Your journal ended differently. As an older rider, I will heed your safety and packing advice. I hope you heal quickly. I enjoyed your informative journal and will reference it for a future tour.

Thank you for sharing. I look forward to getting on my bike after recovery. I know that I will be much more conscious and alert. The days of keeping up with the fast kids are gone. It is now returning to where cycling began with me... for fun, camaraderie with others, and staying active and fit.

I'm 65 and I've learned from both driving and biking that my peripheral vision has narrowed a bit, and my reaction time has slowed a bit over the past 10 to 15 years - among other things but those are the two most important for my biking.

What it has mean for me is dialing down my risk tolerance a bit to compensate. I'll wait longer for a clear traffic break to cross a road. I started using a rear view mirror and a radar tail light. I don't go quite as fast downhill as I used to (I was not a speedster to start with!) I'll wait longer in traffic rather than try to get ahead of stopped traffic. There are road sections I rode regularly in my 30s and 40s that I won't do anymore - most modern bike route maps have dropped those roads anyway!

My one bike accident in 20 years that gave me serious road rash was from ignoring all of the above - passing a stopped residential trash truck on a downhill and having the trash guy (with his back to me) slide a big trash can across the road into my front wheel.

There is also some "wisdom of the ages" pattern recognition that I now take advantage of. I've sort of developed a "right hook" spidey sense that even on routes I'm doing for the first time goes off when it just feels like a driver is likely to right turn into me. On group rides I'm really conscious of someone overlapping my rear wheel and am way more likely to pass on any drafting unless I really know the other person.

John P.

I am so sorry that this is the way you had to end your tour early. Do take care and heal well. More riding is in front of you to enjoy when you are well and able. Thanks for the journal as far as you could go.

Sorry to read about your injury. Even before seeing your quote of the day, I thought the same exact thing. Take care of that shoulder and hopefully you'll heal quicker than expected.

By the way, getting clotheslined off one's bike isn't as unusual as you might think. It's happened to me twice--one of those times was in the past year. Luckily, I only suffered embarrassment and some minor soreness.

Flying pigs... The annual Cincinnati Marathon is the "Flying Pig Marathon." As a nearby has-been runner whose knees will no longer allow such exploits, I enjoy the enthusiasm of the participants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Pig_Marathon

Your journal will be interesting to follow as we rode and fully enjoyed sections of this trail this summer near Columbus and Akron. We had never heard of the trail before, so were surprised to discover it. I didn't even know about this supported group ride although when touring we've always preferred doing them self-supported so we can do shorter distances.

I definitely will be following along with your trip. I live not the west coast, and now that I am getting more age on me, my doing that tour is doubtful, but one never knows. Regardless however, I will enjoy reading about your adventure.