Day 6: Erie PA to North Olmstead OH

Today started out on the tough side. I found that as I was riding I continually felt drained, I would stop and feel fine then start riding again and feel bad. Hypoglycemia. My body just won't produce the sugars the muscles need fast enough. It got me to wondering if I am just not able to metabolize as quickly as I used to, or if I just used to ignore the symptoms. Perhaps a bit of both.

Anyway, I stopped early for lunch - fried perch sandwich from lake Erie - that's something they wouldn't have had on the menu 30 years ago. It was good - missed my siesta but had a snack of almonds in the afternoon and generally felt better. The interesting thing is that I am wearing a Fit Bit and it shows a measly 26 minutes of cardio and 4 hours 13 minutes of fat burn today. That compares to Friday 10 hours, Saturday 9 hours, Sunday 11 hours, Monday 8 hours, Tuesday 7.5 hours (actually I am starting to see a trend). I made okay mileage today, so perhaps the key is simply to take it easy. I will ponder that tomorrow.

Today was basically a ride along the shores of Lake Erie, which is scenic at times and dull at others. It threatened rain the whole morning, but the only drops that hit me were in the afternoon when I couldn't see anything that looked like a rain cloud. It was warm - about 90 - so whatever was falling on me was pleasant (I did also get squirted by a kid in a car with one of the big squirt-guns - I think that was done with love).

I had been pondering how to get through Cleveland - all the roads seem to want to just pass through it, so rather than detouring south I went with that. I figured I would just deal with a relatively short stretch of busy roads. But about 50 miles out of town that seemed to start in earnest. Staples not have what you want? Drive two miles down the road there will be another one, and another, and another.

Google maps kept telling me to go north and take the road along the shore. I was annoyed by this, I like to read maps not have them tell me what to do. However, after half an hour on the busy megalopolis way I caved in and went with Google Maps. A problem is that the route suggested is often fragmented, so some overshoot and turnaround are to be expected, and that is what happened. Overall, however, the experience was pure joy. I made it all the way into the heart of Cleveland (the stadium yes) on what were either bike lanes or country roads:

My empty road with a freeway on one side and airport on the other

 Leaving the city was not quite so idyllic, but I never hit anything as bad as that stretch of route 20 some 50 miles out.

So my appetite is back, which is good, and I have discovered I can cover more miles by not pedaling as hard. No doubt tomorrow will be propitious.

July 3, Olmstead OH