It was an easy day today. The weather was perfect. No hills to speak of. And what little winds we had were in our favor and we were all able to cruise at a fairly high speed. Everyone had arrived at the lunch stop by the time I left shortly before noon, and I pulled into the motel in Troy, OH by 3:00PM Eastern time.

Yes, we're in yet another new state, and we crossed into the Eastern time zone, so today's ride actually took me only 7.5 hours including stops.

Another new state

I rode by myself for most of the day so I could ride my own pace. While it's not quite as efficient as riding in a paceline, I find solo riding a lot more relaxing. I joined up with some of the faster riders after the last SAG stop and we hammered the last 25 miles in just over an hour.

More wildflowers, more corn

The scenery today was pretty similar to the last two days. Lots of farms with corn and soybeans and lots of small towns. The roads today were generally very nice - smooth asphalt and little traffic.

Susan and the rest of the lunch crew cooked us up quite a feast at lunch, featuring grilled chicken and corn on the cob.

We had a couple guest riders with us today - Les's father and Roberta's significant other joined us. They picked a nice day to ride.

When we arrived in Troy, Richard's family was waiting for him. They drove down from Michigan to surprise him. I think he was pretty astonished :-).

One thing that continues to surprise me is how few recreational cyclists (outside our group) I've seen on the road. I would have expected to see at least a few riders out on a Saturday with such perfect weather, but not a one. In the Seattle area, I would have been surprised if I saw less than 50 on a day like today.