Yes, it's a Long Drive but......

Donna B was surprised by the turnout of 30 cyclists who made, for some, the 1.5 hour drive to Coshocton and Roscoe Village.  For those that made it, including Grand Poobah, Brad the Dentist, Kent Rigsby (he keeps rejecting my pleas for free dinner coupons), Franz, Kevin K, Scott, Mark C's friend John, Amy, Eve, Tim F, Steve H, new guy Phil, etc.... it was a great route into parts of Ohio we rarely, if ever, visit.

---

We made our way up to New Bedford and from there, via Charm/Newbedford Road on to Charm.  There were some great long climbs in there where Poobah and I made half-hearted KOM efforts.  That dude is the king of sneaky, saying. "OK, I'm giving you this one." where upon if you relax, he streaks by or pedals just to your rear and then jumps up and sprints by at the top.  At one point, apparently knowing there was a village sign just beyond a hill, he sprinted away and upon passing the sign, I kid you not, he demonstrated every sign sprint victory celebration ever performed.  Included in this hilarious mix was of course 1) Victory salute with one arm pointing skyward and face looking toward the sky, 2) Two arm victory salute with arms stretched skyward, 3) the "rock the baby" with arms cradling each other while swinging them side to side, 4) the Pistolero salute with hand shooting a gun after which he blew imaginary smoke and then, to top it off, he unclipped both feet from the pedals and began wildly shaking his legs..  I have forwarded a letter of complaint to the Kenda High Council for behavior unbecoming a club rider.

---

We arrived in Charm and took a break at the market.  The village was very active with the usual mix of horse drawn buggies but also lots of bikes.  Across the street, the Mennonite version of Craig Butler comes to a stop after dropping the other members of Charm's cycling club.  Also saw two different bearded dues with straw hats on recumbents. 

---

We rolled out of Charm and at a light, I caught this idyllic scene of 4 Clydesdales pulling farm machinery in the field across the road.

---

  From Charm we proceeded to Walnut Creek and from there to Sugar Creek.  Here, Phil's seat post broke and although Poobah offered to ride it for him if he applied gobs of chamois butter to the post, Phil instead walked across the street to a car dealership where he was able to persuade someone to replace a bolt that created a permanent fix.  Meanwhile, we vegged out at another gas station, refueling. We proceeded on to Baltic then New Bedford again where we made another pit stop.  Our overall average ride time was not too fast with the frequent stops but with the heat on the one hand and the surreal environment on the other, everyone had a great time. We closed in on Coshocton via 83 but then took a mean and nasty loop off that road before coming back out on 83 and back to the parking lot with 73 miles and 4700' of climbing.

---