 Good turnout for the Steve Hewitt led "Honeysuckle Tour" starting out of Berne Union HS in Sugar Grove. I counted 30.  Randy Brown in the middle, wearing his signature blue socks. Every time I see Randy I can't help but think of him standing in a storm swollen creek a few years ago, looking for his bike after it slid under a guard rail and dropped into the water, without him. One of the classic stories.  Mark V makes a point to Kenda Janet who is waiting on a new bike. Should be riding it in a couple of weeks. A Masi of course with electric everything, maybe a motor too?  Gary V on the left and Todd Lee who confirmed he is leading a group out of Canal, on Tuesday, at 5:30 for the assault on Revenge.  Logan came down for his first experience riding the Hocking Hills. Now, about those green socks..... Rex in the middle. We rolled out and soon, all too soon, reached the climb on Pump Station. If at the start of the ride you had taken a poll of who would be least likely to attack I would have tied with Steve Hewitt but I patiently waited, climbed, lagging behind, waited, waited...reached a false flat...put the chain in the big ring and just as Steve, Logan, David hit the base of a ramp....I leapt. I hit the ramp with momentum, it rather than any strength of course, propelled me past the group and then gapped the disbelieving. Of course, it wasn't long before Logan and Steve reached me and then we worked together to the top where we hooked up with Randy, who had attacked out of the parking lot and soon Keith hooked up as well and off we went  Eventually we reached Starner Road and with my fate preordained I told the guys not to wait. Pedaling alone for a bit, I stopped to wait for my peeps. First Rex and two others went by but I judged the effort to be a bit much so waited some more and here came David S, Flyin Tuna and Mark V, perfect. It all went well other than we chose the Mt Olive climb alternative, knowing it had recently been chip-n-sealed although it appeared mostly chip and little seal. About half way into the climb, a car came down, I was in a narrow, uphill gap, kind of panicked and unclipped. Thus I was pushing my bike up Mount Olive and later, Strava gave me a "PR" for the segment. Hooray!  At around mile 40, we reached the town of Logan and the real excitement, where we found the cyclist Logan, Steve and Keith. Now, about those green socks. Discovering that Logan had never ridden Savage or Chickencoop, Steve sketched a route to Sugar Grove that included those climbs and others too.  We noticed activity in front of our gas station stop and at first I thought it involved a gang of bikers but a guy driving a truck had been arrested (note the beer can on top of the truck) for DUI. His truck had been observed weaving and someone, maybe the bikers, called the police. Good for them and who knows, may have saved one of us. Then,,,,  ...Kenda Paul exited, balancing a Coke, water and two slices of pizza. He made it to our resting area with 1 of the 3.  Once in the shade, it was tempting to stay and so we did, as various other groups came and went while we lingered and lingered and wondered, why is there a pair of cycling shoes laying on the concrete?  Then, a guy wearing a cape wandered around, spent some time talking to us and did not appear to be attached to a vehicle. The gas station mascot I guess.  Then the shoe mystery was solved and soon we remounted our bikes....  ...climbing out of Logan and finishing with 53 miles and 4000'+ of climbing.  Steve Hewitt is leading the 11 Annual Hocking Hills Honeysuckle Tour. The route is marked with yellow arrows and triple "X" prior to most of the few bad/dangerous spots. Steve says, "We also scouted a couple of new roads and added them to the route this year. After Kreashbaum we follow Big Pine to Culbertson Rd/Unger Rd to connect with Blackjack. There's a screaming down hill at the end so pay heed to the Triple X's. We will start from the Berne Union High School parking lot in Sugar Grove at 8:30AM (later start to allow travel time to Sugar Grove)." While the route is "only" 54 miles, it is easily extended, one way is to head west to Laurelville. A, B & C cyclists welcome. The gps file is: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14425768 Also, Lori Nedescu is leading a ride out of Healthy Phil's at 8:00am on an interesting route that first goes west into Columbus, breakfast at Katalina's at mile 39 prior to heading into Granville and a return to NA. 90 miles. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14454916 And then there is this interesting event, called the Peckerhead Invitational to which I believe all are invited. Information about routes and everything else can be found here: http://39x23andcounting.blogspot.com/ This is a free event but you are encouraged to make a donation to cover the cost of the event and you must rsvp on their Facebook page, which can be found on the above link.
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