Days 11 & 12: Columbus, OH to Dayton, OH

Team Zion’s second rest day was extremely restful thanks to the hospitality of the Ulman family and their friends! I slept in until 8 (which is late now) and had a nice breakfast at my host. Then Glenn and I headed over to the Ulman’s, where most of the team spent the day lounging around the backyard and swimming in the pool. It was extremely hot but still nice to be outside and not on a bike!

I took a break from relaxing to run some errands. First Glenn, Jake, and I went downtown so Jake could visit the Verizon store… he dropped his phone in a pool last night and it did not survive. Our host van’s rear blinker is also not working (which we discovered when Maggie almost got into a road rage incident on Day 7) and we’ve taken it in twice now to fix it with no luck (during the second attempt the AutoZone employee literally quit in the middle of trying to figure it out, not kidding), so Jake and I took it in for a third time and still weren’t able to get it fixed. Who knew it would be so difficult to get the wiring checked??? We also filled the tank up ($132, yikes) and got a spontaneous donation from the gentleman at the pump next to us. Aside from a few rude drivers people have been so kind to us! We also may or may not have stopped at Cane’s for lunch, which made my whole day.

Later in the day the Ulman’s hosted a backyard dinner for the whole team, our hosts, and a few alumni who were in the area. All of the riders introduced themselves to the group and explained why we were doing the ride. It was very special to spend the night with the person we have to thank for being on this ride, and a really beautiful night all around! I was glad that we actually got to chat with Doug, who founded the Ulman Foundation after he was diagnosed with cancer in his 20s and experienced first-hand how lacking support services are for adolescent-young adult cancer patients. He’s now the CEO of Pelotonia, a Columbus-based foundation that fundraises for cancer research. They do a huge two-day ride every year, and last year they fundraised almost $20 million!

Day 12

• Distance: 76.83 mi
• Elevation: 1,637 ft
• Dedication: Russ Harmon, Mrs. Kondracke’s father
• Ride group: Shelby, Bethany, Rose, and James
• Host: Southminster Presbyterian Church

The next day we woke up at 4 AM to prepare for a long and hot day. The morning was also complicated by the fact that we were spread out across multiple hosts– only a quarter of the team arrived by the 5:30 call time and we rolled out 30 minutes later than planned. Doug rode the first few miles with us and made sure to spend a little time with each ride group, which was very awesome of him!

We took a trail from downtown Columbus almost all the way to Dayton. It was a well-maintained trail but soooo boring. After several days on the bike and minimal sleep we were all struggling. My teammate Shelby actually dozed off and ran off the trail– she was totally fine and we had a few good laughs about it throughout the day. I also sadly got my first bad sunburn of the trips on my legs :( I think my shorts rode up after I put on my sunscreen and I got a little toasty.

One part of this trail actually wasn’t new to me! When I lived in Lexington I would drive to Cincinnati to do long rides because their trail is so flat, and we rode a northern leg of it for a few miles before getting back out on the road. James joined us then, just in time for the only hills of the day. Thankfully a group of kids had a lemonade stand at the top of one, so we had a little sugar boost.

We got to the host pretty early and had an excellent dinner provided by Jake’s family. I have been craving lasagna since day one and finally got some!!! I took a nap after dinner while most of the team went out for root beer floats (someone brought me one which was very kind) and then had a little team town hall to talk about how things have been going. We definitely have some areas for improvement but overall we are progressing well as a team :)

Until tomorrow– our first century!

Lauren