Hocking Hills Report--Add On

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.

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.

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