Stormy Ohio- Cincinatti to Columbus

This post is a little outdated at this point, but is up nonetheless

We woke up from Vince's in Cincinnati at 5 am to get geared up, only to realize that it was thunder storming outside. We drove out to Monica's parents house where 1/2 the riders had stayed (Monica's parents were great hosts for the team and had a cookout for us and always plenty of food out). The day was slated to be 120-130 miles, so we needed to get going as early as possible. It was a downpour as we were trying to load the vans. Thankfully, the lightening stopped long enough for us to hop on top the vans to rack the bikes (Yes, the roofs are quite dented at this point, as are some of the sides of the vans. A windshield is cracked. One van still has alternating "check tire pressure"/ "change oil"/ "service engine" lights and all have a continual wet dog/BO aroma- We love you though Toby- Clare's little poodle). We had to drive out about 40 miles until it stopped storming, only raining, and unloaded everyone.

The majority of our day was on a nice bike trail that was riddled with branches from recent storms. We were soaked from the get-go, but thankfully it wasn't too cold, nor too windy. There was quite a bit of wildlife on the trail. I saw 2 opossum and had to swerve to not hit one. When I told Chris, that I had an opossum close encounter, he said it look like the opossum was still attached to my face. I corrected him by saying, "no, that's just my beard, but thank you for the compliment."

In Columbus, we road into a pretty nice restaurant/bar where several family/friends of the Ohio Staters were waiting for us. Everyone else had on their work attire. I, in my spandex, felt like I was trapped in one of those dreams where you go to school without any pants on. None of us are too shy at this point however, but do find it inconvenient when we actually have to go inside to use the restroom.