6-19-10 Day 15: Woodville, Ohio to Columbia, Ohio: 82 miles in 5:46 hrs: Rt 20 west to Maumee to the Wabash CannonBall Rails Trail, to Rt 20A west to Columbia, Ohio, just 2 miles east of the Ohio-Indiana border.
Very tough day indeed with my old friend the westerly winds. Let me catch you up with last evening as it was pretty eventful. We had a severe thunderstorm come through last eve, and tornados touched down in a couple of place in our surrounding area. This area of Ohio is a virtual “tornado alley” for sure, and we were giving emergency information prior to getting setup at our campground. So it’s serious out here. Anyway, Jared slept on the bench seat last eve, and it was so hot that we left the van doors open – and then the storm came through with intense winds. We battened down the van and toughed it out for a half hour. Then with the heat getting intense inside, we opened the doors again – and a gazillion little gnats came home to roost. They were just incredible, buzzing around our heads, legs, torsos – everything. But it was so hot we were all sleeping without covers or sleeping bags.
Eventually we had to try to cover ourselves to keep the bugs off, which resulted in us sweating like crazy with the covers on. Now the camp host had come over earlier to tell us she left the office doors open for us because of the storms, and said we could go inside and sleep if need be. Well, about 1 AM Judy opted for the office. Thirty min later I was in the office. Thirty min later Jared was in the office. We totally ditched the gnat infested van for the sanctity of the office. Don’t think any of us got more than 3 hours sleep all night. Those bugs were pure hell!!!
The camp host woke us at 7 AM and we rousted, ate a quickie breakfast and then Judy and I took the first leg, riding with a southerly wind which was a crosswind. We got through Perrysburg, crossed the river to Maumee and then hopped on the Rails Trail. But what I though was to be a wonderful 63-mile trail was only 10 miles paved and then 53 miles of gravel, dirt, ruts and old rail ballast. So we were forced to get back on the road after a wonderful 10-mile section of Trail. Got on Rt 20A and continued west after a little bit of jigging and jagging to get back on track.
Judy put in about 36 miles with me – getting off just in time for the wind to turn from a due west direction at 20 mph right in our faces. We were in for a long rest of the day. The temps today were nearing 90 degrees, so couple that with fighting the wind and ………..ouch! Jared took over on the bike and Judy in the van. Thankfully Jared got to the front and just pulled the rest of the freaking day, into this insane headwind out of the west. We were working our asses off to get anywhere from 13.5-15 mph – him more than me! So we continued down Rt 20A, which is pretty flat. No really flat, so flat that you can see miles and miles down the road. It’s mentally defeating when you look down the road and deal with a nasty headwind like we had. Jared asked me what I though of when I had to deal with winds like that and I told him I just let my mind run the gamut, anything but fixating on the wind and the flat road. We’d switch in and out of the saddle every 10 or 15 min just to get a different feel to the legs and the butt. We got to the day’s destination, Montpelier at about 1:30 pm, all salt encrusted, sweaty and disheveled from the intense heat and headwind.
God, part of me wanted to call it a day right then and there – Jared to. But with it being so early in the day I just had to put in another hour to get a good full day of riding in, despite the fact that we were right on schedule with yesterday’s longer ride and today’s shorter ride. So after pounding a quart of poweraid each, Jared and I pressed on on Rt 576 north to get on Rt 20. We did that with a nice crosswind and actually felt rejuvenated…..only to turn back into the westerly headwind on Rt 20, and bang, right back into the jaws of hell.
Now something about riding into a westerly, in the morning it’s fairly light, and then, slowly, over the course of several hours it just gets worse and worse, until you get to about 1-2PM and it’s just vicious hard. Well, that final stretch down Rt 20 west to Columbia Ohio was just that – pure hell. Jared was in Z3 the whole freaking time. Me, I was hot and suffering like a dog in that heat. We’d knock down water bottles in a matter of 10-15 minutes a bottle. It was crazy. So while we were in our last miles of suffering Judy was looking for a beer store and a place to camp. She found camping but no beer store, and she told us that about 2 miles from the Indiana border, right past a Subway. I was DONE, right then and there, right next to the Subway. I figured I’d ask a Subway person about beer store and camping.
Went in just salted to the max. I looked like a pillar of salt for God’s sake, sticky, soaked and stained. Got our subs and the sub guy told us of a place called Nettle Lake for camping and beer store. DONE! And here we are, at Nettle Lake just off the Indiana border, sipping beers and listening to country music next door and the sounds of guys all lit up playing horseshoes just around the corner. Jared and I dipped in the lake and it was just glorious. Judy cooked up some Indian Peanut Chicken and noodles…….and life is good.
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