Day 15- Akron to Gambier 65 miles
Ohio = headwinds
The first half of the ride was fairly flat, but the headwinds made up for that. Nonetheless, Raj and I still kept up a 14-15 mph pace and made it to the lunch site. Though the Ohioan hasty drivers did make it hard with getting cut off on right turns and Raj getting flipped off for being in the shoulder. Who knows. Up until that point, I was doing all right, and then I did a terrible thing by spending probably an hour and a half at lunch. I have found that when I’m at lunch any longer than half and hour, I get lazy and tired.
Hoping back on my bike, I fell back, far back. Let’s just say I rode with sweep for the rest of the day over the rolling hills (I was under the impression Ohio was flat, that is not the case.) Some highs from the second half of the trip were that at one point I broke the speed limit (second time this trip) and we rode a lovely bike path the last 8 miles of the trip singing musicals at the top of our lungs the whole way.
Coming into the town of Gambier I was very surprised at the adorableness factor it had. We stayed at Kenyon College in the dorms (yes, we slept in beds. Pure luxury.) We found a precious bar right on campus that had a dollar Pabst special. After drinking a couple brews and having the most amazing mushroom burger of my life (better than any meat burger I have ever had) we crashed back in our beds preparing ourselves for a feast in the morning.
Day 16- Gambier to Columbus 72 miles
Half-way through in order to avoid a lunch of strictly peanut butter and bread, a big group of us stopped at a little restaurant where we met some of the friendliest people. Parked out front on the patio with multiple tables pulled together, all the passer-byers had to ask what we were doing. A delicious meal and a couple conversations later, we wound up with $80 of pure donation magic.
The day started out well with a breakfast at Hogwarts (aka Kenyon College’s dinning hall). With possibly a little too much food in my stomach, we set out to Columbus, OH.
Coming into Columbus along a city bike route was by far the best part of the day. We even saw two deer in the middle of the city!
We took a quick detour a couple miles from the church to the Ohio State football field.
BUT the real surprise of the day we our sleeping quarters. Instead of the usual gym floor or Sunday school room (though those are deeply appreciated) we had something slightly different.
We stayed at the Athletic Club of Columbus (thanks to Natalie and her amazing donation magic).
And if you think that was the cherry on our sundae, we ended the night with a real sundae at a place called Jeni’s. With crazy flavors ranging from goats milk to cayenne pepper, this was the best ice cream I have ever had. Bold statement, but true.
Day 17- Columbus to Dayton 80 miles
Bike paths galore. The whole 80 miles were practically bike paths. In Ohio, they do this really interesting thing that more cities should catch onto. They turned all their old railways lines into bike paths. Newly paved with no more than a 3% grade, this was a nice break from the gravel roads and uncooperative drivers.
We stayed at Sinclair Community College where we received some of the best hospitality yet.
Day 18- Build day
We had a long build day where we did anything from drywall to laying the gravel for a driveway. Dodgy weather gave way for a more mopey day, but productive nonetheless.
Showing off their fantastic hospitality, after building, we were taken to the Wright Brothers
Aviation Center. We saw some of the original Wright Brother’s bikes as well as their first planes! Our tour guide was dressed in the period attire accompanied with a big-wheeled bicycle.
We ended the night with a donation magic trip to Trader Joes. Very successful.
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