Day 24: Mentor, OH to Westlake, OH - Seeking a Bicycle Warrior's Death, Part I: The Northern Tier - CycleBlaze

May 29, 2021

Day 24: Mentor, OH to Westlake, OH

Long Live Rock

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Julia McAnultyBud, these entries are so intriguing... We all love them! Seeing the Great Lakes up close and personal is beyond my imagination, having been astounded by them all my life...alas, by afar. So loved the view of Andy taking a picture of Erie.
And I think that one day, you’ll be hoisting an Emmy above your head for the work you’ve done. Keep it going! 💪💪👏🏻👏🏻
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2 years ago

We rolled out at seven this morning, right when the Bob Evans restaurant adjacent  to us was opening.  Normally it would’ve been hard to have passed an open restaurant where we could’ve had breakfast, but we’re entering Cleveland and the map shows lots of restaurant possibilities along the lake, so we expect to be able to find places to eat. We passed several little places that we could’ve ate, but we wanted to get a few miles in before we did, so finally we pulled in and ate at Pete’s restaurant.  I had potato pancakes and they were good but I didn’t feel like I had put enough miles in yet to really earn them. We’re doing a relatively short day today of only 40 miles (actually it turned out to be 42 miles), because we’re going through Cleveland and we expect to be slowed down along the lake trail, and also because we have a 70+ mile day lined up tomorrow. I'm having coffee at Pete’s Place right now as I dictate this using voice-to-text and all is well in our world.

A Turkey Crossing In A Residential Neighborhood?
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Steve HenryBudd and Andy.....what an interesting day. Lots of city traffic. I bet you miss the green lawns and sweet houses from days gone by. Well....not much to report tonight except wishing you both a nice ride and safe travels tomorrow. Take care and don’t take any wooden nickels!!!
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2 years ago

As we were leaving breakfast, Doc couldn't find his warm overgloves - he searched everywhere to no avail.  He recently lost his ball cap that he wears for sun protection off the bike, and walked a couple of miles to a store near our last hotel to purchase another one.  Then he found his old one, so now he has two. If you see us riding past and need a ball cap, Doc would probably sell you one cheap - if he can find it.

A little rain fell on us and we feared another day like yesterday, but our fears were short-lived as it quickly dissipated.  There was a cold blustery wind, but most of the time it was a tailwind for us so I'm not complaining about that.  Arriving in Cleveland, we noted that it had been around a while, but it's still a new discovery for us bicycle tourists.

Cleveland Has Some History
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Riding along the lake path, the waves were crashing hard enough to wet the path and make for an exciting ride.

The Surf Was Definitely Up Today
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The surf really was up today, and the locals were taking advantage of it.

Wind Surfing On A Windy Day in Cleveland
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As we began to get to get close to the downtown area, we rode right up on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!   I guess we shouldn't have been surprised, hey we are in Cleveland you know.

Humbled to Bicycle Past This Hallowed Ground
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Amen Brother!
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I can't not put in a pic of downtown Cleveland, this one taken after we had cleared the gauntlet of bicycle paths and downtown city streets and were on our way out.

Cleveland!
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At lunch we both agreed that we'd like to put in more miles today so we would have less to do tomorrow.  But we couldn't book lodging anywhere up ahead, so we resumed our original plan to stay in the Westlake area tonight and do a longer ride tomorrow.  Being on a bicycle for several weeks without watching the news has put us in a sort of zen state where we aren't keeping up with "the world" like one usually does.  But finally, it dawned on us - this is Memorial Day weekend, no wonder we couldn't book anything!  I guess we are lucky to have booked the room we have in advance.  When we booked it we were concerned that getting through Cleveland would be slow and so we opted for a short day.  But yesterday's storm and today's colder weather held down the usual lakefront crowd, and so we rolled through rather quickly. 

All right then, all is well in our world, and now we know that it's a 3-day weekend for the "rest of the world" where most folks live.  We've been on slow-rolling holiday for weeks now, so it's all the same to us.   I hope that you all slow down and enjoy this holiday. Peace...

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,119 miles (1,801 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesOn our first trip to France,we inadvertently started on May 1, a public holiday. No bakeries open, no post offices open, no nothing open. Maybe we should switch our name to The Oblivious Travellers? Loving your journal by the way.
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2 years ago