Day 58: A pretty ride to Girard, PA

I left this morning in typical post front weather- cool and breezy. In this case it was 51 F and a 15 mph northerly wind off Lake Erie. I found my way back onto the route and was pedaling along when another bike rider came up next to me. His name is Jerry and we talked and rode together for a couple of miles. At some point I told him I needed to pull over and check my maps. He stopped with me and once he knew where I was going, offered to show me a better way of getting there. I always defer to local knowledge so I took him up on his kind offer. We rode together another 20 miles or so and then once he was sure I was comfortable with the new route he turned around for his home. It was a very nice thing to do and surely made my day a bit easier. Most of the route from then on was on the Coastal Ohio Lake Erie Trail. It is a very well signed bike route and most of the time is right on Lake Erie. It was cool and breezy all day and felt good to be in the sun for a change. There were hundreds of motorcycles in the little town of Geneva on the Lake. I was caught up with a group slowly rumbling through town and just rode (with a lot less rumbling) along with them. The bicycle clearly set me apart but the beard made me look like a biker…anyway, I rode along with them with my head held high. In Eastern Ohio it started getting more hilly and I started getting a little tired so I slowed down a bit and was fine. I crossed into Pennsylvania (state #11!) and continued to my destination of Girard. Daily mileage: 81, trip miles: 3,191.

A pretty road with a nice bike lane on which to start:

 

My buddy Jerry who went way out of his way to show me a better route:

A couple of nice roads getting to the bike route. Not much of a shoulder but not much traffic either:

And finally I was on the bike route:

The bike route went through little towns and was mainly right on the lake:

Us bikers in Geneva on the Lake. Most guys were riding Harley’s- I was probably the only one riding a Specialized…

The obligatory Welcome to Pennsylvania sign:

And the pretty Pennsylvania road with a wide shoulder that took me to Girard: