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Road Soldiers Cycling Club®

Scooter & Wheelchair Owner's Group

Sandusky, Ohio

Welcome to the Road Soldiers Cycling Club

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RSCC/SWOG News

The Veteran Newsletter

15 July 2010

The second RSCC event in June, this year, was a combined effort of the Road Soldiers, the Fishing Club and the Camping Club with the addition of the Dom Rec. Therapy Department at the Findley State Park. Approximately 30 vets from the Domiciliary attended the event at the nice picnic pavilion at FSP’s lake. A number of activities took place beyond eating burgers and dogs.

The RSCC rode about the park macadam through the day. Unfortunately, the rains rendered the off road biking impossible. That was a real loss as the FSP is the single venue on the RSCC calendar that allows for the members to get their tires dirty and lower the air pressure to go offroading! Responsible mountain bikers refrain from riding on wet trails because the tires leave tracks that are deep enough in soft conditions to begin gullies and yield erosion problems. We stayed off the many and challenging MTB trails because of that reason.

The Campers were more successful with providing much of the cooking for the event. The Fishing Club members, too, were more successful and a couple of fish were caught despite the very warm day. A couple of Road Soldiers traded in their two wheels for two paddles, to the interest of the assembly, and paddled a canoe about the FSP Lake.

Findley State Park is a gem of a small natural reserve. It has a popular camp ground that is well equipped and the Lake is very nice and has real fish in it. The FSP is particularly pretty in the fall when the leaves turn and the air is crisp and cool. It is worth a visit!

Of note, too, was a one-hundred dollar donation, “For the vets!” from an anonymous veteran, named, “Chuck,” who wanted to support our OVH. Whoever you are, Chuck, we thank you for your unprompted generosity and for your own service to our country! What a surprise that donation was, and it was turned over to the RBF to allay the costs of the event.

For the first July RSCC event, the club returned to one of the more favored rides, the B & O Trail in Richland County. The B & O Trail is a converted rail line that runs in a valley from Butler to Belleville through Lexington to Mansfield. It is, like FSP, particularly picturesque in the Fall when the trees add their color. There are also established rest stations in Butler, Belleville, Lexington and beyond with real running water, so to speak! The rest stop in Belleville, on this ride, proved to be especially valuable.

We normally have a picnic supper with the Chapter 51 members of the Korean War Veterans Association at the Mansfield Sailing Club on Clear Fork Lake, just outside of Lexington. This year, a wrinkle developed in that one of the Chapter 51 members was being honored, post mortem, by Richland County. The local honors are that the departed veteran has a flag raised for 21 days in his memory and then his or her name affixed to a memorial plaque in the county court house. The memorial for the Chapter 51 member was scheduled for the Ride Date, Thursday, 08 July. Not wanting to interfere with our hosts’ remembrance of their late comrade, we moved our ride to the Rain Date.

Well, that is precisely what happened! The Rain Date was a rain date! We started out okay, but when we were off from Butler, after a brief sack lunch, the skies became exceedingly ominous. Soon, the cell phone rang and our drivers were asking if they should start picking people up. The sound, in the background, of marbles pouncing off a tin roof, let on that it was raining “as in the time of Noah!” Unfortunately, most of the riders were out in the open and the whole peloton became a soggy one!

Several of the riders decided that once soaked through it didn’t matter if one got wetter and pushed on to Lexington and some went to Mansfield and back to Lexington. Others stopped at Lexington, and a small cadre of us sheltered in Belleville at the converted train station there. However, the rain was persistent and even the cadre finally decided to push on in the puddles and constant precipitation.

A dripping, but otherwise happy, group of 19 riders gathered at the trailer at the Lexington Trailhead and began loading up well washed bikes and trikes. All the gray RSCC T-Shirts were dark with rain, hair was clinging to heads (well, save for Lance’s), and shoes were squishy with water. Fortunately, Glen Greenawalt, Commander of the KWVA, called just as we were putting things in the trailer and asked where we were. He offered to get the picnic going early as the KWVA members were all set up at the Clear Fork Lake. We said, “Be there in about 20 minutes!”

We got things stowed and loaded up for the brief ride to the Mansfield Sailing Club pavilion and met up with our old friends from the Chapter. As usual, they outdid themselves in providing for a wonderful and filling meal of burgers, dogs and the extras. The KWVA members in Richland County are a splendid group of veterans who not only remember the 60th anniversary of the bitter conflict on the Korean Peninsula, but who continue to serve their communities in their seventies and eighties. Much like the WW-II veterans who proceeded them by about a half-dozen years in their service, as this generation marches on they will be greatly missed by our nation, for they give and serve when it is easier to take and complain.

We hope, contrarily, for a long run with our friends in Richland County! They are a splendid group of citizens that show us what we can and should be. Thanks, KWVA Chapter 51, for a great day despite the weather!

Looking ahead, in July, the RSCC will ride on the South Bass Island at our annual joint OVH event in the commons of Put-In-Bay. That will be on the 22nd/23rd of July, and is supported by several service organizations.

We will also continue our participation in the Firelands Rails to Trails, Inc. (FRTTI), by holding a Work Day at the Monroeville Depot, which is currently under restoration. We’ll be doing some paint scraping and sanding to prepare the outside of the old station for a fresh and sealing coat of new paint in the original colors.

The RSCC joined the FRTTI as an organization and a number of us have also joined as individuals. The purpose of the FRTTI is to develop and improve the Huron County section of the North Coast Inland Trail. It is a point whereat we, the RSCC, attempt to give back to the cycling community by being part of a trail organization that is promoting a “green corridor” through Huron County that will, ultimately, link up with the Lorain County parts of the NCIT and the Sandusky County parts. You can access the FRTTI via its website: www.firelandsrailstotrails.org. for more information about this group and its mission.

Yours in wheelin’ about,

Lance Franke, Staff Liaison

15 July 2010

A & B HOBBIES & CYCLES
1202 W Washington St
Sandusky, Ohio 44870
419-625-4242
The folks at A & B Hobbies & Cycles always give discounts to the veterans at the Ohio Veterans Home.

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Fremont Cycle & Fitness Always gives us a discount too.
Corner Of State & Ohio Ave
Fremont, OH 43420
419-332-4481