Day #15 (5/21/24) – Bike Across America

I had a nightmare that I was in a plane crash. When I woke up, I realized I was really in Dayton, OH. Never been so happy to be in Dayton. 🙂

But, I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I was up early. Did my morning routine and was at the hotel breakfast when it opened at 6:30. Breakfast was bad, but I ate what I could. After packing up, I was biking at 7:15.

Here is the first thing I saw.

Of course, I ignored it and I was able to get through. The bike trail around Dayton was through a construction zone. I just walked, or rode, my bike through it and no one said anything.

I was on the Wolf Creek Trail out of Dayton. The trail was a little rough at first – overgrown and broken asphalt. After a brief section on some roads, the rest of the trail was great, and took me out into the countryside.

18 miles into my ride, I was on country roads headed West. A pretty good wind was building up and mostly in my face (10 mph building to 15), which slowed me down. The temperature was rising from 65 when I started to mid 80’s by mid afternoon. Since I was off of a trail, there wasn’t any trees to give me shade or protect me from the wind. I just had to gear down and keep going. It was good practice for me for when I get to the plains states. There is a mental aspect to putting in the effort and not going very fast. I thought a lot about the movie Shawshank Redemption.

I went through an area of Amish people, which means there were hills to climb. The hills were not as bad as a few days ago, thankfully.

Somewhere while biking on these country roads, I crossed over to Indiana. There wasn’t a sign, so no picture, but I could tell I was in Indiana because the roads got worse. 🙂

After 30 miles of country roads I picked up the Cardinal Trail. I was relieved to be on a trail again. The surface was paved, and there were some areas of trees to give me some shade and relief from the wind. The trail also headed more northward, which put the wind across me instead of in my face.

I was on the Cardinal Trail for 30 miles into the city of Muncie, IN. It was a unique day in that I really didn’t talk to anyone. The trails and roads were deserted. The one gas station I went into to get a sandwich and a Gatorade only had the attendant in it, and he wasn’t chatty. I wish there would have been more people to meet.

It was really hot today. I drank a lot of water and still felt dehydrated at the end. It felt good to take a cold shower when I got into my hotel room, and I continue to drink lots of fluids.

My hotel is in downtown, and I walked around a little to check it out and get some dinner. It was deserted too. But my dinner was good. Kind of makes me wish I was back in Dayton. 🙂

For the day, I biked 82 miles and 1,832 feet of climbing. I’m taking tomorrow off to give my body some recovery time. I’ll be back on the bike on Thursday.