Day 41 / Friday, July 17th / Marysville , OH to Wooster, OH / 103 miles

Rain was in the forecast for today. The first 75 miles was overcast and cool. I rode with the back of the pack for the beginning of the ride trying to recover from a hard ride yesterday. After the first sag stop Leigh from Seattle and I picked up the pace and caught up to Rick and Jack Boyle (brothers) and enjoyed a few miles on the flats until we hit a set of steep hills with a 14-15 % grade. Going up was tough but the ride down was fast and thrilling. We finally made it to the next sag at mile 75 to take a short rest. The clouds were building up so we grabbed a P&J sandwich, filled up our water bottles and off we went. We didn't get very far and the clouds opened up and the rain came pouring down. We found a house with a wrap around porch to stay dry. Mrs. Strafford, who has lived in the house for 59 years with her husband, came out and greeted us. We chatted for a while and told

them about our journey. She welcomed us in for cookies, however; we told her we had just eaten at the sag stop two miles back. We gave our thanks and gratitude for their hospitality then got back on the wet roads into a mild rain.

After departing at 7:00 am we finally arrived at the hotel at 2:45 pm. Long day but tomorrow will only be 97 miles.