Days 27 to 29: Cleveland, Ohio to near Defiance, Ohio

Note: Dan is providing a brief update for Liz

This three day segment from July 11 (Tuesday) thru July 13 (Thursday) crossed the northern part of Ohio on the way towards Fort Wayne, Indiana. More than half of Tuesday’s 81 miles was urban riding across the city of Cleveland where Elizabeth got to pass the R&R Hall of Fame. Blue skies were welcome on Tuesday morning as they crossed the city along the shoreline of Lake Erie.

Elizabeth was cautious with her knee on this 81 mile stretch – the longest day she’s had since getting back on the bike. Fortunately she completed the day no worse for the wear!

Wednesday started with an early morning squall that caught everyone off guard. Everything was flooded and everyone started the 67 relatively flat miles soaked to the bone. Fortunately Elizabeth had already packed her tent so none of her belongings got wet this time!

Corn and wheat dominated the landscape on this ride that ended south of Toledo.

Thursday’s ride of 52 miles passed some native american lands – former home of the Pontiac Indians. But mostly this rural ride was farmland.

Along with farmland comes food processing – here one of our ride leaders got a picture of the worlds largest can of Tomato Soup!

During the three day span Elizabeth covered just over 200 miles and her knee continued to feel good. She’s continuing to ice the knee every evening and still taking NSAIDs. One more day of riding on Friday and she can enjoy a rest day Saturday! (Dan) will point out that “rest day” is a bit of a misnomer. Zero days provide a time to shop for needed supplies (assuming there is a store nearby), clean up camping gear, lubricate the bike, do laundry, and otherwise prepare for another 6 to 10 days of riding.