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On day 1, Seven Oxon Hill Club members (Deborah Bowman, Gene Villiva, Robin Garnett, Deborah Reynolds, Linda Bankerd, Ron Altemus) and Three guests (Kevin Brahaney, Terry Marquard, and Brian Teeters) joined Sherwood Byers (Ride Leader on a from Cleveland to Columbus, Ohio then to return on a very nice Sunday the morning starting from Lake Erie (Edgewater Beach House). Kevin Brahaney (Guest) who was very instrumental in supporting me with important planning information and data had met Ron Altemus and Gene Villiva last year on a bike ride in North Carolina. They had learned that Kevin was an Ohio resident who lived near the OTET trail and was very familiar with it. I was encouraged to speak to him since I was planning to ride to Lake Erie via the trail.
Kevin briefed us some about the trail and pointed out to the poison Hemlock (Poison Hemlock can easily be mistaken as wild carrot when young but the difference is it grows 8 to 10 feet tall, it has some different nick names such as fools parsley, deadly hemlock, spotted hemlock, and spotted parsley, it is the plant that is said to have killed Socrates) and led us from the Edgewater Beach House onto the trail and he and two of his riding friends rode with our group as guests. The group rode mostly together before the pace had changed to fit each riders comfort level. There were many regrouping points along the way to Akron. After the midpoint to Akron we had stopped for lunch.
Once lunch was finished, we continued to Akron. Kevin and his friends rode with us a few more mile before turning back to Cleveland. They had wanted to do a metric century. It had been a long day of riding and we were anxious to get to our hotel to shower and have dinner. Luigi's was the choice to eat as many of the other restaurants were closed.
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Day 2 of this tour it began with another group photo and then on on the pedals as scheduled. We were to meet Kevin and his friends along the way to Massillon as they wanted to ride with us once more.
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Day 3, Beryl was beginning his threat on our day. Everyone is checking the weather to evaluate the day before the ride start. Well, we beat Beryl! Dodging the rain, the ride day began. There were rolling hills, covered bridges, and trails (Gravel and Paved).
We managed to avoid the remnants of Hurricane Beryl on day 4. We were affected only by a few showers. At lunch time the winds were fierce and we thought we could not continue, but by the time we had eaten it was relatively clear and we were able to continue our ride to Mount Vernon unscathed. Dinner was had at a local diner featuring old school artifacts and varieties of candies from yesteryear. Some of us chose Whits Frozen Custard for dessert. On the next morning all had breakfast before departure to Columbus. This day was all trail and the weather could not have been better. During lunch in the township of Sunbury, the ladies had lunch at one venue while the men chose another. Everyone was happy to complete the first half of the tour and was looking forward to the the next day, the rest day. Two riders elected to take a shuttle back to end their tour.