Day 58 (7/29): Cincinatti, OH; 45 Miles

Moved a bit slower getting out of bed this morning from all the fun last night…but we were out of lodging on time and headed over to the chapter house one more time for some breakfast. Josh once again cooked us up an awesome meal: delicious little cinnamon roll ball things…cheesy hash with crispy topping…quiche-style eggs with cheese, ham, and corn flakes on top…everything was just amazing…this guy can cook. Afterwards we set out for a nice short day of riding.

Pretty smooth sailin overall…save for right up toward the end where we hit some super-steep hills. First going up, which sucked, but then going down…which was freaky. Who woulda thunk it but the fastest hill we hit all trip was today…steep as can be but unfortunately on more a windier road. Slowing down toward the bottom I took my first spill of the trip…no great shakes at all just rolled into some big gravel chunks and after nearly coming to a stop kinda plopped off…total damage: one tiny scrape on my left elbow. I was mostly pumped that my sweet new tires didn’t go flat!

Got into lodging at around 10…where Jamie (who sits on the Push America board) and her husband John were there to greet us, as well as Drew, who had ridden the south route in ’03 and his mom Molly. Jamie went to TCU where the chapter had fundraised to get her a new power chair and has been involved with Push ever since…sweet as can be.

Lodged at a rec center just outside downtown…had to shower up quick because folks from the Cincinatti Recreation Commission were already there to play some wheelchair football! Ann Marie, one of the directors of the commission, told us about all the sports they do (like quad rugby and power chair soccer, which we’ve gotten to play before) and explained they game, which was basically a game of touch football, just in wheelchairs! So we all took turns playin…getting pretty dominated by Jake and his dad Mike, as well as Andy and Derrick…all veteran players. It was a blast.

Right after football we packed into the vans and went over with the whole football crew to a Cincinatti Reds game…they were playin the cubs. Went straight for the skyline chili coney-dogs…a specialty of the city and highly recommended by Nick. The “chili” is pretty unique tasting and apparently has chocolate and cinnamon in it…they slap a hefty serving on a little hot dog and cover it with a huge handful of cheese…absolutely delicious. The game was a blast…too bad the Cubs kicked the Reds butts. To add to the insult the Chicago fans often outnumber the Reds fans at home games…and you could tell as the Cubs chants echoed around the stadium toward the end.

Went straight to dinner after the game a local park which was actually on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river. Robbie, and Matt…Pi Kapps and past JOH riders and their friend Jen cooked us up some delicious bbq as we hung out in the sun and played some cornhole. Their dog, Maggie, a half lab/half jack russel terrier could catch toys in her mouth after you threw them up like 20 feet in the air…awesome trick!

After dinner we rolled back to lodging where I promptly passed out (it was about 7) and awoke around 11 to write this. Some guys went out but most are asleep…Ann Marie is actually stayin with us here which is pretty funny, not sure how she got roped into that! Ready for some more sleep though…heading into Kentucky tomorrow!