Day 8: East Liverpool, OH to New Philadelphia, OH

• Distance: 62.12 mi
• Elevation: 3,917 ft
• Dedication: Randy and Ralph
• Ride group: Glenn, Bryce, MJay, and Bethany
• Host: Emmanuel Lutheran Church

This morning was a little interesting as it was our first night sleeping with (almost) everyone in the same room! We stayed in a turf-covered room at Ram Fitness which was actually quite cozy, but being woken up by industrial fluorescent lights being turned on unannounced is not something I’d recommend. It was also our first morning without a host-provided breakfast, which was a bit of a challenge but also helped us get on the road sooner. I dedicated today to our host, Randy, and his dad Ralph, who is currently fighting cancer. Randy truly went above and beyond for us and it felt like such a small thing to do in return.

It was chilly and a little rainy this morning, but by lunch it was probably the hottest day we’ve had so far. Today’s ride was challenging at times but a significant improvement from what we were dealing with in Pennsylvania– I’m not a huge fan of Ohio, but I’m deeply appreciative of the gentler rolling hills as we move toward the Midwest. Bryce had the added challenge of biking to the first water stop with one of the van driver’s front tires strapped to his back after they left it behind:

During my ride today I was struck by how quickly we have improved as riders and as a team. My longest training ride pre-4K was only 50 miles, but not once today did I dread the length or elevation of our 60-mile ride. I also got a lot better at riding with no hands this morning (sorry mom) because we were on mostly flat roads with very little traffic.

We were also much more efficient with our water stops (we had them every 20 miles so we ended up just having two). Lunch was at an abandoned cement plant right off of our route, which was interesting but hot, there was not shade! I took a short nap atop some jersey barriers, Jake got peed on by a toad, and there were a lot of nature bathroom breaks.

A few people decided to rack their bikes and ride to the host in the vans after lunch, so after some regrouping I headed out with Glenn, Bryce, and MJay, all strong cyclists who wanted to push the pace during our last 20 miles. We did some pacelining (riding very close together so that the lead cyclist does the most work and everyone else drafts off of them), which I’m still not super comfortable with but enjoyed aside from having to deal with a few aggressive drivers– we were cruising! We made it to the host by 4 PM, a record so far. Of course, the one day we arrived early the host wasn’t available until 5, so my ride group biked an extra few miles to a Starbucks.

We were able to shower at the local fire department (super nice facilities, but we weren’t allowed to slide down the pole) and later walked to an old movie theater to see Top Gun: Maverick. I had already seen it but tickets were cheap and it was worth it to see Maggie and Bailey’s reactions to some of the scenes… if you know you know.

We’re staying in a large church that gives off 80s high school vibes… Bailey, Maggie, and I somehow snagged a huge air-conditioned room (like hotel room cold, it’s amazing) all to ourselves, but I’m not complaining. I’m currently blogging in the dark because it’s well past lights out but I wanted to catch up on my posts– plus we have a “late” 5:30 AM wake-up call tomorrow!

Until then,

Lauren