July 23, 2011

We left the church in Cleveland today and headed Southeast to the town of Massillon, OH. It should’ve been an easy-going ride with only 60-ish miles on a trail. Should’ve. Enter Ty, Liam, and Jordan; all who seem to be craving some more thrill on today’s ride.

We left the church at about 8:30 in the morning and traveled about 12 miles before getting on the Towpath Trail that would take us straight to Massillon. When we finally got on the trail, we three leaders decided to keep to ourselves for a day and explore more than just the pavement and gravel. The Towpath Trail rides directly parallel to the Ohio-Erie Canal (constructed in the early to mid 1800′s giving Ohio a way to transport goods. The canal made Ohio, originally one of the poorest of the states, the 3rd richest in just a few years post-constuction). Because there was this river right next to us at all times, there were so many things (both natural and historic) to look at along the way. The real fun began when the three of us came across a steel beam making a “rainbow” from one side of the canal to the other. Jordan and I couldn’t pass it up so, naturally, we shimmied across it. But not before I fell.

NEXT. We visited one of the many locks that are along the canal, along with a stop-house that was constructed in 1850 for the passers by. Continuing south, we came across an awesome little waterfall (this was our first excuse to play in the water). The waterfall was near the base of a very steep hill that rose above the ground at least 300 feet. We played in the waterfall, climbed the hill that took us high above the canal, and watched over the foliage that grew every which way around us. Did I mention that it was grey and misty and sprinkling outside the whole time? Talk about beautiful..

We finally caught up to the group at our first stop. The group finished their lunch just as we began and when we finished, we spent a good hour in the river swimming, climbing, and exploring this beautiful scenery. We came across a small cliff on an island in the river where another abandoned lock was built. We climbed to the top and jumped over to the top of the lock to find a vine of under-ripe grapes. We sat at the top of our little fortress eating the sour berries, hoping that we hadn’t mistaken them for something a little more…deadly, and looked over the strong current of the river.

Leaving our Nirvana, the three of us hopped back on the trail and decided to take a shortcut through a nearby town that would shave off 15 miles from our ride, allowing us to catch-up to the rest of the group. We got one street into town when Liam’s tire blew out, and after two unsuccessful tire changes later, we were alone, out of resources, and pretty exhausted. After over an hour of pumping, patching, screaming, and sleeping, we decided that we would take the bus across town to the next town over- Massillon. Two busses later (and thanks to Cosmic Charlie for helping us find our way) we landed 6.6 miles north of where we needed to be. After about a mile and a half of walking, we quickly realized that we didn’t have the patience (or the time) for such a slow way to travel. So what else can you do but hold your thumb out?

I’ve never hitch-hiked before, but let me tell you- people don’t take too much pity on three cyclists who are walking what seem to be perfectly good bikes. But two guys did. Roger and Jake, both about my age, pulled over in their mini van and told us that they would be more than happy to help us anyway they could. They took us the other 5 miles down the road and talked with us about our ride and our mission. They were both very, very nice people.

The evening finished off with the most thorough clean I’ve ever given a bike (you can imagine how dirty they were with all of the rain and mud and sand- if you can’t, take a look at the pictures I posted). Every square inch of that bike with hosed down and wiped down, greased and polished, lubed and fine-tuned. Now it’s running great and looks better than ever.

One shower and a delicious meal at Perkin’s later, I am worn-out and beyond tired. Hope I was able to articulate just how amazing today was. Night all!

Ty Miller