To Oberlin

July 2, 2021

This may have been our favorite day of the tour so far. The weather certainly played into it - it’s a comfortable low 60’s when we start out, and never will rise more than ten degrees above that today. It’s moderately windy, but it’s a crosswind blowing from the north that doesn’t impede us - and often we’re riding on a tree sheltered bike path that breaks the wind anyway. And even though we’re edging our way out of the old Great Black Swamp, it’s still virtually flat the whole way.

Also, it’s quite serene. We’re still following the North Coast Inland Trail, and will be on it all the way to Oberlin. East of Clyde it’s less uniformly developed, alternating asphalt stretches like we saw yesterday with unpaved but very rideable segments and gaps where you’re on the road, primarily when the route passes through the few larger towns along the way. Much of the ride is quite beautiful, riding a narrow ribbon between the rail line and the adjacent farmlands.

So the riding conditions are quite comfortable. A great ride, really.

And the ride was improved by the catastrophe that didn’t happen. Biking through Bellevue, my Garmin alerts me that I have an incoming phone call. We usually ignore these, but we’re close enough to last night’s motel that I decide to check in case they’re calling us to let us know we forgot something. It’s happened before.

It’s not the motel. It’s an agent from Amazon, alerting us of a suspicious order last night on our account - a new cell phone, for roughly $1,000 I think, although I’m not sure. He has a strong accent and is hard to understand. I agree that the order is not ours, and am told that it’s suspended but I’ll need to get to a computer to cancel it within the next 24 hours. There’s nothing to be done now, so he agrees to call back after 4 when we’re at tonight’s motel.

We stew over this for the next few miles, wondering if we’ll need to cancel a credit card, what other exposure we might have, whether the call itself was legitimate. Finally we stop by the trail and call Amazon’s customer service directly. There’s nothing. It’s a scam. Fortunately I didn’t give any information over the phone, so we should be fine. We block the incoming number from my phone and ride on, happy with the problem we don’t actually have after all.

Oh, fine. So now it looks like we’ll be getting stopped for trains on a daily basis.

The attractive municipal building in Clyde was built in 1979 but has the look of an earlier age.

On the North Coast Inland trail again, which continues on as a sealed route for several miles beyond Clyde. Tired of waiting for me and the damn camera, Rachael has paired up with a new cycling buddy.

Again! Actually, it’s the same train. We passed it while it was stopped between Clyde and Bellevue, and now it’s overtaken us again.

Waiting for the train, gassing about life. This guy is from Saginaw, on his way to Syracuse. Like us he’s spending tonight in Oberlin. He’ll be staying with his folks at their assisted living home. We hinted, but he didn’t suggest that we tag along.

Downtown Bellevue, the next town down the line.

A beautiful sky today. With a high of only 70 and a mild breeze, today is the most comfortable day of the tour so far.

I’d never hear of this line and was surprised to discover it’s one of the largest regional railroads in the country. Beautiful engine!

Beyond Bellevue the pavement ends for about the next fifteen miles. It’s still an enjoyable ride though. With a hard clay surface and a thin sand or crushed limestone layer above that doesn’t add much resistance, it is quite rideable.

Periodically we come to these golden dustings crossing the path. Linden tree blossoms.

So is this just another variety of tiger lily? It has a different look and growth pattern than the others we’ve been seeing.

Acres of wheat, a common sight east of Norwalk.

The Monroeville Depot, another historic preservation project.

Crossing the Huron River, a short Ohio waterway that empties into Lake Erie. Not to be confused with the much longer Huron River in Michigan which we were biking along from Ann Arbor, and which empties into Lake Huron.

Conditions along the trail have been diverse. This was an appealing stretch, biking beneath tall stands of maples.

The Wakeman Elevator, now a drinking venue.

So everything about the day was excellent. But the best of all was Oberlin itself. It’s our new favorite town. Rachael’s ready to move here. There’s enough to like about Oberlin that we’re giving it a post of its own.

The seating in our restaurant catches my attention. In our current Cycle365 challenge, we’re challenged to see faces in strange places. This one’s pretty abstract, so hopefully Challenge Czar Greg will give it his OK.

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Ride stats today: 48 miles, 800’; for the tour: 1,251 miles, 33,400’

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 1,251 miles (2,013 km)

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