I have ridden the Richland B&O Trail many times. I thought today would be a good day to ride it, so that I could pile on some miles and Ed would not have to drop me off or pick me up.
I had a hard time getting started. I never have a bad day cycling, but after two days off, my muscles are tight and my knees are sore. It took me a while to talk myself into getting out the door. I parked in Butler, Ohio.
It takes me the first four or five miles to get my knees warmed up.
It turned out that the new chain needed warmed up, too. I'm not sure what "chain suck" sounds like or feels like, but that is the only explanation I had for what I was experiencing. It seemed like I was randomly missing teeth on the sprockets, and the chain would catch and then let go every few revolutions, but not in a regular way. After suffering for the first few miles, I got off and oiled the chain thoroughly with my Teflon oil from my toolkit. It took a few more miles to totally go away, but eventually it did.
I waved at my former classmate Roger at Alta Greenhouse, he probably had no clue who I was in my Spandex and helmet. I didn't stop to take pictures until I reached the wetland along the Trail south of Millsboro. I saw the swans before I saw the blue heron.
I snapped a few photos, then kept going. There were three deer on the trail near Kingwood Center. I shooed them away. Made it to North Lake Park.
I found that the park was a big construction zone, they are repairing or replacing the bridge on North Lake Ave. I was counting on my helmet camera to get some shots of the construction, but found out when I got home that it had never come on when I pressed the buttons on the remote.
I turned around. The trail is 18.5 miles long, so I figured on about 37 miles today. The deer were back on the trail again. Once again, I shouted some encouragement at them for them to move on. I made it back to the wetland area, and the blue heron was gone, but the swans were sharing the submerged log he had been standing on.
I took a few more pictures. I think these were trumpeter swans, as far as I could tell their beaks were all black. They are the largest bird in North America. As recently as twenty years ago, they were in danger of extinction, but they have since made a comeback. I felt honored to have seen them. I kept riding until I got to the rest stop in Bellville. I took a picture of a guy and his kids (using his camera.) They were riding vintage Scwinn bikes, and they looked as if they could have stepped out of the TV show "Leave it to Beaver."
There were a bunch of preteens in the parking lot in Butler. They were impressed with my Spiderman superhero jersey, and asked me questions about the camera on my helmet I told them I was a blogger, not a vlogger, and I can't figure out how to use the camera properly. I told them about the Great Cycle Challenge and that they could sign up for next year.
I made it back just about suppertime. I did not feel like cooking, so I suggested to Ed that I take him out. We went to Dan Lee Exchange downtown. We sat on the patio and had a very nice dinner. The weather was perfect.
I have only 25 miles to go to reach my goal of 500!
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