The weather report Saturday October 27 was for temperatures in the low 50?s, cloudy with 70% chance of rain and winds from the Southwest at 15 ? 20 mph. I was concerned about the rain and wind for a long ride. That morning the radar showed the rain might hold off for a while but the trees were already raining leaves in the steady wind. It was not a terribly motivating day.
In the spirit of the Ride the Lobster to promote tourism I decided I would take a tour from my own house and try to ride to all the covered bridges in the county. Ashtabula County boasts 16 covered bridges, most of them still active. My goal was to catch 7 the first day then drive home. Drive back to the last one I did the previous day and continue on to connect the remaining bridges. I programmed all the bridges in my GPS and had the GPS create a route. I tinkered with the route a little to stay off the state highways as much as possible. I had only seen 3 of the covered bridges previously and had not traveled on most of the roads, so this was going to be a true adventure.
A gracious friend offered to act as a support vehicle so chose to use my geared Schlumpf and pack my Coker in the car for a back up. After much procrastinating I started my ride at 12:51PM. The first bridge is only 2.6 km from my house and I made it there quickly. For the next hour I had the wind at my back as I rode along the rolling back roads. I had never been to the next bridge and was not excited when I had to turn on to the dirt road to ride the 3.2 km to the bridge and turn back up into the wind and ride back to the main road. Two bridges down.
Off and on I ran through light sprinkles. I peddled along with the wind mostly at my back until I had to turn into the wind and buck the rolling hills. At one point I thought my brake was hanging up because I was using force to go down the milder grades. The wind was a struggle for the next 3km.
I had to use low gear to climb the hills up from the next two bridges. There had been a mist to very light rain all day but going to the fifth bridge it started to rain steadily. I have ridden through puddles before but now my wheel was throwing up spray continuously. Then I turned onto a dirt (muddy) road for bridge five. I dodged water filed pot holes and loose gravel navigating to stay on the hard pact mud while I bucked the wind. Finally I attained bridge #5.
I hoped the spray from my tire would wash some of the mud off my uni and me as I slogged along paved roads to bridge #6. I turned into a residential neighborhood to detour around a closed road right through a hoard of trick or treaters. I slalomed my way through and finally reached bridge #6. It was getting too dark to continue on the roads, so I rode the last 6.5 km on a near by bike path covered with wet leaves. I traveled 80 km but ended up one bridge short.
First Day?s Stats: Distance 80km, Time 5:21, Riding Time 3:59:20, Ave. riding pace 20km/h., Ascent 337m, Descent 383m, Light to medium rain 16.1km, Strong wind for 5.5km. Riding Calculator
Final Rating 144
Objective Rating 127
Subjective Rating 17
Prev Day Carryover 0
Next Day Carryover 23.5
10/28/2007
223
Day two was going to be a long one.
Sunday October 28 looked a bit better for the second qualifying day. Partly Sunny, temperatures in the low 50?s with winds 10 to 15 mph from the North West and only a 20% chance of rain. I drove to bridge #6 where I left off and began my ride at 11:30 AM. I worked my North toward bridges 7 against a moderate breeze. This was the longest stretch between bridges and this one was into the wind most of the way.
It was a fair climb up and on to bridge 9. My support vehicle took a turn I wasn?t expecting but I followed knowing I could check my direction at the next turn where they would be waiting. I rode on for another twenty minutes and was surprised the bridge wasn?t closer. Finally I came to an intersection and didn?t know which way to go. I turned around and started back hoping to run into my support vehicle because I didn?t have a map and didn?t know where I was. After another 3km I found my support vehicle coming towards me. They felt the road was well marked and went down to the bridge. I missed the road I should have turned on and added another 6.5km to the tour. Bridge 9 was on a steep hill I rode down in low gear using my brake. I climbed back out in low gear.
Bridge 10 was the furthest North and could only be attained by riding a series of dirt roads. This was the hilliest area of the tour and I again had to use low gear to descend then ascend from this bridge. I decided to give my self a little break and rode my Coker the next 9km over the rolling dirt roads to bridge 11. Once the roads were pave again I switched back to the Schlumpf. For several km I would buck the wind before turning South .
Now I was headed South again on paved roads with the wind at my back. I was moving well but still had 5 bridges to go and now I was racing against the sun. Fortunately it was mostly flat the rest of the way. Bridges 12, 13 and 14 were just off the main road and easy to reach. I would scoot off the side road take a quick break and a picture and take off again.
I felt like I had a second wind and was moving fast but so was the sun. The race ended in a tie. At 6:30 pm (sun set) I arrived at the last bridge. The second day?s ride took seven hours. I traveled 100 km and visited 10 bridges. Most of them were built in the 1860?s and ?70?s, but one was built as recently as 1999. It was a grand tour but now I am ready to see the sights in Nova Scotia.
Day Two Stats: Distance 100.6km, Time 7:00, Riding Time 5:33:40, Ave riding pace 18.1km, Ascent 728km, Descent 946km
Riding Calculator
Final Rating 223
Objective Rating 200
Subjective Rating 0
Prev Day Carryover 23.5
Next Day Carryover 37.5