Here is a write-up from one of my GOBA Buddies Dave on this years ride that I missed.
Marty,
I hope you can take time out from your travels to the beach(es) to reflect on what a vacation is really supposed to be!
Word was out that you were not going to attend GOBA this year, so, there were only 1700 registered riders! It was great being back on GOBA and my first not riding a tandem. The routes were composed of a nice mixture of hills in the trees and cornfields (your favorite) in the sun!
Here are some of the trip highlights:
SATURDAY, 18 JUNE 2016: TWINSBURG TO HAMILTON - 239 Miles in 3 Hours, 56 Minutes! Average Velocity: 60.76 mph; Maximum Velocity: 70.0 mph. Loaded the van with 2 adults, two teenagers, one tandem, and three bicycles on the hitch rack and headed south on I-71 to Ashland to meet Leanne's sister with yet another nephew to carry south to Hamilton, Ohio. Arrived at the Butler County Fairgrounds and joined other family members who had already staked claim to choice camping spots. Trains rolling though town kept me awake most of the night, worse than Lorain County Fairgrounds in 2008!
SUNDAY, 19 JUNE 2016 - FATHER'S DAY: HAMILTON TO EATON - 48.74 Miles in 3 Hours, 37 Minutes, 38 Seconds. 1965 Feet of CLIMBING! Average Velocity: 13.40 mph; Maximum Velocity: 39.0 mph. Camped at Eaton High School and they were kind enough to provide a projection TV system in the cafeteria showing NBA Finals Game 7! I watched only a few minutes and had to get to sleep because of not getting sleep the night before. I did not hear the score until I crawled out of the tent Monday morning!
Spent two nights in Oxford at Miami University. A rather disappointing stay as there was not much in the way of entertainment or affordable dining. But, they did provide FREE Wi-Fi in the basketball arena which is where we spent most of the time to beat the heat! It took me a while to get my smart phone to access the network properly to check on weather conditions. After all, why have such a phone if you can not access the National Weather Service while on GOBA? We did get a 15-minute storm on Monday night.
Four of us departed at 5:30 am and outran the rain until Lewisburg, which we arrived at by 8:45 am! Upon reaching New Paris, at mile 55, there was a nice downgrade into town with a stop sign at the bottom so we had to tap the brakes to keep our speed in check. I was in the back of the pack as the road leveled in town and then saw the most amazing crash of my life! I mean, we are talking ABC Wide World of Sports crash when my nephew, Devin, went skidding left across the pavement and into the curb with his bicycle trailing him from behind. He immediately hopped up and was laughing and I noticed a hole in the pavement. Is this what he hit? Oh, no! He clipped the handlebars of his cousin's bike riding next to him! Spectacular crash! Wish I would have had a helmet cam for that one! Fortunately, it had rained and a fresh asphalt patch was in place making it a slide instead of a scrape! We were all saved by having to slow for the stop sign or their would have been a good chance that all four of us would have gone down! Devin had a few scrapes and his bike chain came off, but other than that, we dodged a very large bullet!
We continued on, and I hung back with Devin to be sure he was fit to ride. At the 70-mile mark I heard a sound and saw what had to be the ugliest mule I had ever seen in a field across the road. Is that mule laughing at me? Then I looked down and noticed my rear tire was going flat! What looked like a sliver of stone was sticking in my supposed puncture-resistant tire. Fixing it was no problem and what was especially nice was that a ham radio vehicle stopped and offered to inflate my tire using a floor pump!
Lydell and Caleb were now far ahead of us as I had to slow my speed to allow Devin to catch up to me. He was now hurting and I questioned him if he required a medic. He was determined to earn his first GOBA Century patch and said he would wait until the end to seek medical help. We made it back to Lewisburg, at mile 90, and tanked up on snacks and Gatorade and then continued on to Brookville without incident. We received our patches and then went straight to the medical tent where they looked Devin over.
igns were posted at the information booth about approaching severe weather and the Brookville Fire Department was offering shuttle buses to ferry people to alternative lodging. Radar images showed a line of storms approaching from the northwest but they appeared to be dissipating, so I was not interested in abandoning
Leanne & I decided to ride out the storm in our 4-man Eureka Timberline Tent. We already had packed an emergency bag with important items in case we had to outrun a twister. I have had my 2-man tent in 100-mile winds in Colorado, so I thought this would be a good test for the 4-man version. At approximately 2:30 am, the storm hit! Spectacular lightning and wind pushing horizontal rain through the fabric of the tent as a fine mist. We were rocking and rolling in the tent for a good half-hour before the storm subsided and we emerged unscathed and dry. My bicycle even remained standing through it all. Fortunately, there was no hail and the lightning strikes were some distance away. We heard later that many of the Porta-Johns had blown over and there were many broken tent poles and several major tree limbs had fallen down in camp.
THURSDAY, 23 JUNE 2016: BROOKVILLE TO MIAMISBURG - 53.64 Miles in 3 Hours, 46 Minutes, 59 Seconds. 1075 Feet of CLIMBING! Average Velocity: 14.10 mph; Maximum Velocity: 97.80 mph? I wish! The first few miles out of Brookville required us to navigate through storm debris blown onto the roads. They say that GOBA is not a race, it is a ride. Let me tell you, it is a race to beat the heat. Another hot day with a gradual drop in elevation with a big hill at the end. Leanne was the last into camp because of the heat.
Spent the first few hours in the school cafeteria enjoying the air conditioning while trying to find the ambition to shower and head to dinner. Miamisburg had a shuttle bus route that actually went somewhere. Subway was the dinner of choice, and when the ten of us walked through the door, I could see the manager laughing hysterically. I was impressed with how fast they served so many of us. I was sure to compliment the manager on our way out! Electronic devices are not recommended on GOBA. Good Luck with that. Now the schools en route have charging stations set up to charge your phones for cash! Miamisburg celebrates its bicentennial in 2018. They are in the process of fixing up the town in anticipation of the arrival of throngs of visitors.
FRIDAY, 24 JUNE 2016: MIAMISBURG LAYOVER DAY - Had breakfast at a non-profit restaurant called One Bistro. Payment is by donation. Remained in camp most of the day before having dinner.
GOBA TAKEAWAYS:
Spray-on sunscreen works great!
Maintain a fixed food allowance per day!
Rent an RV or sleep in hotels to make trip more family friendly.
Use of single bike makes climbing hills much easier.
Ride the century only if it cloudy and lightly raining!
Have I written enough?
David (a.k.a "the Weird Uncle")
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