Friday July 12:  Marysville, Ohio to Wooster, Ohio
Distance:  103.1 miles
Total time:  8 hours 21 minutes
Riding time:  7 hours 19 minutes

I was worried that today would be the hardest ride of the entire journey.  It was long - 103 miles on top of yesterday's 106 - and it was very hilly.  Missouri hilly for about 40 miles.  But the weather was relatively cool, the wind wasn't a negative factor, and it was a mostly enjoyable ride.  But that 40 mile stretch of hills was very tough, especially since it was the last 40 miles of the day.  A couple of the hills were hope-sucking things without an ounce of grace and no apparent purpose.  Again there is no rest for the wicked, as we average over 90 miles for the next three days before our final rest day in Buffalo.

Today was another day of milestones.  We passed the 3,000 mile mark, and we now have about 850 miles to go in the ten days of cycling that remain.  This is what the Three Amigos looked like after breaking through the 3,000 mile barrier.

But this is what we felt like.

Michael is from nearby Columbus, Ohio so a group from his riding club, the Honey Badgers, came down to cycle with him today.  A couple went the full century distance, while others rode with him for a portion of the day.

It was another day of cycling on back roads through corn and soybean fields, with little traffic.  It looked like this for much of the day.

But sometimes it looked more like this.  Note the hills in both shots.

The latter portion of the ride took us on the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Trail, though I didn't see much beyond the occasional sign.  No apple orchards to be seen among the corn and soybeans.  Note the hill.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Ohio, and we end up in Youngstown, my mother's birthplace and the poster city for midwestern hollowed out rust belt depression.  I haven't been there in about 40 years so I'll look forward to seeing how it has changed.  We have ten cycling days left and we can finally begin to see that one day we won't have to get up and ride 80 or 100 miles unless we really want to.  Today we rode our eighth and final century, so it feels good knowing we don't face any more 100 mile days.