Day 2 - Lima to New Bremen, 42 Miles

After yesterday's wind battle, today felt like a gift: 42 miles, no headwind, and a much calmer pace overall. Sometimes the best stories are the ones where everything goes perfectly!

Our morning trail began along Lima's Rotary River Walk — a beautifully maintained bike and walking path that follows the river through town. The trail is a nice reminder of just how much Rotary clubs invest in their communities.

From there, we rolled south out of Lima into open farmland, with miles of green fields stretching out around us.

Lunch was waiting for us courtesy of St. Marys Rotary, and they did not hold back — a delicious spread, plus a generous check to support MESA's mission.

The unofficial MESA lineup...

We rolled into the Maria Stein Spiritual Center after 42 miles, our stop for the night. With no headwind to fight, we made great time — which meant we had a solid four hours to kill before dinner.

Naturally, we did what any group of cyclists who just rode 42 miles would do: we walked to a brewery.

What we thought would be a short stroll turned into a 2-mile trek. No regrets, though — we figured we'd earned our beer twice over.

The walk over was its own kind of fun, with riders strung out along the trail, and once we got there, it was hard to argue with a cold beer and good company after a day like this one.

The night wrapped up with dinner at a New Bremen bowling alley, where our host club treated us to a seriously delicious pizza dinner. Bowling pins, pizza boxes, and a room full of MESA jerseys — not a bad way to end day two.

Two down, three to go!

P.S. Here are a couple of fun graphics I created to summarize the ride for MESA's Social Media page: