Day 43: Good Bye OH--IO. Hello Pennsylvania!

Youngstown, OH to Erie, PA
Miles:  93  Climb:  2,185
Total Miles:  3,420

We left Youngstown, Ohio this morning and rode north. It was a perfect day to ride. The temperature was an unseasonably cool sixty degrees when we started out this morning, the sun was brilliant, and there was no wind. Spirits were high. The weather was terrific and we knew a rest day was waiting for us after 93 miles.  I set out with Hans, Tony, and Steve, and we rode fast to the first SAG stop at 33 miles. From there I joined Liz and John who also kept a steady pace. I averaged 17 mph for the 93 mile ride, which is a good pace for me given there were a number of big hills on the route. We rode past more beautiful farms, and we also saw a covered bridge, vineyards and several Amish buggies.

The second SAG stop was at mile 69 at Richardson's White Turkey Root Beer Stand. We arrived there shortly before noon. I believe our entire group of riders stopped and almost everyone had root beer floats.  Riders were lined up on the stools that circled the stand consuming massive amounts of ice cream, root beer floats, and coney dogs. We surely set a record for the amount of calories consumed today.  Less than a mile after leaving the White Turkey Root Beer Stand, we crossed the state line and entered Pennsylvania. Another state is in the books!

Several people are having mechanical issues with their bikes after so many miles in such hard conditions.  There is a bike shop near the hotel, and many riders will take their bikes in for adjustments and/or parts tomorrow.  We'll have a bike cleaning station in the morning and our mechanic will go over the bikes to fix what he can and recommend who needs to go to the bike shop for bigger repairs like new rims, chain ring replacement or new bearings.  My bike is working great since I got the new cassette, so I'm expecting that thorough cleaning and lubrication should be all I need to get me to the end of the ride.  We have just 8 days of riding left, and only one of those will be more than 90 miles; however, the remaining days include lots of climbing as we go over the hills and mountains of  New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.