With ALS each person’s disease course is unique, but eventually most individuals with ALS will not be able to stand or walk, get in or out of bed on their own, use their hands and arms, or breathe without assistance.
We started out from the Hearthside Inn at 8:30am, finding the bike trail right outside the back door of the Inn. Again, the weather was perfect for cycling and we were on fairly secluded bike trials following beautiful farms and meandering through the occasional small town. Dick Wagner joined our group of cyclists for the first of two days. Gio, our Italian Rock Climber got the new nickname of the Italian Geneoa Express as he set a great pace leading us for miles. We stopped first in London, Ohio and the support crew was there to meet us and cheer us on.
We started back on the trail with plans to ride another 20 miles to the lunch stop. We were again riding on trails until we met up with another group of cyclists who told us that the trail up ahead turned to gravel for several miles and they suggested we might want to head out on the road for about 2 miles before we rejoined the paved trail. We knew the road was busy, but felt it would be our best option. As we crested the hill, we came upon the craziest railroad tracks I have seen in awhile. They crossed the road diagonally and were completely chopped up with huge holes and bumps. I was riding behind Steve as I heard him say something like "oh no". (he may have even swore) I immediately said the same thing when I realized we were right on top of these hazardous tracks with no way out. Steve caught his tire and fell to the right hitting pretty hard. I knew if I didn't turn, I would have hit him and probably gone over the front of my handle bars so I swerved left and I too went down. It almost resembled a mini pile up from a peloton crash. Luckily, traffic stopped both ways as we gradually assessed our injuries and of course our bikes. Once we realized we had no broken bones and the bikes were intact, we were up and on the road once again.
We were soon at the lunch stop and were greeted by a wonderful spread of food from our support crew.
After lunch, we headed into a much busier area around Ohio State. Neal had his first flat of the day and the pit crew of Steve and Gio kicked it in once again. The bike trail through here had lots of detours with twists and turns that were hard to follow and the roads were congested with vehicles. We crossed a busy street and entered what we thought was the continuation of the bike trail and Rod ended up crashing right into a young man who was coming down the path on a Lime Scooter. Both of them went down hard. Rod was in a great deal of pain so we flagged down a campus police car that was driving by who then called the EMTs. Rod was shaken up and agreed to get a ride back to the Air BnB from our support crew who responded quickly to the scene of the accident.
A bit rattled but a lot more cautious, the rest of us started back on the trail to Westerville. A few miles in, Neal had his second flat and due to the fact that he has very fancy tires with special tubes, nobody had an extra tube to repair it. He pumped some air into the tire and made it to an intersection where his wife was able to pick him up. At this point, I think we were all ready to call it a day. We were intending to ride about 7 more miles but Captain Dave made the correct call to head directly to the Air BnB and park the bikes for the night.
The support crew once again kicked into gear and Scott made a delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner for us all. The support crew got the medals today for MVPs!!! And they thought they would be bored! Fred Carmean also got an award for his commitment to his own health. Go Fred! Rod's daughter Kate and Dave's brother Bart were able to join us for dinner.
After dinner we said goodbye to Fred and Tim as their stint of the journey was over. Neal also said goodbye as he too was only able to ride the first two days. Tomorrow, we will add Rick Palumbo to the support crew!
Popping a few Aleve and heading to bed soon! Thanks for checking in on us and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers for safe travel! Kicking ALS in the butt with now over $79K raised.
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