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Yesterday we arrived in Zanesville, OH from Hershey, PA. I grew up in Zanesville but when I lived here I was not into bicycling in the way I am now. One thing I have to get used to is the amount of hills. In the years past when I have brought my bike along I have ridden the highways in the area. US40 has bike lanes to the west of Zanesville and some portions of it to the east have bike lanes. This morning’s ride had a shoulder all of the way and a bike lane for about half of it. Since it was Sunday traffic was very low. I spotted at least three roadkill skunks and one doe deer. Muskingum County has one of the largest deer populations in Ohio.

The temperature was much cooler than I care for and I dressed as warm as I could with a long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey and leg warmers. When I left the hotel the temperature was 55 degrees and when I got back it has made it to 67.5 degrees. Clear skies and a light breeze of 2.0 mph and gusts to 6.0 mph. Humidity was 76%. I remembered my sun glasses to keep my eyes from watering when I went downhill.

Road conditions were generally good but you can see what the temperature changes during winter do to asphalt laid over concrete: expansions joints caused heave places every so often. Salt for ice causes the shoulder to crumble and heavy trucks finish off the weak points. The bike lane was in good condition though.

Today’s ride statistics:

• miles 20.38
• riding time 1:30:18
• average pace 4:25 min/mile
• average speed 13.5 mph
• max speed 28.4 mph
• average cadence 66 rpm
• max cadence 102 rpm
• Elevation Gain  930 ft., Elevation Loss  909 ft.
• Min Elevation  748 ft., Max Elevation  1,015 ft.
• September miles 202.06
• YTD miles 3946.61