TOSRV 2008 (half serving)

Here is my report on TOSRV 2008:

Saturday's ride was absolutely AWESOME. The weather was perfect with just a slight headwind. I started in Chillicothe this year. The first 20 miles that I used to think of as hilly - well, this year I decided it's only wavy. Those hills aren't anything compared to what I have been doing over here east of Cambridge this spring! (BTW, I have a great 30 mile route over here that I would love to invite any of my friends to come ride with me sometime! It's very hilly and very scenic, riding along Seneca Lake for much of it).....anyway, back to TOSRV.

As we rolled into Portsmouth, we saw the artist of the famous Portsmouth murals. And he was busy painting a new mural about TOSRV. It was a really nice one, lots of riders and a cool depiction of the route. I complimented him on all the murals - he was the artist for all of them - and admired him as he worked for a while. I sure wish I would have had my camera to get a picture of the artist at work!

Saturday night, I slept on the gym floor of the NEW elementary school Well, they were not thinking green when they built it. Some of the lights in the building are ALWAYS on - they say for security purposes. Okay, well, what kind of security is it that they need the gymnasium lights on 24/7? They were on all night, there was no way to turn them off. Come to find out, there were two gyms in the school, and in the other one, they were able to turn the lights off! I barely got any sleep, until, sleepwalking at 3 am, I found the other gym - DARK - and moved my air mattress and sleeping bag over there. Finally got some sleep.

Sunday morning, there was a donut shop next door to the school giving away free coffee and donuts. So I had two donuts and got on the route. It rained just about the whole way from Portsmouth to Waverly. I passed the official food stop in favor of getting something hot to eat in Waverly. Stopped at McDonald's where there were many other riders with the same idea as I had. After eating some breakfast and downing some more coffee, I rode through the wavey hills of Waverly. I think I had a total of about 20 minutes of dry riding, mostly near the end in Chillicothe. This was one ride I was glad to see an end to. Constant rain and temperatures in the upper 50's makes for one COLD ride!

My consensus: 50% great ride 50% awful ride.