The musings and memories
of a first time bicycle tourist
by Marty Kerr
XOBA, the Across Ohio Bicycle Adventure began this year in Huron, Ohio up on Lake Erie and traveled south through Tiffin, Bluffton, Urbana, Wilmington then east to Chillicothe, Nelsonville and finally Marietta. Total mileage was 447.
Phil Caskey and I arrived in Marietta early so we offered to help with registration which in turn enabled us to meet the people we would be spending the week with. There were people from quite a few other states including Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Maine, Missouri and Indiana. A group who had ridden the Bike Across America together chose XOBA to have their reunion and some of them were from Canada.
Meals provided on this trip included the box lunch on the bus from Marietta to Huron, the group dinner that evening in Huron and a group dinner at the Ramada Inn in Nelsonville (where we had the "nontalent" show) on Friday night. This allowed us to experiment with local cuisine and grocery stores throughout the week.
The accommodations included local high schools, YMCA’s and colleges. About half of the riders chose to stay in tents. I was very glad I brought my self-inflating air mattress which I could have auctioned off for a good price. I slept in a tent the first two nights but switched to indoors because I got cold and because of the threat of rain. Some nights were noisy with snorers and several of the gyms were not air-conditioned.
On the ride, if there were long stretches between stops, the general rule of thumb was for women to take the right side of the road for pit stops and men the left but, obviously, some men didn’t understand which left they were supposed to take.
Here are some of the highlights for me.
Huron, Ohio was celebrating Christmas in July and stores and some houses were decorated for Christmas. We went to a concert at an amphitheater on the lake and listened to a band play Fleetwood Mac tunes. Later we played euchre with 2 other people, one of whom, Julie, became my riding partner for the week (along with her friend Ken). Julie is no bigger than a minute and was just named to the first Columbus professional women’s football team!
Tiffin’s Y where we stayed the second night had a beautiful indoor pool which we had mostly to ourselves.
Riding with Phil, Julie and Ken while Phil kept us entertained with his endless supply of jokes and what I call "Philisms." He is most definitely not the serious geek he claims to be.
Having lots of unscheduled free time at the end of each day’s ride to relax and get together with nice people. Because I am not a really fast rider and wanted to savor the sights along the way, my ride usually ended around noon. After Phil decided to "run with the Big Dogs" his ride ended by 10 or 10:30 am. The "Big Dogs" were some other fast riders who I only had a chance to talk with when they were sitting down at dinner or cards - very nice guys.
Playing cards and Phil’s game called "Catch Phrase" with different people of all ages and walks of life.
Walking through the older neighborhoods in Urbana and taking a tour of a Victorian home.
A shower at the end of the ride especially after the second day’s ride in which we had 112 degree heat index and 20 mph headwinds. Amazing how much a shower can revive a person.
The whiney bracelet - a plastic bracelet with miniature baby pacifiers on it, which got passed around to whom ever did the most whining. It remained on one guy’s wrist for quite a few days!
Gaining inspiration from other riders like Greg, the hand cyclist who finished every ride every day and kept his wonderful sense of humor and from the 78 year-old man who passed me on a hill.