Day 19 - Cleveland to Warren, PA

Today we had a short ride of 157 miles, yet the hundreds of traffic lights on US 20 east of Cleveland made it seem like forever.

But first, it felt great to sleep in, because we did not start until 1 p.m. The schedule was set up to allow people to fix their scooters. In a stroke of accidental good planning, John and I got our Cleveland hotel room on Priceline a month ago. We got soft beds at the Renaissance near the scooter shop. Everyone else was at a nasty Days Inn far away -- for the same price. I got a good workout in at the hotel gym, and John and I had fluffy omelets at a nearby restaurant.

Until today, I have been touring. I smell the roses while some of the others think they are racing. They take it so seriously that today we had a big discussion and a vote about how to penalize the people who went off the route and took shortcuts. Who cares! They finally decided on a 30-minute penalty. Apparently tempers flared over the whole issue yesterday.

Today was the first day that I started with everyone else, and rode to see how fast the scooter will go. I was right up near the front until I was low on gas with 17 miles to go, so I had to pull over for fuel. As a result I finished 7th out of 25 riders, about 7 minutes behind Stan.

It's probably not a coincidence that as I pushed the scooter hard today, the exhaust started to sound louder. I think the gasket is coming loose again. I am hoping to be able to tighten it up in the morning. If not, I'll have to limp in to the finish line tomorrow evening. We have a long day, with about 380 miles through hills. It should be just as challenging as 500 miles through the midwest.

Miles today - 159
Miles total - 7574