Saturday COP Ride Report--Canal Winchester & The Donald

Pretty good turnout for Tim Faigley's, 84 mile ride deep, deep into Hocking Hills, including Donald Trump errrrr.....

....Mark Clingan.  Or is this The Donald.  They were separated at birth and I think only now, I have stumbled across Mark's long, lost brother.  Look at the two images again, the blond hair, comb over, facial expressions, they are brothers of another mother or brothers of the same mother.

Larry P gave me an update on Mitch Tallan,  He faces a long road to recovery, beginning with 9-10 weeks in a wheelchair while undergoing physical therapy.  Behind Larry is Brad Blair who is riding well this year and the guy in the white jersey, Ryan, behind Brad.  We rolled out with Larry, Steve Oxley, Dirty Dan, Ryan, Mark V, David Smith and me getting away from the rest of the group. We rode.....

....33 miles to the Sunaco station on #33, where I was ready for a break but not the others.  They made a quick bathroom break and rolled out.  I thought I should spread my personality around others, rather than selfishly allow Dirty and Steve to enjoy it to themselves so....

....they took off, headed for the Opossum Hollow climb.  I think that climb may have factored into my decision a little.  I waited and waited and then....

.....The Donald rolled in with Brad, Mark V (who had dropped back at some point), Andrew C and Crazy George.  The Donald never met a gas station/market at which he would not stop so naturally he disappeared for a long time and then reappeared with an arm load of snacks.  Many thousands of calories later, he was ready to go and we headed out, bound for Laurelville where now we stopped for subs at Subway.  Many thanks to Mark V for evenly dividing his Subway coupons among us. 

We left L-ville and 5 miles later entered Tarlton.  No one asked The Donald if he wanted to stop because that is a given.  Instead we asked if he needed to stop and he gave us the ok to continue.  Eventually we rode into Stoutsville and although I could see his mouth quivering with desire for food, he agreed to continue with us and so, we finished with 84 miles and around 4000' of climbing.  Big thanks to Tim F who continues to create these rides accompanied by top-notch maps.