Sandusky, Ohio

Wake up this morning was before 5:00 A.M. once again so that we could make it to an early sponsored breakfast. Although this is hard for some of the team I have no complaints about it because I would rather wake up early and have a hot breakfast than sleep in and eat a cold bagel. Breakfast was provided by the Beta Iota Chapter at the University of Toledo and they provided a great spread for us. We walked into the house and I was blown away by the smells that were coming out of the kitchen. The brothers made us eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes and brought us pastries from Panera. I made a point to be one of the first guys in line so I could dive into the meal as fast as possible. Everyone enjoyed the great meal and after a cup of coffee I was set to get on my bike and make my way to Sandusky, Ohio. 

Picture outside the AXO house at UT 

Once everyone was done eating we made our way outside and did our morning circle up. We had a few people joining our circle this morning including the brothers of Beta Iota, the Regional Governor of Pi Kapp in the area, and some girls that do a lot for the chapter. We talked about the days business including mileage, sponsors for the day and rack point. I volunteered to talk about the disability of the day so I told the team about Sleep Apnea and then my teammates and guests were able to add whether or not they knew someone who faces SA. After our prayer it was time to say bye to the very generous and welcoming people of Toledo and make our way to Sandusky. Today like many others I found my self riding with David Iles, and to make things even better we were sweeps. The ride was only about 65 miles but we were told that it was going to be a tough rack point so we figured we weren't going to make it so going fast wasn't really one of our priorities. We started the day going at a pretty reasonable pace but a lot of people having bike problems slowed us down.

Within 25 miles there were two different guys who were having one flat after another and because we were sweeps we had to sit there with them until it was fixed. This time not moving makes the day seem like its going by so much slower which is hard to deal with. We were told that we had to ride 55 miles by 10:30 so when it came to that time and we weren't at the mileage we expected to get racked. One crew stop after another passed and before we knew it the time we were supposed to be staging up for our arrival was approaching. We got to Jesus' stop about 15 miles outside of Sandusky and he told us that we could make it but we had to do it quickly. David and I ended up averaging about 23 miles for the end of the ride and some how we made it into Sandusky. It was a really good feeling to see the whole team finish and we felt a lit bit of achievement because we kept the guys in the back going at a reasonable pace throughout the day. 

The team staged up in a parking lot and then rode up to have our friendship visit with an organization called Ability Works. "Ability works is the provider of choice for individuals with disabilities pursuing interests in employment, recreation, leisure, and personal development." We met with the group at a park to have lunch and spend some time dancing and relaxing for a few hours. The whole team had a lot of fun mingling with the clients and eating a very good lunch while there. One of the clients I talked to was Debbie. Debbie is a very energetic woman who absolutely loves life. She was telling me about her day and how excited she was for us to be there hanging out with her. After dancing for a little while we took our group picture with everyone and said our goodbyes. 

Meeting clients after our arrival into Sandusky

Once we arrived at lodging everyone set up there bedding and showered to get ready for a fun night. One of our sponsors in the area got everyone passes for Cedar Point which was very exciting. The team made their way over to the park where we had a wonderful dinner with a former Pi Alpha and then we made our way into the park. We spent about 2 hours there which was a lot of fun and a good way to get our minds off the bike. After going on a few rides and seeing some very interesting people we left Cedar Point and made our way back to lodging. 

While at lodging we had one of our last team meetings where we discussed the upcoming days and a few other things and then everyone laid down for the night. Tomorrow we ride into Cleveland where we will spend two days. I am excited to see another big city and get closer to a city I am familiar with, Pittsburgh!