Shifting Gears

Season 4 Episode 19. Oh those Ohioans! 9/10 Angola, IN to Toledo, OH. 86 miles. 1,011’ climb.  What a creative and inspiring banana display at the hotel breakfast. The smallest of gestures goes a long way. As long as the sharpie ink doesn’t leak into the banana! This was a brilliant start to our day. As has been the case through much of Indiana - there’s lots of corn! The roads were so thinly traveled we could easily ride two abreast or down the center of the road. Restaurant bathroom art that speaks to me. Adapted for cycling (and I guess for life), we can all adjust our attitudes. Without any sign or fanfare, welcome to Ohio. Lunch stop at Walmart and locking up bikes. Eating in between the doors area entering the Walmart. It was too hot outside and they had no sitting area. We enjoyed several miles on the paved Wabash Cannonball Trail. Ohio is continuing the trend of great trails in the midwestern states. The shade is especially appreciated on such long days that get hotter in t...

Season 4 Episode 18. A Christopher Reeve Moment.  9/6 Kenosha, WI to Evanston, IL. 53 miles. 627’ climb.  We started the day with the perfect weather gift - a strong tailwind, of 14 mph, with gusts of 21 mph, blowing us south down the shore of Lake Michigan.   There was no “welcome to Illinois” sign on the small, secondary road we rode. (Those welcome signs tend to be on Interstates) But this was the first town we came to in Illinois, and the mural was very meaningful as I wrote about Monarch butterflies in year one. We rode south on Sheridan and passed a long stretch of spectacular mansions and estates of the north shore towns of Lake Forest, Highland Park and Glencoe. It’s one of those things that you just cannot take photos of every beautiful sight or the riding day could easily be an hour longer.  We were excited to visit Northwestern University in Evanston as I’d never seen the campus.  They really know how to make a guy feel welcome! It’s a beautiful ...