 The Gus & Marty Hocking Hills ride, following a Tym Tyler route, starting from Cenci Park in Lancaster. I got there early but could not find the park. I had given up and thought I should park at Alley Park and try to hook up with them on Tarkiln Road when...hey...here they came. I raced ahead to Alley where they paused and then jumped in with Ken Buddell, Tym & Lisa, Deniece Davis, Gus & Peggy, Gale aka Cooley, Marty, Aaron C, later hooking up with French Climbing Machine and Scott Young and.....  ...the notable ascender, George, here descending from Revenge Road.  Dang, the heat and humidity, hills and Hell wind conspired to sap me of my very shallow reserves. I was ok on the Pump Station Road climb, hung back with George on Starner, put out way too much on the climb to Cantwell Cliffs then we got mixed up and I thought we were refilling water bottles at Cantwell Cliffs Park but only Marty, Scott, Philippe and me stopped. We discovered the fountain is turned off. Upon reaching 180. rather than stay on the route by turning left we turned right. Marty and Philippe towed Scott and me with the intent to climb to Rockbridge Park and get water there. Ya know, climbing to the park with the sun beating down and then discovering three too the water is off, no words, hand gestures, facial expressions or a combo of all three can adequately describe my emotions. Scott, probably thinking of enriching his family fortune, encouraged us to head to Laurelville where his family owns the Young Market but Marty and I decided to head to Lancaster while Scott and Philippe headed to where their cars were parked at Clear Creek. That Marty, what a prince of a guy. I struggled up Clapper Hollow, struggled even on the down hills, practically unclipped on Revenge and then, finally, I headed down Beck while he followed Revenge. Finished with 53 miles and 3400' of climbing and completely wiped out. NOW, on to more important stuff....  ....today, well known cyclist and golfer Katherine Graham had a hole-in-one on a 220+ yard hole. That is awesome. It takes skill to drive the ball straight enough to get it on the green in the vicinity of the hole where some luck takes over and now she is only 2 behind me.  Last week, Luke, aka Socks and Lori rode in the Roan Groan bike race. Lori, now a Cat 2 and likely a 1 before the end of the season, finished 4th in the women's pro/1/2 and I think all who finished ahead of her are pros and one Cat 1. Impressive.  Remember Nick Perhala from the Thursday New Albany rides? To distinguish him by saying he used to kick my rear would only put him in a pool of hundreds but I don't know how else to describe him other than a really good guy who at least smiled while kicking my and other rears. Nick moved to CA for the winter, not the most recent one but the one before, working in a bike shop while racing as a Cat 2 with several accomplishments. Nick has an opportunity to ride/ace in Belgium learn the ropes and who knows? He is raising funds and if you want to contribute, go to this gofundme page: https://www.gofundme.com/25rxvy4  Lastly, there is a ride out of Granville at 9:00am on Sunday from in front of River Road Coffee Shop but park next door, just south or east depending on your perspective. The 75 mile route has a nasty start on the bike path of almost 14 miles: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/9383416 but.....  ...can be avoided by this or something like this. I think Marty is coming so he'll likely have an alternative similar to this: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14250359 I have not felt this wiped out in a long time but probably will be there.
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