TOSRV 2009, what can I say about it? We headed out of downtown Columbus bright and early. The weather was nice, jersey, shorts, armwarmers were plenty. We had a headwind. I had wonderful riding companions. The food at was unremarkable but adequate. We had wind, but no rain, and moderate temps, so there's no complaints about the weather. We had a headwind both days, it was worse on Saturday, and Sunday when the wind changed it brought in high pressure which made for a beautiful crystal clear day and bright blue sky.

What made this ride so intriguing to me is the idea that you must get out and train in the often nasty NE Ohio late winter and spring to be ready. And I was blessed to have had adequate training so I felt really good, and remarkably fresh at the end of the first day.

The party in the park was fun. The murals are awesome, quite a coup for a small town like Portsmouth. You can tell they really treasure the TOSRV tradition. We drank beer and socialized. We ate pizza and socialized. I went to bed early. I slept the sleep of angels.

Sunday riding up to Waverly was a good time to work out the kinks and warm up. I was feeling the previous day's miles on my saddle and oh my butt was sore

From Waverly to Chillicothe I went OTF and had a great run through the hills. Schoolhouse was more fun going down than up, but it was OK on the way up too. Not bad at all, infact.

We regrouped and rode the rest of the ride together w/my riding group. We jawed seemingly endlessly about how sore our butts were and how difficult it was to find a comfortable spot. We pondered the possibility of riding out of the saddle for the next 40 miles, but couldn't pull it off. We took ibuprofen. We ate more cookies and pb and j. One of our companions had done this ride many times and regaled us w/the history of the event and provided lots of interesting trivia about the geography and history of the towns were were passing through.

No one bonked.

We had one broken bicycle and two flats in our group.

I did something really boneheaded. In the morning I followed another person to the parking garage in Columbus, an area I am completey unfamliar with. I parked my car, w/the idea that they would be w/me when I returned and help me find my car, so I wasn't paying attention to where I was. Well, that couple finished quite a bit later than me, so they weren't around to remind where my car was Fortunately for me my good friend MKarhl here on BF was w/me and helped me find it after ascending 6 spiralling levels in a parking garage. Just what you want to do after riding 105 miles, right? If it hadn't been for his help, I would probably still be wandering around downtown Columbus...doh! Thank you Michael!

Here's a few photos of our excellent adventure

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...0&l=b773f3cf53