White Line Fever: Day 16: 5/31/10 Greenville, OH to Athens, OH

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35265552

Hacking Hills

We have officially left behind the flats of Indiana and western Ohio and have moved into some remarkable hilly country in southeastern Ohio. It probably goes without saying but, I am finding the better the scenery, the more difficult the riding. The lower milage and easier pace rides over the past few days have paid dividends to the point that I feel ready to take on the eastern mountains over the next few days. Today was not terribly difficult other than the latter half of the day when temps climbed as did the topography.

The morning was picture perfect. We started a bit earlier than normal to stay out of the heat as much as possible early on. From the start, it was incredibly humid and overcast as isolated showers were expected during the day. The big orange sun rose low in the sky, illuminating a thick morning haze. Even though the temps were in the mid to upper 60s, within a half hour my face, arms and legs were dripping with condenstate. The roads were quiet and peaceful, all I could hear was the woosh of my tires spinning down the road. We even had a breif tailwind, something that has been remarkably illusive from the start of this journey. This made the pedaling effortless and quite comfortable. Like clockwork, however, within a few hours the wind had shifted to the south again. As we proceeded in a southeasterly direction for most of the day, we were once again fighing the wind for more than 8 hours today.

I have been having difficulty as of late finding a good positon on the bike as most points of contact are sore or numb. My feet are constantly tingly (even off the bike), my palms, which take most of the road shock, are numb as well and my behind is still causing me grief every time I get on and off the bike. For the past week or more I have been wearing two pairs of cycling shorts to increase the padding and reduce friction to the contact points with the saddle. This was advice provided by PAC Tour veterans and has provided me great relief.

By mid-morning, overcast skies prevailed and broght what appeared to be some threatening weather. This never did materialize however. The roads were damp with rain which had moved through the area before we arrived. Following lunch, the skies became sunny again and the humidity really began to soar by mid afternoon.

As we completed our first post-lunch rest stop at about mile 130, we were entering the Hocking Hills region. This was a fabulously beautiful stretch of rolling hills, quiet roads and state parks. This section was by far the highlight of the day, which was more like an amusement park ride with all of the climbs, twists and fast descents. Somewhere along this section, I must have breathed in some sort of tree fluff or something because I broke into a rather annoying coughing spell trying to free whatever became trapped, hence my earlier reference to the Hacking Hills.

So overall, things turned out quite well today. We managed to yet again dodge storms which were skirting the area, and outside of some heat and humidity, it was another great day on the bike.

Since we were under threat of rain, I bagged my camera for the most scenic portion of the day. Here are a few shots I took in the morning. Check the PAC Tour web site out if you haven't yet. They take a lot of cool pictures each day.