McClave Update #2: GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure)

GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure) is a fabulous ride the exceeded our every expectation!  It was a fabulous event!  I bought Katie an entry level bike off the internet, which worked out fine, and we drove to Hillsboro Saturday 6/16 to meet my brother Steve (recovered from TOMRV the weekend before) and our good friend John Cox from Charleston, SC (runs 7 minute miles, and bikes very fast on a $5,000 Cervello racing bike.  And, he is a great guy).  We rode the first 4 days of this 7-day tour, then bugged out for Steve's lake cabin in Ky.  1.900 riders participated, and this ride is very unique for the high number of families that ride it together.  Katie and I rode the parts of the last day with 2 other dads with daughters her age.  Most GOBA riders camped each night in a giant "GOBAville" site.  We stayed in hotels and shuttled to the start each morning.  Each day, our luggaged was trucked ahead for us, and each day's ride was 42-52 miles long with 3 rest stops.  So the interval distances were relatively short and fast.   My kind of tour, and a great introduction to Katie whose longest ride pre GOBA was 19 miles.  Our days were:

• Day 1:  52 miles from Hillsboro to Chillicothe, Ohio.  Dodged rainshowers and had a ball.  The last 12 miles were on a paved, shaded bike trail along the Scioto River.  Beautiful and fast.
• Day 2:  42 mile loop around Chillicothe.  Steve and John did that loop, but Katie and I had to head back after 2 miles to attend to a difficult flat tire due to glass she picked up along the way.  3 tire fixes later, we got out all the glass and got in a 17 mile total ride together.  The evening featured an outdoor drama  -- Tecumsah! -- which was excellent.
• Day 3:  48 miles to Ashville, Ohio.  Met "Big Dave" -- the hippie sitting next to me in the pictures below.  He rode Bikecentennial in 1976 like I did, only he went W to E.  I went the other direction.  Very interesting guy, and somewhat of an institution around the GOBA crowd.  The evening featured 2 live bands in this small town's central park.  Very nice.
• DAy 4:  48 miles to Washington Courthouse, Ohio.  190 total miles for Steve and John, and 165 for Katie and I.

I strongly recommend this ride to anyone and everyone.  Very well organized with lots of families, pleasant distances, great backroads, and organized entertainment every evening.  A great ride!

Big Dave Rode Bikecentennial in 1976 at age 23.  I rode it at age 20 same year.