Some general observations to close out the series on the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure of 2015:
– Congratulations Chris Warnement – Dupont’s favorite GOBA rider! On Thursday, Chris completed the 100 mile ride from Bowling Green to Port Clinton (mostly in the rain) to become one of GOBA’s Century Riders!
– Take your best friend along – Kelly Gilbert-Evans can make me laugh in any situation. She has done that since grade school and we have lots of fun memories of great vacations – two GOBA’s, a Boundary Waters canoe trip and lots of girl trips.
– It was great to see so many people we knew. Jim & Cheryl (Prowant) Burkhart are avid riders. Sarah Johnston was a shuttle driver in Ottawa. Kathy Heeter visited Gobaville in Ottawa and Duane Donaldson checked it out in Bowling Green. Gary Gilbert and Cindy Sterling visited with us in Defiance. Rode past Denise Donaldson’s house outside of Bowling Green. Joni & Loren Swager supported our ride with freeze pops and took us to Van Wert when the route was closed. Riding through Continental territory was awesome!
– At one break, we sat beside a couple who has been on all 27 GOBA’s. He is 76 and his wife is 74 – still going strong!
– Sat by a fellow from Tulsa OK and he was surprised that we mow along the road – even where there is nothing. It looks nice but why?
– Don’t shut your cat in the bedroom for three days while you are gone – they don’t like that.
– Port-a-potties are the same height, day or night. We walked up to a row of them at 4:00 in the morning and thought they seemed a lot shorter in the moonlight – some pranksters in BG had tipped them over!
– Learned a new term – “seat time”. Overheard a guy trying to talk someone into coming along next year and he wasn’t stressing the importance of miles ridden, he stressed “seat time”. We knew what he was talking about and he is very correct!
– GOBA isn’t a time to “look at the big picture”. I only think about getting to the next stop, usually about 15 miles away, not the entire 57 mile ride of Bluffton to Defiance. Break it down into smaller sections and you can do it.
– The impromptu little band of a clarinet player, guitarist, and ukulele were great entertainment in the evening, complete with dancers.
– I can post eNews articles on my i-phone, sitting on a curb at BG high school while listening to the band. Have never done that before and marvel at the technology that allows me to do that.
– GOBA isn’t a rowdy crowd. 1900 people and we start going to bed around 9pm because 5am comes early. Taps are played at 10pm – a great way to finish the day.
– It was great to finally have our family see what we do. Asa & family waited for us beside the road near Lima and Adam came to Ottawa – he insisted he would take us home for a shower but we insisted the shower trucks are really quite nice.
– Best thing about GOBA coming to this area is that now people around here know what it is and hopefully there will be more riders from Putnam county on the next GOBA (2016 will be hilly, 2017 will be flat). GOBA riders come in all shapes and sizes, young and old. If we can do it, so can you!!
