Day 40   Richmond, IN, to Marysville, OH   106 miles and 2,270 feet of climb

It was not quite as hot today, but it was still quite humid as we rode across the Indiana-Ohio border on our way to Marysville, Ohio. I rode almost the entire day with the British National Cycling Team- Masters Division (Andy, Alan, Chris, Sean, and Steve). They have all been cycling together for years, and as I've mentioned previously in this blog, they typically do several 7-day trips to the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Dolomites each year. This year they decided to do a "one-off" as they call it and cycle across the USA.

My paceline skills have improved over the last few weeks evidently so, overall, I believe I received a satisfactory rating with most of the team members today, Chris excluded.
Andy is quite adept at filming while riding (something I will never try), and he captured this clip of us riding this morning.

I'm the third rider from the front in this clip. Typically each rider takes a two-mile "pull" at the front before riding to the side and then to the back of the paceline, letting the next man in line take his turn at the front.  

From that clip, you can get a good sense of how it feels in the morning, setting out for another bike ride. 

Really special. 

 Typically I don't eat lunch during a long ride for fear of what my unpredictable stomach might do. But my British friends consider it completely uncivilized if you don't stop for coffee at least once and also for lunch. So today I gave it a go with them in a small cafe in a small town we passed through. Lunch was good, and thankfully, my stomach cooperated. 

It was relatively flat today. More hills are waiting tomorrow. 106 miles today, 105 miles tomorrow as we ride to Wooster, Ohio. These will be our last back to back century days. I believe we have only 10 more days of riding to go.