Score: 4 - 2- 1

Day 103, July 13, 2011, Score 4 – 2 - 1

Route from Conneaut to Crystal Springs Campground, North Ridgeville OH

122.3 miles, averaging 12.8 mph

Worst Moment – The routing score for today:  4 detours – 50% of the time the detour put me back on the right route, 50% of the time I had to find the way back to the route on my own.  Probably the worst of these was in Ashtabula where the detour for Lake Road directed me in a huge circle.  Since I was already expecting over a hundred miles today, I really didn’t want to ride in circles. 

Best Moment – The bicycle path and bike route in Cleveland was pretty amazing.  Going through the city along the lake and seeing some of the grand old houses painted in Victorian finest was really fun. 

I was mainly along the shores of Lake Erie nearly all day today.  Sometimes I would go a bit inland, only to return to the lakeshore later.  Shortly after I left Conneaut, there was a bridge out and the worst moment of the day took place the detour didn’t take me back to the highway 531 along Lake Erie.  There was even a detour on one of the bicycle paths – what could possibly be going on there?

Then there were two streets that were missing from the maps entirely.  Fortunately, I was checking mileage and the GPS fairly frequently to make sure that I was headed in the right direction, so I didn’t have much increased mileage because of map errors. 

Finally, late in the day, just after crossing Cuyahoga River, I wasn’t thinking about the direction and turned right instead of left.  The results of this error were a bit scary.  I ended up in a not so desirable area of Cleveland.  At one point I saw a young boy throw what appeared to be a dirty diaper at a trash barrel.  He missed but didn’t pick up what he threw, leaving the trash on the street.

Geneva on the Lake is an interesting town.  It’s very much a summer tourist area for kids.  There are Lots of ice cream places, fried dough and almost carnival kind of attractions. 

In Eastlake, on the eastern edge of Cleveland, there was the Croatian National Home.  There must have been a dozen tour busses outside the place.   After I looked it up, it seems that this is primarily a cultural, and heritage museum.

 

As I was along the waterfront, I could only think how cold it must be when the Browns play football in their open-air stadium.

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.