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Hocking Hills Report--Add On

9/17/2011

8 Comments

 
Picture
I had to bring in the 4th string ride reporter so don't expect too much.  I was in Dayton for my wife's half marathon.  Pretty cool with flyovers by a variety of planes, she received a goody bag of a T-shirt, cap, patch, wrist band, medal for  finishing and spending quality time with me......don't get no better than that.  There were 13,000 runners doing either the full, half marathon or 10k run. Anyway, Flyin Tuna stepped in to provide the below report.  Please note she has been working hard on her spelling, vocab and grammar and it shows.  Probably at a 4th-5th grade level now so progress being made.  Also below is Amanda's report.   I was slow to put up Amanda's report and she did not take the delay lightly.  Lastly, far below is a summary of what happened Sunday.

Since Cub Reporter Nathan and intern Amanda were not in attendance, you will have to endure my one syllable description of today’s ride.  Sorry.  If you missed the Tour of the Hocking, you missed one of the best rides of the year.  Make sure it doesn’t happen next year.  Approximately 140 riders showed up; and within 20 feet of the parking lot, the first crash occurred.  A car turned in front of a rider and the rider ended up with his shoulder in the windshield of the car, shattering it (the windshield, not sure about the shoulder).  He appeared to be OK, but in shock and the Leaders of the tour will check on him later tonight.  Our group left around 8:00 with Steve, Jeff, Jeremy, Mark V., Mark C., Mark R., John, David, Kevin, Andrew, Jimmy, myself, and quite a few others.  Mitch left at 9:00 after Leader duties and met up with us before Laurelville.  The route was different this year and we spent more time in Tar Hollow, one of my favorite places.  One of the new roads into Tar Hollow was Poe’s Run, one of the hardest hills of the ride, but very scenic.  Ryan and group’s food stop was located in Tar Hollow, so we stopped by twice and enjoyed the great FREE food and drinks.  Without the support of this stop, we probably could not have ridden this route, the strange little store at the bottom of Tar Hollow has finally closed and there was nowhere else to refuel at in the area, so thanks to Ryan and his Church group for their support!  Most of us did the 100 route; Dennis where were you?  Kevin was banking on you to come and do the 75 mile route with him, but you pulled a Houdini and did not show?   Our group eventually split up into 3 subgroups, I have no evidence about who beat whom up the hills and who spit on who (although I did hear that Steve spit on someone twice) and since this blog is only about creditable evidence I won’t be able to substantiate that.  It was a pleasant day; without the normal verbal abuse, wonder why?  Oh yeah, the reason I’m writing this report.  Mark was gone.   Thanks, Mitch, Peggie and Butch (and anyone else that supported the ride).  Well done.
And from Amanda:
I was working late for the 3rd day in a row and so I when the alarm went off at
6am, I turned it off...I knew Frans was riding at 8:30, so I planned to ride
then. I still didn't manage to get my butt out the door til around 7:50am, so by

the time I got to Circleville high school, most everyone had gone. Frans, Maya,
Mike and a few others met me at the parking lot for the 75 mile route. See,
Frans knew I was full of crap when I told him I'd be there at 8am! Janet took
off at around 8:15. I also heard there was an accident in the parking lot before

I got there. There was a girl who couldn't see that great because of the sun in
her eyes, and didn't see the cyclists leaving the parking lot. She hit two of
them, and I am not sure how they are doing. Peggie is keeping tabs I hear. No
news as of yet other than that the driver was cited.

I rolled out on a very chilly morning around 8:45. Most of us were wearing arm
and knee warmers, jackets and the like. Maya and I struggled to catch up to
Frans, who was trying to catch a gang of Olympus riders. I eventually gave up
and then he decided to wait for a few others. Total we had 7 in our group. Later
the Roll:ers passed us and I talked to Frank for a bit. He asked about my
randonneuring efforts and then sped off.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day for
a ride, with clear blue skies and lots of hills - including Poe road. It was as
bad as Chicken Coop but a lot longer. Also, Ryan put on a wonderful spread for
the Free Food Stop with chips, brownies, cookies, fruit, and pb & J sandwiches.
His wife was there with their daughter, and I learned she used to work with me
at Alliance Data Systems. We also passed Eve and Tim a few times. But, there
were no sign sprints, plenty of loafing, and oh, there was a head wind most of
the time! I ended up with 74 miles and a 16.5 average, not too bad for the
climbing we did.
Picture
There were 15 who showed up for John Marten's Sunday ride.  After missing Saturday's ride I sorely needed a long ride but strangely we had only a 40 mile route and I was not motivated to go longer on my own.  I'm about ready to pack it in for the year I guess.  Anyway, Tim and Lisa T, Kim Sada, Farmer Mike and Joe, a tri dude from Gahanna, got out in front of the other tri types and enjoyed a modest paced ride down to Millersport.  Even Lisa, the Relentless One, took it easy except when I went to the front to pull, then she buzzed around me and took over once or twice.  I think I have set some kind of record in the area of "exasperated cyclists too impatient for the slow ass to get off the front".  We headed back north after a brief stop at a gas station in Millersport and had a spirited run up Canyon Road and back into Granville with 40 miles, 1400' of climbing and a 19mph avg.

8 Comments
Marty Sedluk
9/18/2011 12:51:33 am

I enjoyed the ride with Garth, Billy Campbell and Dave C. It must have been around 8am when Garth was getting ready that he saw a bike flying through the air. His first thought was maybe a bike came loose off a bike rack. I hope that guy is feeling OK.

We took the route out to Tar Hallow and passed the rest stop the first time without stopping. We loved the route so much that we looped around one more time; it was just as nice the second time around. Then we stopped again at the rest area and started on our way back.

It was nice to see so many riders out in the woods. And those open valleys out on the far side of Tar Hollow are beautiful this time of year.

Reply
Basement writing Wench
9/18/2011 05:49:39 am

I should say that Mark asked me to write a report, and while I decided to show up a little late and ride the 75 mile route, I still provided one. Guess I'm not worthy, so looks like I won't be writing any longer!

Reply
Ride Reviewer
9/18/2011 10:52:20 am

Kudo's to the ride organizers. The ride was well organized and well marked. That hasn't always been the case on the TOHH. The addition of Little Cola Road to the route was a bonus. Many, many thanks to Ryan and his crew for providing food and drinks in Tar Hollow. The brownies and PBJ sandwiches hit the spot and the cute kids provided entertainment.

Reply
Ryan R
9/18/2011 11:28:05 pm

Glad to hear everyone enjoyed the food stop. Although, I'm getting way more credit for this than I actually deserve, I had a lot of help from others behind the scenes. We had 4 ladies baking all last week. They baked about 275 cookies and 250 brownies. Another couple used their connections with the athletic department at Ohio Dominican to borrow the 10 gallon Gatorade coolers. Another couple did all of the grocery shopping on Friday evening, purchasing about 120 bananas, 50 oranges, 27 gallons worth of Gatorade mix, about 15 bags of chips, and lots of bread, PB, and jelly.
Once we got to the shelter, Desmond and I unloaded the vehicles and got the food station set up while Rachael and Keri got busy making sandwiches and cutting fruit. The ladies kept busy making sandwiches while Desmond and I "worked the crowd". Which means Desmond ensured the food station was well stocked and helped cyclists find the drinks and answered various questions about where people were and where they were going. I pretty much just stood out front and heckled you guys, told you how ridiculous you look and reminded you of how slow it took you to ride the first 20 miles.

Speaking of looking ridiculous, Marty took the cake on that one with his bib tights being worn on the outside of his base layer with extra clothes stuffed in the back. I guess when you are as fast as Marty, you can look as ridiculous as you want.

It was also fun listening to everyone exaggerating the grades and length of the climbs. I heard some speculating that the climbs were miles long and over 20% the entire length... pretty funny stuff. I also heard of several who had to walk Poe's Run - shame on you!

One final thought, our group decided to offer a free food stop for cyclists in April or May. Since I am the only cyclist in our group, it was up to me to choose the event. I chose TOHH since I play a role in assisting with the ride organization and I knew I could get our food stop advertised on the route map and marked on the road. At the time, I had no idea the store on 327 would be closed. In fact, about a month ago, Mitch and I stopped by the store and asked them to stock up for our event, they never indicated that they might be closing.

Some might call this sort of thing a nice coincidence, but we believe it was a working of God. Not that He caused the store on 327 to close, but that He helped us make the decision about which ride to provide the food. I know, sounds kind of loopy and fanatical, but I'm just calling it as I see it.

Reply
Cindy
9/19/2011 02:49:42 am

Don't worry Ryan, we all knew who did the real work; the ladies of the group! We just used you as a reference.

Reply
Cindy
9/19/2011 03:00:58 am

Congratulations to Beth (Mark's wife) on her half-marathon. Of course, having been married to Mark for over 25 years, the pain of running 13 miles is insignificant. What great mental toughness training!

Reply
Jeff
9/19/2011 05:15:00 am

When we rode by the store the door was propped open, I couldn't tell if it was open for business or not. I was thinking of stopping to check it out but couldn't since I was pulling at the time.

Reply
bike tour paris link
5/6/2012 03:21:56 pm

Very interesting post….really informative…..of all the blogs I have read on the same topic, this one is actually enlightening….I was longing to read such kind of informative write-ups from a very long time…good to know that such kind of posts are there to help ignorant and novice people.

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    Mark is a long-time cyclist, hiker, golfer and plays some table tennis...ok, it's ping pong.

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