Month: October 2017

10/2/17

Dry Ridge, KY > Mt Orab, OH

Miles Ridden – 116.3

Mileage to date – 3,185.5

Or better yet, another day another century. What’s a “century” you ask? In the bicycling world, a century is 100 miles of riding. Try it sometime. It’s not easy. Next try loading 60 lbs or so of gear on your bike and riding a century. Once you have that under your belt then try doing 3 consecutive days of century rides with a bike full of gear. I am getting tired just typing that!

John crossed the Ohio river today for the final time. He followed the ACA route which is a rather circuitous route around Cincinnati. He is spending the night in Mt Orab, OH which per its Wikipedia page seems to be a totally unremarkable place. He is about 40 miles

easy of Cincinnati. Yesterday John was debating whether he should do a shorter (75 miles) or a longer ride (105 miles) today. He opted for even longer ride by getting lost for a while –

“I spooked a large bird this morning who in turn spooked me and I rode off the shoulder into soft grass. Shortly after, I missed a turn in Concord, KY that added 9 miles to my ride. That’s when I decided to have lunch and evaluate my performance. Fortunately, after eating things improved and I crossed the Ohio river without incident. Overall, the ride today was really beautiful.”

John also reported that –

“Lots of deer and rebel flags today. Not to mention dogs chasing me down the street.”

Sounds fun!

Without further adieu let’s get to the photos –

How could anyone get lost with such clear signage?-

I have ridden 300 miles in 3 days, that looks pretty nice-

10/1/17

Jeffersonville, IN > Dry Ridge, KY

Miles Ridden – 103.8

Mileage to date – 3,069.2

John ushered in the month of October with a return to the eastern time zone. After 39 days away, it is a good sign of the progress that he has made to date. John also surpassed the 3,000 mile mark today for his tour today.

Today’s destination was Dry Ridge, KY (2,191) which is about 35 miles south of Cincinnati. Dry Ridge was the birthplace of country singer Skeeter Davis. “Who the heck is he?” is what my lovely bride asked when informed of this fact. Well it turns out that Skeeter was a she!

Tomorrow, John should make it to Ohio. The bike route that he is following is called the Underground Railroad and per the the Adventure Cycling Association(ACA) it “memorializes the Underground Railroad, a network of clandestine routes by which African freedom seekers attempted to escape slavery before and during the Civil War”.

John’s account of the day – “I started in Jeffersonville IN before sunrise today and it was cold until late morning. I’m officially in the eastern time zone and it only stands to reason the outside temperature was exactly what one should expect in the east in October. The ride followed the Ohio river for about 10 miles and it was a great place to see the sunrise. Once the route separated from the river navigation became more difficult due to missing street signs and discrepancies with road names. Fortunately, thanks to my iPhone and a little patience I was able to find my way back to Kentucky. After passing through the wonderful town of Madison IN, I crossed the Ohio river again. Once in KY, the ride was pretty straight forward keeping me on 2 state routes for 51 miles. I will say there was a mile long climb at 10% grade with 9 miles left in the route that made me think about skiing.”

John also said that “Madison IN reminded me of Woodstock, VT”.

Photos from today –