Day 26 Marysville to Wooster (103 miles)

Woke this morning to the sound of thunder. Looked outside and yes it was lashing it down with thunder and lightning all around. The start was put back about 2 hours to 9 am so we spent the time watching the weather channel. Saw that they'd had several tornados in Kirksville, where we were a week ago, and three people had been killed. Kind of puts it all into perspective, the small problems we've had with wind and rain.

The decision to delay was a good one. By 9 am the rain had stopped and there was a tail wind blowing at about 15 mph. About 45 minutes into the ride decided that there was little chance of rain although the skies were very dark so all stopped to take off our rain jackets. About 20 seconds later it started to rain, so we all stopped again to put them back on. Continued raining for about an hour, but crucially it wasn't as cold as yesterday and therefore not so miserable. Spurred on by Rain, by The Cult, going through my head - oh here she comes again.

I did a lot of the training wearing an ipod nano, but we're not allowed to wear head phones whilst cycling here. It's not necessarily that they make it any more dangerous, it's just that we could be held partly liable if there was an accident. However I often have songs going through my head and for some reason seem to be obsessed with Simon and Garfunkel records. One is 'Keep the Customer Satisfied' especially the last chorus - "and I'm so tired, I'm oh oh oh oh so tired". Today it was 'America' "It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw, I've come to look for America".

Passed through Delaware, in the rain it had something of the feel of The Deer Hunter about it. Looked it up this evening and some of it was filmed in Ohio. Photo is me doing a funny 'I'm about to ride off this here bridge' kind of thing. The bridge was closed to traffic, so the vans had to take quite a detour. Rain soon stopped and it was blue skies for the rest of the day. Turned into another great day's riding. You can see from the photo some of the terrain, some hills with lots of trees. I think this part of Ohio has some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen all trip.

Very nice lunch SAG next to a reservoir. Picnic tables, sunshine, only 30 miles to go, everyone in good spirits. In the afternoon we had one of those 'you had to be there moments' but I'll write it anyway. We passed quite a posh golf course and then a driving range. There was one guy on the tee with a massive club (1 wood?) about to take a swing as three of us rode past. The temptation to shout something just as he swung was enormous, but we kept our mouths shut. No matter, he heeled it and the ball trickled sideways about 5 yards. He looked round like it was our fault. Unlucky buddy, golf's a stupid game.

For once we're actually in the centre of the town, rather than being stuck near an Interstate. Wooster seems a really nice town, lots of big old houses plus two book shops and a bike shop. Always a sign of a liberal community. Went for what was possibly our best meal of the trip, rivalled only by the home cooked fried chicken several days (or is that weeks) ago. I'm now full with choice steak, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, veggies and chocolate cake. Should sleep well tonight.