Ernest Hemingway, a native of Illinois, once labeled his midwestern hometown as one of “wide lawns and narrow minds.” Having officially crossed into the midwest on Saturday, we aren’t as interested in front yards and intellects as we are in flat roads. Thankfully the latter part of our ride through Ohio today offered our first taste of even terrain.
This morning we woke up in West Virginia overlooking the Ohio River and returned to our favorite spot in Wheeling, the Bridge Tavern & Grill, for a breakfast of omelets, pancakes and George’s famous home fries. Special thanks to our friend Pete in Wheeling for being so kind in picking up our tab. We were very thankful for his generosity, and relieved to find a Pete out there that isn’t as frugal as the one riding his bike across the country with the savings from his piggy bank.
The guest rider gauntlet has been thrown down. Today Pete’s mom, Jill, jumped on her old hand-me-down mountain bike and led the charge through Ohio for over ten hilly miles in sweltering heat. We won’t divulge Jill’s age over the internet, but until we have another grandmother keep up with us for that long, she’ll remain as one of our most esteemed guests in the exclusive ride along program.
Joining us today as well was Eric, Pete’s brother and our official team technical advisor. Eric has been an integral member of our team for nearly a year now, as he is 100% responsible for creating our website, working with the Wounded Warrior Project to ensure every penny from every donation gets to those who need it, and posting our pictures and posts like this on a daily basis. If that isn’t enough, Eric was kind enough to ride up front today for 75+ miles, allowing us to draft off of him and conserve some energy for future rides. We appreciate everything that Eric has done for us and we were thrilled he was able to ride along.
Another special thanks to Pete’s dad Bill and their dog Rockne, our new team mascot, for providing the support vehicle today. Also, a shout out to Eric’s wife Steph, who was nice enough to let Eric come out and play today while she took care of their two great children.
Today we admittedly experienced our first real navigational gaffe, which was most definitely a setback at the time but not enough to stop these three guys. After a great lunch served by our friends Mike and Dan at Patrick’s Restaurant in Barnesville, Ohio, we missed a tiny sign directing us from one country road to another. An hour and 11 miles later, we realized our mistake. Thanks to years of enduring and overcoming constant obstacles and setbacks during our time in the Army, we simply turned our bikes around and pedaled up the very same hills we just came barreling down.
Despite those 22 unnecessary miles, we still managed to cover a good chunk of the Buckeye state. We’ll be back on the bikes on Sunday riding in honor of all the dads out there. Happy Father’s Day to our own dads and everyone else who either taught their boy how to throw a spiral or had to sit through their daughter’s boring ballet recitals.
Thanks again to everyone for their support and donations to the Wounded Warrior Project.
- The XC10 Guys
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