Grand Tour - Rome, Italy versus Rome, Ohio

 There are actually several Romes in Ohio.  Rome Township is in Ashtabula County.  The Rome closest to me, in northern Richland County, is an unincorporated community. That is the Rome I visited on my recent bike trip.  It has a sign on the highway, but there isn't really much there except for the Rome Community church and a few houses and farms.  The third is in Adams County, along the Ohio River.  It has a population of 94.  There is another Rome in Delaware County.  There is a ghost town called Rome in Morrow County.  Wikipedia says "Rome was laid out in 1827 by Lemuel Potter. The town failed to meet Potter's expectations, as one 19th-century writer remarks "it did not bear any resemblance to ancient Rome".

None of the Romes in Ohio bear any resemblence to ancient, or modern, Rome! 

Rome, Italy was the epicenter of the ancient Western world, as the seat of the Roman Empire.  Before that, it was the home of the Etruscans and other civilizations.  It is the capital of Italy and has a population of 4.4 million people in the metropolitan area. There are 54 Michelin-starred restaurants!  The city has been called "The Eternal City" and "The Capitol of the World".  It is one of the most-visited cities in the world.  Ruins of old buildings like the Coliseum are accessible among more modern examples of  architectural styles.  The city is filled with palaces, churches, museums, parks, statues, monuments.  The head of the Roman Catholic church, the Pope, is installed in the Vatican, which is an entire country inside the city of Rome.

Rome is definitely a city on my bucket list for travel. 

Grand Tour - Milan, Italy versus Milan, Ohio

1.4 million people call Milan, Italy home.  

The city of Milan has a web site listing many, many attractions. Castles, museums, churches, twenty, yes twenty, Michelin-starred restaurants. Parks, monuments, shopping, at least twelve bicycle and e-bike touring companies. La Scala opera house. Theatres.   Find the info on Milan  at https://www.yesmilano.it/en/attractions

Wikipedia says "Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange (Italian: Borsa Italiana), and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, it has the second-largest economy among EU cities after Paris, and is the wealthiest among EU non-capital cities. Milan is viewed as part of the Blue Banana and one of the "Four Motors for Europe".  I had to look up "Blue Banana."  That is the most heavily populated crescent in Europe, stretching from London to Northern Italy. 

Trip Advisor says "Fashion, design, and fine cuisine reign supreme in this oft-overlooked Italian city. One of the world's fashion capitals, Milan is often overlooked by tourists who flock to Rome, Florence, and Venice. But this gem of a city has a lot to offer, including the iconic Duomo di Milano, the world's largest—and perhaps most stunning—Gothic cathedral; the exquisite mosaics and glass vaults of Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II; and impressive museums, such as the Pinacoteca di Brera. There's also trendy restaurants, gorgeous cafes, and the longstanding Milanese tradition of aperitivo. No trip would be complete without some serious shopping, and there are multitude of options. In the evening, grab tickets to a performance at the opulent La Scala opera house."

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By contrast, Milan, Ohio has a population of 1,279 people.  It was the birthplace of Thomas Edison, and tourists do visit to see his childhood home.  It has multiple museums and galleries.  There are at least 5 restaurants, including a wine shop, a bar, a pizza place, a coffee shop, and a gourmet farm-to-table restaurant outside of town.  The downtown has maintained a small Midwestern town look and feel.  There is a large public park in the "square" downtown featuring statues of Edison at various stages of life.  There is a greenway for walking or biking just north of downtown.  It has a public library, and there are at least six churches.  

I knew that Milan, Ohio is pronounced "MY-lun" because when I was growing up listening to AM radio, CKLW Motown radio station, the Milan Dragway (in Milan, Michigan) was frequently advertized.  Being so close and in the Midwest, it is natural for the pronunciation to be the same. There's also a nearby racetrack in Norwalk, Ohio, a few miles down the road. 

As I was riding my bike around Milan, I noticed quite a few signs congratulating graduates of EHOVE.  That is the Erie, Holmes, and Ottawa Counties Vocational Education institution.  It is located in Milan. 

Grand Tour of Italy in Ohio - Parma

 I never saw my AirBnB hosts but they were fabulous.  The place was very nicely decorated and comfortable, and immaculate. I left early in the morning and headed straight for the nearest coffee shop.  It turned out to be in a church! And since it was Sunday morning, there was a service going on and lots of people around. 

I was able to watch the service on the big-screen TVs while I drank my coffee and planned the route for today. I  had gotten up late and not really gotten an early start.  I found the message really inspiring.  There were a couple of things that stood out for me.  One was that "If you believe a lie, it has power over you."  The power of the lie is that you agree with it.  Paul said "You shall know the truth and it will set you free."  If you believe something, it shapes what you do and how you behave. 

 That is so true!  For so long, I believed I could not achieve anything physical.  I was the slowest in gym class and always picked last for teams.  But it was a lie!  I played basketball a lot in high school and college, rode my bike, rode my horse, so why did I think I was not active?  I allowed my belief that I was not athletic to keep me from doing anything athletic through most of my adult life.  I'm still one of the slowest riders, but I'm beating everyone sitting on the couch! 

The pastor went on to describe how if you believe your value or worth is tied to your performance or some other external variable like whether someone else loves you, you are believing a lie. This is where anxiety starts.  God's love for you is not tied to any of those.  

I felt tears come into my eyes, thinking back over my anxiety before starting this trip, and the reassurances of events that happened that demonstrated kindness and concern of people for me, a traveller. It was like this message was aimed directly at me. 

 If you would like to listen to the service I heard, you can find it here. 

 I had called Ed last night and told him I didn't want to ride more than 4 hours in the heat and he should pick me up between noon and one p.m. I had originally planned to ride to Lodi, but I really just didn't want to.  I decided to make Parma my final destination on this trip. 

 

I rode for a while on the Big Creek Trail and up to Snow Road.  Parma is the home of the Cleveland-Hopkins airport and I noticed a few jets overhead.  The trail was cool and shady.

 

I turned on Snow Road and started riding through residential streets.  I actually rode on the sidewalk for a while because Snow Road didn't seem to be very bike-friendly, and there was nobody walking on the sidewalk.  I turned off after a few blocks and continued riding on residential streets.  It was hot. 

I put my destination, downtown Parma, into Google Maps and it took me to the muninciple building, past a small park with a lake and a splash park. 

I waited for Ed at a gas station across from City Hall.  He arrived right when he said he would. 

We went in search of an Italian restaurant to complete this "Tour of Italy."  There was a fine dining Italian restaurant, Antonio's, in the shopping center, but it was closed.  So we looked for another, found Scancatos. Google said they were open, but when we arrived, they had carry out only.  We were disappointed because it looked like a really nice place. 

So, we drove back to Middleburg Heights and ate at Olive Garden! Ed ordered the Tour of Italy! I had enough Tour of Italy so I had the shrimp scampi. 

Milan to Parma -Grand Tour of Italy

 I slept pretty well at the campground, only being woken up about six times by passing freight trains.  Otherwise it was very quiet and peaceful.   

I broke camp and started day 2 of my Bike Travel Weekend.  I said goodbye to the campground. 

I rode to the McDonald's up the highway for breakfast, since there didn't seem to be any other alternatives nearby. 

The clerk didn't even balk when I asked him for a European style Americano added to my coffee, since I didn't see espresso shots on the menu.  Great customer service!  Tried to stay on my WW program, had scrambled eggs and oatmeal until I realized instant oatmeal had sugar in it.  So I stopped at half a serving. I crossed US 250 one more time and headed down Mason Road.  It was a great road for cycling, before I had gone half a mile I met three cyclists coming the other way.  The road was all gentle curves and rolling hills. The wind was at my back.  I passed a sign that said "Berlin Heights", and even though Berlin is not in Italy, I stopped to take a photo with my bike. 

 Finally I needed to turn south in order to arrive in Florence.  Now the wind was in my face.  I crossed through the underpass beneath the turnpike, and as I rode up the hill I was doing my normal uphill routine of telling myself I didn't half to climb the whole hill, just to the next pothole. Or just to the next twig at the side of the road.  Or just to the next tree shadow crossing the road. And then when I reach that milestone, I pick a new spot further up the road.   Well, I saw a dandelion and made that my next marker.  Only when I reached it, I saw it wasn't a dandelion, but rather a dead goldfinch. 

This was a bad omen for me.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I consider the goldfinch my "spirit animal" and that when they fly alongside my bike, I consider it a token of good luck. I had had several flying with me on Friday morning at the start of my trip, for a while I saw a new one every mile or so.   I wasn't sure what to think when I saw the dead goldfinch. 

 My heart was racing from the effort of climbing up the incline. But it also seemed harder to push the pedals than it had earlier.  Maybe it was the headwind.  Or the goldfinch? Or maybe something worse?  

I thought had better check to see if something from my pack was dragging, or a brake shoe was rubbing the rim, and sure enough, that was what had happened. There was black rubber all over the right side of the back rim. 

 After my heart slowed down a little, I started banging on the brake cable to see if i could get it centered again. Because to find the right tools for the job would mean unpacking all the stuff in the panniers to find my toolkit in the bottom.  

Just then I noticed a woman coming out of the house, asking if I was OK. She said her husband used to own bike shop, he could help me. He was a bike maintenance guru. She mentioned he used to race professionally all over the country. 

 He came out and I noticed he was walking on the road to my bike barefoot!  After I explained the situation, he volunteered to go get an Allen wrench to adjust the brake shoe. Which he did, bless him! 

 Their names were Ben and Tina. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. And  I thank Providence, the Universe and the Lord that if this issue had to happen to me today, I had the good fortune for it to happen in front of their house-just when Tina happened to be looking out the window. How much of a  coincidence could that really be!  I am surely blessed! 

I rode into Berlin Heights.  What a beautiful small town! I saw a restaurant with an outdoor seating area and flowers and a huge awning. 

 I rode past and noticed a smaller restaurant on the main street with a couple outside and lace curtains in the windows.  I thought it would be a good place to stop and get a cold drink. 

The gentleman had an oxygen tank.  He mentioned that when he was younger,  he used to ride his cycle a lot, and that he had once visited Montana with a tour group.  Even though he thought he was in condition for the ride, it was a lot harder than he thought.  Evidently the mountains in Montana are bigger than the hills in Ohio!  He said his wife and daughter stayed home to watch the carpet store while he was touring.  As we were talking, another older gentleman drove up in his Jaguar with historical plates.  Berlin Heights seems like a really nice place to live. 

I bade them goodbye and started on my way to Florence once again.  When I arrived, there is nothing to see there, as I noted in an earlier post, so I kept going to Wakeman, Ohio. Because this is a "Tour of Italy" I stopped at the East of Chicago pizza restaurant. No bike rack, so I chained my bike to a metal bench. Besides pizza, they also have other food such as salads and subs.  I had a taco salad with no cheese or sour cream (still trying to stay on WW plan!)

I got back on my bike and got on the North Coast Inland Trail headed east.  This section of the trail is paved so nicely. I have ridden it before and I always feel like I am flying, the trail is so smooth.  It runs along US 20 for a while, then turns on a small road and follows an old rail line.  The section along the highway was pretty hot, but the rail-trail was shaded and was quite a relief.  I stopped in Kipton, took my shoes off, and lay down in the grass for a little while to rest.  

Later in the 85-degree day, after riding about 35 miles in NINE hours (really slowly, with lots of stops and breaks...) realized wasn't going to make it the remaining 20 miles before dark (or collapsing). I'd taken too many rest stops.   I stopped Oberlin at a park, to refill my water bottle. There were couple of bike club members there and explained my ride to them, and that was going to have to call my husband: to come and get me or else call Uber to get to the B&B. Lo and behold, five miles down the trail, two different older gentlemen, five minutes apart, passed me. Both stopped and offered assistance. One offered his guest bedroom and the other offered lift to my AirBnb. Since my brother in law lived few miles away, declined both offers, but the point is that they offered. The kindness and generosity of my fellow cyclists never fails to amaze me. 

  I did end up calling my brother-in-law, who very kindly put his bike rack on his car and came and collected me and took me the remaining 15 miles to the AirBnB in Middleburg Heights.  I probably COULD have made it before dark, but I was really tired and even though I had been hydrating all day long, I was feeling a few twitches in my muscles as if they wanted to cramp.  

Rome to Milan - Grand Tour

 I woke up early this morning with only a few last minute things to pack. I knew I would need to get my tent and sleeping pad from the barn.  I had packed clothes and food yesterday, but I still had to get my tools and my handlebar bag off my Silque and put them on the Trek 520.   I had a few other last minute items to gather up that I could not live without for four days.  

At any rate, it took longer to do all that this morning than I had planned.  I had told Ed I wanted to start riding my bike at 9:00 am to ride today's planned 38 miles and have time to set up my tent and eat dinner.  You guessed it, at 9:15 we were just getting in the car.  

When we got to the planned starting point, the Rome community church in Northern Richland County, we saw a couple of Amish girls on the highway on their bikes. They were wearing the traditional dresses and hats.  I congratulated myself on picking a good route with regular bicycle traffic.  I was wearing my high-visibility yellow jersey, bike shorts, and a helmet. Quite a contrast!  I realized I needed a bathroom, and there were none in sight.  The nearest gas station was seven miles away. I guess the Amish have gasoline delivered to their farms.  So Ed drove me there. Such a nice husband!  There was construction along the way and it took nearly another half an hour to get the seven miles.  I confessed to him about my anxieties of yesterday and we both said that good planning and preparation for any anticipated problems is the best I can do.  I have my tools, my emergency food, clothes, my credit card, my phone, and a backup battery.  

I made an executive decision.  It's my trip and I get to decide where I ride. I can visit Rome on the return trip, since I had planned to go there anyway on the last day to pick up my car.  I told him since I was running an hour late, I would have him drive me 12 miles closer to my destination of Milan.   When we got to the 12 mile point, he didn't like the road we were on because there were a lot of semi-trucks and no shoulder to speak of. So he kept driving.  Eventually we arrived at a road he deemed suitable.  By this time we had whittled today's mileage down to about 25.  

He dropped me off at a farm field lane.  The loaded bike was really heavy to lift down off the rack.  It was also a bit awkward to mount, having to clear my leg and hip over the seat and the panniers and my tent.  It felt a bit unstable.  We said goodbye.   As I rode up and down the gently rolling hills, I realized that the extra weight was quite an advantage as it gave me more momentum on the downhills to carry me up the following uphills.  When I stopped to check the map, I heard the clip-clop of horses pulling an Amish buggy on an intersection behind me.  

The miles flew by.  There were a lot of very gently rolling hills, but I conquered them with the help of my extra weight in the back!  The weather forecast had called for mid-eighties and sunny today, but I am guessing it was more like low seventies, overcast, and there were occasional droplets of rain still coming down.

This is a grand tour of Italian cities, so I am going to attempt to eat at Italian restaurants as much as possible along the way.  I stopped for lunch in Norwalk at a pizza place. They didn't have a bike rack, so I used my cable lock to attach my bike to the metal brace holding their sign on the wall.  I had pollack fish bites and a salad (with Italian dressing)! The fish bites were deep fried, but I picked as much of the breading as possible off.    After lunch I plotted a new course to Milan.  I asked the waitress if Plank road was paved, since on Google Maps it seemed quite narrow.  She confirmed that it would be a nice road for biking. 

It was a nice road.  While I was travelling down it, the sun came out, along with some humidity.  By the time I reached Milan, I was quite hot. I had to cross the highway, luckily traffic was light in the middle of the day.  Being overly cautious, I dismounted and walked the bike across.  When I got to the other side, a Welcome sign greeted me.

 I stopped in the town library to use the facilities, the air conditioning, and the internet.  I checked for an Italian restaurant in Milan.  Jim's Pizza Box has salads, sandwiches, of course pasta and pizza.  I'll go there!   Milan has a beautiful town square.  

While I was still at the library, I spoke to a fellow library patron briefly.  I had some concerns about riding down US 250, the highway I crossed earlier, but it is the only place to cross the river to get to my campground.  He said that probably the state police don't like people riding on it, but that he does, and there is a broad shoulder.    He was quite talkative, seeing my kit, and said I must be a "serious" cyclist.  I laughed, because didn't I just write about that!   and I finally had to tell him that I wanted to use the computer instead of chatting.   

I did, in fact ride up highway 250 to get to my campground. It had a broad shoulder, so it was not bad most of the way.  I had to cross both entrance and exit ramps for the Ohio Turnpike to get there.  My heart was in my throat, but I did it.

I arrived at the campground, found the primitive camping area, and set up my tent.

My campsite was under a buckeye tree.  Birds were chirping, and it was serene, if you didn't count the dull roar of the turnpike less than a mile away.   I learned, later that night, that there was a railroad going through the next field.  I unrolled my Thermarest sleeping pad so it would have time to expand, then I called Ed.

He said my new sleeping bag had arrived.

Oh well.  I showered at the camp bathhouse, and regretted not bringing my swimsuit to take advantage of the pool.

It was getting close to dark.  I found that my sleeping pad had NOT fully expanded, and I remembered the warning on the label to store it in an inflated state, which I had not done.   It took me an hour to realize that I could probably blow it up.   It only took about ten deep breaths to do it, adding to my comfort immensely.

There were a few other bikepackers there, and a few families with multiple cars, children, and pets. 

 

Pre-trip jitters - Bike Travel Weekend with Adventure Cycling

 Tomorrow morning I ride! 

This is the first "bike-packing" trip I have taken.  I've gone on tent camping bike trips of similar mileage, but someone else has always carried my tent and luggage.  It will be a new experience for this 64-year-old. 

I am full of anxiety.  What if....??? What if I have a flat tire? What if I am run off the road by a motorist? What if I can't find the camping spot? What if my water bottles break? What if I bonk? (blood sugar goes low) What if my batteries go dead?   and a hundred other worries.  

I have tried to be prepared for foreseeable emergencies.  I have a tool kit on my bike, a patch kit, a pump to deal with flat tires. I have a couple of backup batteries and charging cables.  

I'm debating whether to take a raincoat, since the forecast is for four days of sunny, 80-degree weather.  I ordered a new backpacking sleeping bag that is advertised to be really small, packed down.  It's supposed to arrive today! If it doesn't, I won't stress, because with 80-degree weather a sheet will do. 

I still have so much anxiety that I have been procrastinating on the packing.  Despite my three years of WW training and indoctrination, I reverted to nervous eating today.  I was packing emergency rations (pack bars from Krogers, WW jerky sticks, a Joje bar, a couple of fig bars from Costco, and a couple of packages of commercial "trail mix" (nuts and M&M's).  Oh, I also included a couple of packs of Nuun hydration tablets.  Well, even though I am already over my WW points for the entire day due to having potato salad and cole slaw for lunch, and am not planning a zero-point dinner tonight, I still opened up a package of the trail mix and wolfed down the contents.  It doesn't make me stress any less to eat too much, and then I have guilt stress.  Oh well, as they say, track it and move on.  I think I am taking too much "emergency food." My diet philosophy is to eat Mediterranean-style, meaning whole grains, and a lot of plant-based foods like vegetables and fruits, beans, seeds, nuts and quinoa, with meat or seafood as a condiment as much as a protein.  I should be able to find food along the way.  The emergency food is only if I am in the middle of nowhere and haven't eaten for hours.  

I've been planning this trip for months.  The route has changed slightly several times based on where I planned to stay and to park.   I originally planned on staying at a Lake Erie Metropark, but because of Covid, they were not accepting reservations until very recently. I tried contacting a couple of churches along the route to ask if I could camp in their lawn as a backup.  They did not even respond to me.   So, the state opened up, the Metropark started taking reservations, and that is when I found out the price to reserve the location was $195 a night!  Not feasible!  I changed to a campground a few miles away.   I found an AirBnb for the second night, and the third night will be camping again.   Earlier this week I decided to confirm the location where I planned to park, only to find out that I will be towed if I try to park there overnight.  So yesterday,  I enlisted my faithful husband to drop me off at the starting point and take the car back home. 

I've planned a route averaging 50 miles a day.  A few days ago I rode 38 miles and really didn't have any issues at all, so I think I can do it.  I've ridden some of the roads trails before.  Of course I wasn't carrying 50 pounds of luggage at the time.  

I have been debating on which bike to use.  My good old steel Trek 520 was serviced last year by my husband and me, and I know it is in great  machanical shape.  I haven't ridden it much this year.  It's the bike I took on my OTET trip last year and it is designed for touring.  My Trek Silque is carbon fiber, lighter, newer, sleeker, fits me better, and has electronic shifting. The rack on it is limited to 50 pounds, and of course the bike was designed for day-tripping rather than bike packing.  It's the bike I ride every day.  But, I think I've decided to use the 520 on this trip just to avoid the risk of overloading the bike. 

I know that if I have problems, I can call my SAG squad, also known as my husband. And on the last day, I can stop at a post office and mail the luggage home in a box.   At no time will I be more than an hour away from home by car.  I really don't want to have to call him because he won't let me live it down. 

Serious Cyclists

Recently, there was a discussion in one of my online bike forums, as to what constitutes a "serious" cyclist.   Some people proposed that competitive cyclists doing 20 mph and over on rides are serious, someone said that serious cyclists "don't buy their own kit" meaning someone is willing to sponsor them.  I guess that presumes they look attractive  enough in their kit to model it for an advertisement.   The guy who initiated the discussion mentioned that upon seeing an older man riding a child's repaired bike to work, he concluded he was a serious cyclist.  

The whole discussion bothered me.  I had to think about it a bit, in order to put my finger on why it bothered me so much.  

I was thinking about it all day.  It finally came to me.  In my view, "serious" is a state of mind.  It's not the way you look, while you do what you do, and it's not the amount of money you spend, or don't spend, or someone else spends on you, doing it.   It's not how fast you go, or how strong you are.  "Fast" and "strong" are physical conditions that might result from having a serious state of mind, but even if you are not strong and fast, it doesn't mean that you are not serious.  

My conclusion is, that it is what you consider important enough to do day in and day out, that makes you serious.  The small daily habits like having your bike ready to ride, with air in the tires, the chain oiled, and good brakes make you serious.  It's having your cycling kit laundered and ready to wear.  It's having a route planned for where you want to go, and enough time reserved on your calendar to get the planned miles in.  It's inviting friends to go with you to strengthen your commitment.  It might be riding your bike to work every day. Or it might be riding to the grocery store.  Or it might be riding around the block every night when you get home.

In the same way, you can demonstrate how "serious" you are about losing weight by those small daily habits.  Buying the right food at the grocery store.  Meal prepping if that works for you. Not buying chips and cookies and candy and ice cream.  Giving yourself time to prepare and enjoy healthy food, especially if your friends are on the same page. Tracking your food.  These are all daily habits and routines that are signs of how serious you are about losing weight.  It's taken me a while to "get serious".  But I know that if I lose weight, I will have an easier time riding up the hills.