Today I traded my usual day of admiring the beautiful farm land to navigating the urban sprawl of the greater Cleveland area.
But before I hit the congestion of the city I did spend the first few hours in the country surrounded by some incredible farm land. I was so enjoying the ride this morning that I missed a turn & road 8 miles up the road before I noticed my mistake. The good news is that my route to correct my mistake took me out through some awesome Ohio countryside. I rode 35 miles before my first break & then went 40 more miles before hitting downtown Cleveland. I am so used to riding for hours upon hours with out a route change that today really tested my navigation skills. This required multiple stops to do map reading that in the end really broke up the day & made the 12 hours I spent in the saddle go by rather fast. If you look @ a map you will see that there is no way to get around Cleveland, you just have to ride straight through it. The downtown itself is rathe bicycle friendly with dedicated bike lanes though the town. The bad part is about 2 hours of stop & go riding through east Cleveland, not the most “friendly” part of town! Bad neighborhoods & terrible roads with pot holes literally large enough to swallow a whole car! My goal was to get through the town & position myself to be within striking distance of Edinboro Pa where I will meet up with Garth & my wife tomo. I did that and then some putting in 118 miles & ending up in Mentor OH.
Like Columbus sailing to the new world & seeing birds flying & debris floating in the water, I knew I was getting closer to home when I saw my first Sheet gas station & I found my first pub that had Yuengling Beer. Perfect!
I should be getting through my home town Wed or Thur. & get to spend 1 night of the trip in my own bed.
I also can’t wait for my ride into Beech a week on June 11t & meet with Justin & his family.
Frank's Coast to Coast Ride for Justin 