There is a balm in Mount Gilead?

 Mt. Gilead, that is!  Today I had no more excuses.  I put my U lock and my charging cables in the panniers, and, voila! Everything else was already packed.  Oh wait, except my shoes.  Where did I leave my phone?   Let me take a bottle of sour cherry supplements to reduce inflammation.  Can I think of anything else?

I told Ed about the issues I had adjusting the seat.  I could move it up or down in front or back, or raise the whole seat, but I couldn't figure out how to move it forward or backward.  And move it backward is what I needed to do.   He observed that the rails were "stuck", probably because it had been so long since they had been adjusted.  And just like that, he fixed it.

Time to leave.  I had him take me to the top of a hill just south of the alpaca farm I visited yesterday.  Looking at my route and elevations, it seemed like that would be a good place to start going downhill.  I told him not to leave until I got to the treeline about a quarter mile ahead, in case I had trouble.  Not gonna lie, I had trouble getting on the bike over the panniers and sleeping bag on the back.  But I did it on the third attempt.  I made it to the trees with no issues, so he headed for home.   The weather was perfect.  Clear and cloudless blue sky with little humidity, sunny and warm. I was heading for My. Gilead, in Morrow County, Ohio.

I rode a couple of miles, only to find that my planned route turned into a gravel road.  I didn't count on that, since I thought that Ride with GPS software had told me that my route was 100% paved.  Yeah, right.  Paved with loose gravel.

I kept going.  What else could I do? I walked my bike through some sections and rode through others.  I was starting to get discouraged when MapMyRide reported my speed for the last mile at about two miles an hour. My mind can't help doing the math.  I might arrive before dark, at this rate. 

 At one point, I hit a pothole with a hole in the bottom of it while riding downhill, and I thanked Joy Machines in Cleveland for suggesting the Vittoria Randonneur tires they put on my bike after a two-flat day on my tour last year.  I somehow avoided having a pinch flat, which would have been a disaster.  Even when I got to a paved road, the wind was blowing and there was a headwind.

  At 11:00, I called my host for the day, Roger Cox, and reported that I would be at least an hour and maybe longer. 

The roads were quite hilly, more than I expected.  My general impression is that in Ohio, all the hills are east and south of I-71, and Roger's farm is several dozen miles west of that.  I was pleased that I was able to ride up many of them using my lowest "granny gear".   This Trek 520 has a triple chainring in front, as it is designed for touring.  Good thing, because as I listened to the turn-by-turn navigation from RidewithGPS, I rode right by their farm. I feel kind of silly about, because in the news article where I learned about the Coxes, it said his was one of the prettiest farms in the county.  As I rode past, I noticed the neatly manicured lawn, the flowers blooming in the flowerbeds, and the flag flying at half mast, the fresh white siding on the house and the bright red of the metal-sided barn.  I was impressed with how neatly the farm was kept.   I had originally created the route to go to a nearby campground, but later changed my mind and neglected to update the route.   I realized my mistake and turned around, climbing several more hills in the process than I needed to. 

For details of my visit to the Cox Plainview Farm, see my Bright Meadow Farms blog, where I discuss information about the Katahdin sheep breed and the Roger Cox family, named Charles Boyles Master Shepherd of the Year by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association

Yarn Trek by bike kickoff

236.  That's what the scale said this morning.  I'm up six pounds this month, and ten from last month.  With all the stuff I have loaded in my panniers for this trip, I am absolutely sure that my Trek Silque carbon-fiber bike will not bear the weight of me and my stuff. 

So I got out the old, dependable Trek 520.  I haven't ridden it for some time, since my last bike-packing trip.  I loaded up the panniers and made a list of everything I need to take for two weeks on the road.  My stuff is scattered between the barn, the garage, my closet, and my office.  So  I started gathering it together.  

I'm having an internal struggle. Actually several of them. 

 I want to start this trip.  I really do.  But I also wanted to plant the six or seven flats of vegetables and flowers that I started from seed back in February.  It has been so wet that the garden had not yet been tilled as of last week.  So, we invited the grandsons over last week and they did the initial tilling of the garden and helped me pin down some of the landscape fabric. Ed helped me plant vegetables yesterday and I planted flowers this morning.  You can read more of my gardening adventures over at Bright Meadow Farms blog.  

I am also not sure about riding the Trek 520.  It's a heavier bike, and it is a "touring" bike.  The geometry is different than the Silque, and the brakes are more forward.  The top tube is longer, so it is a longer reach.  The shifters are on the bar ends, and while they are dependable, it is slightly more effort to reach for the shifters instead of just tapping the button on the electronic shifters on the Silque.  With the additional weight of myself and the panniers, it will be harder to handle. 

I am not in great physical condition this spring.  I've taken several rides, about 5, with my group of women that ride the bike trail on Tuesdays.  But spring was late, and we didn't get much riding in before the end of April.  The longest ride I've taken so far this year was about 25 miles. On top of that, my right knee has been really getting worse.  The orthopaedic surgeon in Detroit diagnosed it as "bone on bone" over 4 years ago.  Since having my left knee replaced, and still having pain, I've been putting off the right knee replacement.  I have a new doctor in Ohio, and he concurred that replacement would help.  I don't want to do that until the bicycle season is over, since I know I won't be even walking without help for several weeks. I have noticed that wearing my bicycle shoes and walking uphill causes a lot of pain this year.  Consequently, I have re-planned and shortened my daily routes, and limited most day's visits to yarn shops or fiber farms to one per day.  I've only planned the first 5 days, and have made my reservations.   I want to see how my body is holding up after the punishment.  If I need to take a rest day, I don't want to have to shift all the rest of the reservations.  Or maybe I will be feeling better after a few days on the road and can lengthen the days. 

So yesterday, according to my original plan, I was supposed to visit Alpaca Meadows in Ontario, Ohio.  I had taken a crochet class there a few months back. But I learned that Julie Petty, the owner, was at the Fiber Show in Wooster Ohio this weekend.  So I was happy to postpone my visit to her farm to the end of my trip.   That gave me another day for planting flowers.  That meant I was not camping last night, and didn't need to start from her farm.  So I decided to start from the bike trail near today's destination and see how the bike handled.   It was a beautiful day for riding, the sun was shining and there was only a light breeze.  The high temperature was approaching the 80's.  

Oh boy.  It did not handle well at all.  It seemed like the seat was too low.  It seemed like the both knees were feeling sore and stretched with each revolution of the pedals.  Then I realized I forgot to transfer my tool pack from my Silque to the 520.   I had no way to adjust the seat height.    So, I made a decision to turn around and go back to my car after only a few miles.  I then DROVE to the Shady Lane Alpaca Farm in Lexington, with my bike on the back of my car.  This farm is only a mile or two from the house where my husband and I lived before we moved to Michigan. 

Jean McClintock welcomed me to her farm.  First we visited the barn.  There were about 12 alpacas in all.  Jean has a few rescued alpacas, as well as Finn sheep, a llama, and an emu. And three dogs.  All the livestock,  except the emu, had recently been shorn.  You could still see the marks of the clippers on their coats.  

Jean described the process of shearing to me.  The alpacas are hobbled, and the first shearer removes the "blanket" of high-quality, soft wool from the main body.  Then the second shearer does the neck, tail, legs, and belly.  This lower-quality wool is called "seconds" and brings a lower price.  

The seconds can be used for needle felting, rug-making, or even for compost in the garden. 

In the backgrond is Emma the emu.  We moved into the barn to get better lighting for pictures. 

Emma the emu lost a feather, which ended up in the grain manger.  Jean showed me that emu feathers are always split into two.  They are the source of feathers for feather dusters. 

Jean displayed the Finn sheep wool.  Interesting fact about Finn sheep is that they have multiple lambs.  Up to 8 lambs at a time!   A separate shearer comes to the farm to shear the sheep.  The alpaca shearers are a husband-wife team.  

Next we visited the gift shop.  I will post pictures of the shop on Bright Meadow Knits blog.  I will also post upcoming events that her shop is hosting throughout 2022.  I was delighted to find out that she works with the Malabar Farm Fiber Arts Guild.  I am a member, but have not been participating much due to withdrawing within myself during the last Covid-19 wave.  She pointed out the building where her husband has a 16-inch telescope pointed at the dark sky.  He is writing a book on astronomy and will be publishing his photos.  

She gave no hint that she was disappointed that I did not ride my bike up the long hill on the "shady lane" up to their house, shop and barn.  Maybe I could do the whole bike tour by driving and just taking a short bike ride each day!   

Warm-ups and good neighbors

 This morning two of us rode a 23-mile section of the B&O Trail for a "warm-up" for our longer rides planned for June.  

The first thing I did, after getting out of the car, was check the pressure in my tires.  It seemed a little low, so I retrieved my pump and pumped it up.  But, the wheel shifted on me and I broke off the valve core on my back tire.  It was still holding air, but the risk was that it would stop holding somewhere in the country between Bellville and Butler.  We rode a quick quarter mile to the south to Y-Not Cycles in Lexington.   Shout-out to Eric Pederson, who very graciously changed out the valve core while he was waiting on another customer.  It took him about a minute and a half.  I was amazed!   I did not even realize that this could be done.  I definitely did not know how long it would take.  He said it would take longer to re-air the tire than to change out the valve core, and it would take longer to locate the tool on his workbench than to air the tire!   I also bought an inner tube as a just-in-case for my upcoming trip.  I really appreciated his getting us back on the trail quickly.  It's great to have a local bike shop that provides this world-class level of service! 

But then south of Bellville, we saw a fallen tree on the trail, just north of the 4-mile marker.   This was a definite safety hazard if there is someone not paying attention.  It appeared that other trail users had broken off the ends of the limbs blocking the trail,  where they could,  and tossed them into the brush alongside the trail.  These two limbs were attached to a section of the trunk, and there was no way the two of us senior citizens would have been able to lift the branches off the road.  When we arrived in Butler, I called the Parks department and reported it, asking that someone with a chain saw cut off those protruding branches.  We chatted with a couple of fellow trail users during our rest in Butler, and when we headed north for the return trip, the branches were already sawn up and tossed off the edge of the trail.  I'm not sure if it was the Parks department or perhaps just a good citizen, but I must not have been the first to report the situation.   

I am re-planning my fiber trip, since I have realized that I am very out of condition after our frigid winter and the cold and rainy spring.  The 70-mile days at the beginning of the trip have been cut in half - I'll do about 35 miles a day for the first few days.  That means if I give up after four days of riding, my husband can still come and get me while driving less than a couple of hours.