Day 33: Marshall to Rossford OH

Today's 120 mile ride to Rossford went very well.  I rode with a group of 5-6 people for the entire day which really helped offset the impact of a 10-15 mph headwind.  I rotated through the pace line for portions of the ride, but moved to the back when road condition were bad - which was at least 50% of the time.  Without doubt Michigan has the worst secondary highways of any state we have been in on this trip.  Besides generally rough surfaces, there are many randomly located potholes some of which appear to be bottomless. While hanging out at the back of the pace line,  I doubled my 5ft rule to 10ft which allowed me to avoid any encounters with the worst of the potholes - but we all got bounced around by the rough roads.

During the day we pedaled through a number of nice small to mid-sized towns - Albion MI seemed particularly nice. We also spent a very pleasant 7 miles on the Falling Waters Trail which was in excellent condition (much better than the roads) and lined on each side by big trees. We crossed into Ohio (our 11th state) at the 87 mile point and immediately noticed an improvement in road conditions. The Hampton Inn that we are staying in tonight in Rossford is located at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 80 just south of Toledo - I may need my earplugs tonight to block out the traffic noise.  

Tomorrow we go another 127 miles to Cleveland directly into headwinds expected to be in the 10-15mph range.  I hope to ride in the same group that I did today, but only if they stay in the same 17-18mph range that they maintained today.  If they increase into the 19-20mph range I'll need to drop back to another group and/or spend most of the time soloing - which will be tough with the expected headwind.  

I have not been looking forward to riding into downtown Cleveland on a Friday afternoon.  Hopefully it will not be as stressful as I anticipate - but it will certainly be a relief to get settled into our hotel for Saturday's rest day.

Steve