.  We had booked our motel back in Lynn, before we knew that we would spend over an hour playing music tires on Jonathan's bike.  Needless to say, the sun was setting, and we still had about 30 miles to our destination in Piqua, OH.  Without the sun, the traffic lessened and the temperature cooled.  Decked out in lights on both our heads and bikes, we flew through the night.  Night riding is tough knowing how late we will arrive at our destination, but the combination of less traffic and less heat usually leads us to very productive pedaling.  

Photos by Jonathan Kobles 

Day 45 - Danville, IL to Carmel, IN (93 miles)

We got an earlier start than yesterday, but knew that only a couple miles into our trip today we would be losing an hour of riding due to our triumphant return to the Eastern Time Zone.  Even before that happened however, I pedaled my 3000th official mile since leaving San Francisco back on June 19.  Right after passing the Danville Correctional Facility, we reached the Indiana state line, and with it, our "new" and favorite time zone.  Shortly thereafter, to ruin the moment, a piece of road debris cut a 1.5 inch gash in Jonathan's rear tire.  Instantly he lost air through the large hole, and our streak of having no flat tires since Lincoln, Nebraska was broken.  We taped the inside of the tire and replaced the tube, and we were off and pedaling in about 10 minutes.  The majority of our morning in Indiana was spent on what appeared to be flat, boring cornfields, but we were in fact slightly gaining "elevation". 

We crawled along as this constant terrain does not allow us to pick up the same speed, and maintain momentum the way that rolling hills do.  At a gas station in Covington, we decided to make it almost 40 miles before we would stop for a meal in Crawfordsville.  Once there, we were not in the mood for fast food, so we decided to take our chances at the local pizza shop.  We split a large pizza that was delicious, and were ready to head out on the rest of our ride.  Not even half way to our destination, we knew this day was going to drag on.  (Random side note:  There was a gas station in Crawfordsville selling regular gas for $3.09 that had an absurdly long line of cars trying to take advantage of this price, which is about $0.40 lower than I've been seeing in the rest of Indiana).

The afternoon's ride was much of the same flat, slow terrain, and we found ourselves playing games to keep our minds off the ride, and let the miles instead slip by painlessly.  We had one of our traditional mid-afternoon gas station breaks where we both refueled and caffeinated our bodies to keep our spirits up.  After passing the Indianapolis Executive Airport, we reached Westfield, where we turned off Indiana 32 and onto US Highway 31 to head down to Carmel.  This road, unlike many of the US Highways we have ridden previously, truly became a highway, and we quickly exited to take a more scenic bike path and ride through a local park.  We emerged next to a large shopping center with businesses and restaurants that reminded us of being back on the East Coast.  With only one meal under our belts of the day, we craved real food and headed down to Chili's.

We were greeted enthusiastically at the door, and as the hostess walked us to our table she enquired about our ride and asked about Lea's Foundation.   She had a connection with leukemia and told us about the work she has done with events such as Light the Night.  Our waitress, Jessica, was equally excited about our ride and could not believe that we had ridden all the way from San Francisco.  As more members of the Chili's staff learned about our story, more of them came up to say "hi" and wish us luck.  Just as we started to eat, the manager introduced himself and told us that he had paid for our meal and was very impressed with the distance of our trip and that we were averaging 100 miles per day of cycling.  After our meal, Jessica asked for our blog URL so that she and other members of the restaurant staff could read about and follow our trip (Hi guys!).  The welcome reception we received at Chili's and the complimentary dinner was amazing and it absolutely made our night.  Thanks so much guys!

Following dinner we rolled across the parking lot to Walmart to supply for tomorrow, and then on to our hotel at the other end of the parking lot.  Today was a "short" day, but still took a lot out of us.

Day 44 - Normal, IL to Danville, IL (93 miles)

After our late arrival last night, we agreed that we should get a bit of a later start today, especially since we "only" had to bike 94 miles.  As a departure from our normal routine for biking 30-40 miles before breakfast, we decided to get our second consecutive meal at the Denny's across the street.  Filled with our Grand Slams, we headed off to take the Constitution Trail, which was another rail-to-trail bike path that would lead us through the heart of Bloomington and spit us out south of the city on Highway 150 heading towards Champaign.  The path was beautifully shaded and being used by many other people.

Today's ride through the corn was a bit less enjoyable than yesterday's.  The road was flatter and the miles seemed to drag on, so the appeal of Illinois was slipping.  As we biked we found ways to distract ourselves and soon we noticed that there were dark clouds forming on three sides of us.  During a quick road-side break, I checked my phone and saw on the radar that there were scattered thunderstorms throughout Illinois and that Bloomington (where we had come from) and Champaign (where we were headed) were both getting hit with very strong storms.  Luckily, for the time being, we were in the clear so we continued on our trek.

Eventually we reached Mahomet where we decided to grab lunch at Subway.  Eating our subs, Jonathan noticed a weather advisory had been issued around noon.  The advisory stated that over Urbana (right next to Champaign), a funnel cloud had been spotted by a trained observer, and that there was a continued risk of funnel cloud formation until 4pm CDT.  With storms closing in on Mahomet, we saw a window of opportunity to get the next 12 miles to Champaign safely.  We biked quickly and only got rained on for a couple minutes right before we reached Champaign city limits.  As we rode through the city we saw and heard an impressive display of thunder/lightning off to the north.  We turned onto University Avenue and headed towards the University of Illinois and were greeted with beautiful houses and lawns right inside the city.  We reached the bicycle shop we were headed for and ducked inside.  After browsing, and some light bike maintenance, we saw that the funnel cloud advisory was expiring and the radar was clearing up.  We decided to ignore our contingency plan of staying in Champaign overnight, and instead, head the extra 38 miles to a motel in Danville, IL (on the Indiana border).

As we rode on, we required a few gas station rest stops as our bodies were still tired from yesterday's very long ride.  As sunset approached, the clouds began to clear and the sun was actually visible for the first time since mid-afternoon.  Looks like our radar reading abilities were spot on.  Around 8pm we finally reached Danville and after being disappointed by their many fast-food options, decided to try our luck at the local chinese buffet.  The restaurant staff was the nicest I had ever seen at a chinese buffet, and they even offered to make us any dishes that were empty at the buffet.  Very stuffed, and loaded with a very noticeable amount of sodium we headed off to pick up supplies for the morning and get to our motel.  The Friday night scene in downtown Danville was interesting.  I was very glad that the motel we booked was about 5 miles from the city center; with each passing mile we felt more and more comfortable.  We arrived at our motel, but before we could get to shower/sleep, we had to lug our bikes and gear up a flight of stairs to our room.

Day 43 - Burlington, IA to Normal, IL (128 miles)

We survived our stay at the Lincolnville Inn with no need to use our bear spray. As we reassembled our bikes and bags after carrying them from our second floor room, we took in the stunning site of a blood red sun rising to the east. We set off towards Illinois and after a short construction site we were rolling over the Mighty Mississippi. 

Once on the other side we decided to walk down to the river bank for a better view. The mud was soft from flooding, but getting down to the Mississippi's river edge was well worth the effort (and frustration of scraping my cleats clean with a stick). 

We headed off Highway 34 for the first time since before Iowa, and into cornfields as we covered some county roads.

30 miles of rolling cornfields and occasional train tracks later, we arrived in Roseville. We found a local café and sat down for breakfast. While we waited for our food we talked with the owner about our trip, Illinois, and that today was his last day in the restaurant business before he retired and went back to police work.

Well-fed we headed off to Farmington (Illinois). Illinois has some of the rolling hills mixed of Iowa with the flat agricultural fields of Western Nebraska. Overall, I found it enjoyable. There were finally areas of trees with some deciduous shade trees overhanging the road that reminded us of parts of New England. Reaching the intersection with Highway 41, we saw the ironic "Star of the American Road". The service station has been out of state long enough for their pumps to have warnings that the fuel contained lead as an anti-knock agent. The miles flew by through the countryside and we soon arrived in Farmington.  We took the requisite pictures in front of the "Welcome to Farmington" sign, and then headed further into the town to grab a quick gas station snack. 

 As we sat down to cool off and refuel, a group of local boys arrived from their middle school football practice.  They had seen our bikes and wanted to know all about our trip.  They told us that the longest ride they had heard of before was when one of their friends road 10 miles to a neighboring town.  They could not believe what we were doing.

Once more we set off, this time continuing on to Peoria.  Peoria was the third biggest city we have biked completely through on our entire trip after Lincoln and Boise.  Despite its rough roads and broken up sidewalks as we approached Peoria, we ended up on a road with a wide, well-marked bike lane that likely afforded us the safest passage of our entire day's trip.  We sped through the city and eventually onto Illinois Highway 40, that led us over the Illinois River and to our Subway dinner in East Peoria.  Finishing up our food quickly, we set off towards Bloomington.  We knew that we had quite a bit of distance to cover in order to reach Normal, IL before it was too late.

We rode on an old railroad line turned bike path from East Peoria to Morton (River Trail of Illinois).  I talked with a 61 year old man who was out for his nightly ride on the path.  He shared stories of his riding and touring throughout Illinois/Iowa and offered some tips on the roads we planned to take for the next few days.  Reaching Morton, we rejoined traffic and pedaled at a brisk 20mph out of the city and back into the cornfields.  While there certainly is a lot of corn here, it does not bother/bore me the same way it did back in Nebraska.  Illinois has just enough curves and hills to help us keep up our momentum and engage our minds.  We rode through a number of small towns along Highway 150 as we mirrored the Interstate (Which we are unfortunately not allowed to ride in Illinois--Our post-dinner ride would have been shortened from 39 to 30 miles if we had been welcome to ride its shoulder). 

The sun set way before we reached normal, leaving us in the dark for the last 15+ miles of our trip.  The view was spectacular though as we rode the rising hills between wind turbines, corn and thousands of fireflies.  We wished we could have captured the scene on our cameras but knew that they would not have done it justice.  Eventually we pulled into Normal, and headed for the Denny's across the street to grab a late night meal.  It's such an odd coincidence that we keep ending up having lodging directly next to or across the street from 24-hour Denny's...

Day 42 - Albia, IA to Burlington, IA (95 miles)

We set off with lots of optimism after yesterday's very impressive ride. The morning was cool again, although this time without the dense fog from yesterday. Every downhill chilled me and I looked forward to being warmed up with the sun fully risen. We knew that our legs would be sluggish as they always are first thing, but soon enough we were flying up hills just as we had yesterday.

Our good fortune of having a safe shoulder continued into Ottumwa. This city is nicknamed "The City of Bridges" due to its many crossings of the Des Moines River. We passed a pretty park and campground that was just out of our reach last night (would have been another 20 miles) and were soon crossing the Des Moines River. After our crossing we saw our first "Share the Road" bicycling sign. It was reassuring to see that other cyclists also ride on Highway 34, which at time definitely feels like the last thing we should do on it.

Leaving Ottumwa, Highway 34 became a true highway. Now a divided four lane highway, our shoulder once again became less than ideal. For the rest of the day, the majority of the shoulder would consist of 2.5 feet of concrete with periodic rumble strips ruining our smooth riding. Despite the bigger riding surface, the traffic was still light on this stretch of road and we were probably the safest that we have been in all of Iowa. Still flying along the Iowa countryside we reached Fairfield for our daily Taco John's breakfast.

We set off for another 20+ mile stretch to our next rest stop in Mount Pleasant. As is becoming routine in Iowa, we made great time. There were points today where we were topping 20/21mph as we pointed uphill. We had quite a climb into Mount Pleasant, but after a snack and some POWERade, we were ready to keep biking.

After Mount Pleasant, we passed through another Connecticut town, New London. Getting to Danville it was time to arrange our lodging. Hotels were busy overall but we found a good deal at a motel that we thought would be acceptable. With the motel refusing to hold a room, we had to hustle the last 14 miles down to Burlington. The motel room was horrible, but did lack a deadbolt despite having an interesting selection of neighbors. This just gave us one more potential use for our bear spray.

On the way to dinner, Subway, we descended the steepest hill we've seen this trip. It had to be about 12% grade. Unsurprisingly, we chose a different route back to the motel after we ate.