That is awesome! I know we constantly hear negativity about how other states are so much more progressive than Ohio, but I do have to say, our multi-purpose state-wide trail system is definitely one of the best in the country. We may not have the mountains, but I think it is pretty awesome that you can get to all 3 of our big cities without riding on any roads!

Edited May 21, 20196 yr by YO to the CLE

2 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

That is awesome! I know we constantly hear negativity about how other states are so much more progressive than Ohio, but I do have to say, our multi-purpose state-wide trail system is definitely one of the best in the country. We may not have the mountains, but I think it is pretty awesome that you can get to all 3 of our big cities without riding on any roads!

I honestly didn't realize it was all offroad, I'm doing the GAP/C&O trail next week, I may have to add this to the list!

3 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

That is awesome! I know we constantly hear negativity about how other states are so much more progressive than Ohio, but I do have to say, our multi-purpose state-wide trail system is definitely one of the best in the country. We may not have the mountains, but I think it is pretty awesome that you can get to all 3 of our big cities without riding on any roads!

 

 

I rode from Cincinnati to Columbus twice in 2009.  Progress near Cincinnati has been minimal but it looks like the trail has extended past the random corn field where I remember it ending in 2009, about six miles east of London.  I had to ride on Broad St. for about 17 miles to the state house.  

 

Maybe later this summer I'll take a week off and ride up to Cleveland and back.  640 miles in 8 days is pretty rough on anything other than a road bike and you can't carry much stuff on a road bike.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

I think it is pretty awesome that you can get to all 3 of our big cities without riding on any roads!

 

I've been in the planning stages of riding the OTET for years now (catching a ride to Cleveland, then biking back to my house in Cincinnati, and camping at parks along the way).  From what I gather, there has been significant progress on the cornfield portions between Columbus and Cleveland, but it still has a number of country roads that you need to bike on.  Cleveland is just now getting their urban trail from Erie to the Towpath finished, so hopefully Cincinnati gets their butts in gear and connects Lunken to downtown.  I could see this being finally completed in 2025.

 

From the FAQ page:

At least 83% of those miles are completed on a collection of off-street but hard surface/paved trails. Some of the OTET is on roads with the lowest traffic we could find in the areas.  In 2017 another 8 miles of OTET on the Holmes County Trail extension from Glenmont to the Bridge of Dreams opened.

 

*Since 2017 (from what I've followed) the Camp Chase trail filled in a gap and phase 3 Towpath extension filled a complicated urban gap.

Edited May 21, 20196 yr by 10albersa
Added FAQ and my limited knowledge

6 hours ago, 10albersa said:

 

I've been in the planning stages of riding the OTET for years now (catching a ride to Cleveland, then biking back to my house in Cincinnati, and camping at parks along the way).  From what I gather, there has been significant progress on the cornfield portions between Columbus and Cleveland, but it still has a number of country roads that you need to bike on.  Cleveland is just now getting their urban trail from Erie to the Towpath finished, so hopefully Cincinnati gets their butts in gear and connects Lunken to downtown.  I could see this being finally completed in 2025.

 

I am not optimistic about the final Downtown Cincinnati approach ever being built.  The roadblocks are amazingly complicated.  The good news is that the ride on Riverside Drive between Lunken and Downtown Cincinnati is pretty easy as-is.  

 

The one significant missing link in the Cincinnati area aside from the downtown situation is a bike-only bridge over the Little Miami River, which is scheduled to be built soon, in 2020 or 2021:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lunken+Airport+Trail,+Cincinnati,+OH+45226/@39.1102638,-84.4016708,542m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8841ade3bfe59d69:0x42dbac4ae86ac055!8m2!3d39.1078371!4d-84.4228429

 

Newtown is the point where rails-to-trails must end because the railroad is still fairly active at that point.  That's why the Miami-Erie trail crosses the Little Miami in Newtown and then travels on a purpose-built trail through golf courses and ball fields to the point where it must re-cross the river to reach the existing Lunken Airport perimeter trail.  

 

The Newtown bridge was built around 2005 and it looks like we're facing a full 15+ year wait to get back over the bridge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, 10albersa said:

 

I've been in the planning stages of riding the OTET for years now (catching a ride to Cleveland, then biking back to my house in Cincinnati, and camping at parks along the way).  From what I gather, there has been significant progress on the cornfield portions between Columbus and Cleveland, but it still has a number of country roads that you need to bike on.  Cleveland is just now getting their urban trail from Erie to the Towpath finished, so hopefully Cincinnati gets their butts in gear and connects Lunken to downtown.  I could see this being finally completed in 2025.

 

From the FAQ page:

At least 83% of those miles are completed on a collection of off-street but hard surface/paved trails. Some of the OTET is on roads with the lowest traffic we could find in the areas.  In 2017 another 8 miles of OTET on the Holmes County Trail extension from Glenmont to the Bridge of Dreams opened.

 

*Since 2017 (from what I've followed) the Camp Chase trail filled in a gap and phase 3 Towpath extension filled a complicated urban gap.

 

The reaction to my photo made me think today at work about what it would take to do a full Cincinnati > Cleveland > Cincinnati up-and-back.  Nobody has done a Vlog featuring this ride, unlike the Katy Trail, the Allegheny Passage, etc.  

 

Unfortunately you'd really have to haul ass because nobody who isn't retired can take off more than a week to do 650 miles.  You'd want a zero day so a Saturday to Sunday ride would mean about 100 miles per day, which is tough to do on anything other than a light road bike.  Unfortunately you'd have some saddle soreness issues if you're averaging 10-11mph on a loaded bike.  You could average more like 14-15mph on a road bike with a small amount of stuff so for that reason alone you might have to opt for the road bike, just to cut down on the hours of sitting in a saddle.  

 

But if you ride a road bike you aren't going to be able to pack full camping supplies plus "luxuries" like an extra pair of shoes.  If you rode a road bike you'd have to switch out the clipless pedals either for flats or for mountain bike clipless so that you would have shoes to walk around in at the campsite.  But just imagine screwing up the shoes in camp so that you can't clip in the next morning.  That's the kind of crap that can waste a full day out there!  

 

 

When I eventually get out there I'll have my GoPro capturing the entire thing (From CLE to CIN).  I haven't figured out the logistics, but i have an overnight backpacking pack, I'm not sure if anyone actually uses those outside of hiking though, it certainly would be clunky.  There are a number of free trail-side campsites that I was planning on using along the way.  It's going to be either a long weekend by myself, or we take a week off and my wife and child (in a trailer) would go with on a more spaced-out ride. 

 

I'll be going either Spring or Fall in 2020.

On 5/21/2019 at 9:53 PM, 10albersa said:

When I eventually get out there I'll have my GoPro capturing the entire thing (From CLE to CIN).  I haven't figured out the logistics, but i have an overnight backpacking pack, I'm not sure if anyone actually uses those outside of hiking though, it certainly would be clunky.  There are a number of free trail-side campsites that I was planning on using along the way.  It's going to be either a long weekend by myself, or we take a week off and my wife and child (in a trailer) would go with on a more spaced-out ride. 

 

I'll be going either Spring or Fall in 2020.

 

No I think it'll be tough to use that pack unless you have a very small one and you strap it to a rack.  Unfortunately, purpose-made bicycle bags are pretty expensive but they're probably worth it.  REI has them in stock.  Independent bike stores rarely do. 

 

This past weekend I biked over to the site of the future bridge over the Little Miami River that will bring the trail a lot closer to Cincinnati.  I wasn't sure if it was under construction or not and here you can see that it most definitely is not:

 

 

So just to the left of the road bridge on the far bank - that's where the trail currently ends.  And yes it dead-ends right into some woods.  When the bicycle bridge is built it will cross to the right of the highway bridge and connect to the existing Lunken Airport Trail, which becomes the Ohio River Trail about one mile south of this spot. 

 

 

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/from-10-to-a-priceless-amenity-driving-force-behind-towpath-trail-set-to-retire

 

Thanks, Tim.

On 12/24/2019 at 12:05 PM, skiwest said:

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/from-10-to-a-priceless-amenity-driving-force-behind-towpath-trail-set-to-retire

 

Thanks, Tim.

Thanks for posting—good stuff.

 

What he has done for NEO will be very hard to measure one day.  Talk about thinking about and planning for the future.

And a little more of an update:

 

 

Towpath Trail Expansion, Summit Lake Improvements to Continue in 2020

 

The coalition was awarded $500,000 in 2019 for a key quarter-mile stretch connecting Stark and Tuscarawas counties. That segment, which will be built in 2020, meant working with five individual property owners.

 

Work will continue in 2020 on many smaller trails as well, said Executive Director Dan Rice.

 

“We’re working on about 500 miles of connector trails whether it’s the Freedom Trail, the Rubber City Heritage Trail or the Veterans Trail,” he said. “There are a lot of regional trails going throughout Northeast Ohio and every year progress continues to be made on these trail projects.”

 

The organization also plans to work on a segment of the trail between Dover and Zoar in 2020.

https://www.wksu.org/post/towpath-trail-expansion-summit-lake-improvements-continue-2020

Work has begun along University in Tremont! About a week ago traffic was closed and the excavators were digging up asphalt. 

^Awesome news! I am most excited for this portion of the trail. We are soo close to having full access to the National Park by bike without having to ride on roads. Something very few (if any?) other regions in this country can boast. Actually, can anyone answer the question of whether any other national park in the country is connected to a major downtown by an uninterrupted multi-purpose trail? Mods can create a new thread for that if you see fit.

 

3 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

^Awesome news! I am most excited for this portion of the trail. We are soo close to having full access to the National Park by bike without having to ride on roads. Something very few (if any?) other regions in this country can boast. Actually, can anyone answer the question of whether any other national park in the country is connected to a major downtown by an uninterrupted multi-purpose trail? Mods can create a new thread for that if you see fit.

 

I’d imagine there is no other such trail, just because there are not typically major cities so close to national parks.  However, this summer I did visit Grand Teton National Park and there was a very nice multi-purpose trail connecting the city of Jackson to the national park.

 

3 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

^Awesome news! I am most excited for this portion of the trail. We are soo close to having full access to the National Park by bike without having to ride on roads. Something very few (if any?) other regions in this country can boast. Actually, can anyone answer the question of whether any other national park in the country is connected to a major downtown by an uninterrupted multi-purpose trail? Mods can create a new thread for that if you see fit.

 

 

26 minutes ago, acd said:

I’d imagine there is no other such trail, just because there are not typically major cities so close to national parks.  However, this summer I did visit Grand Teton National Park and there was a very nice multi-purpose trail connecting the city of Jackson to the national park.

 

I went looking for that info last summer...

 

 

5 hours ago, YO to the CLE said:

 Actually, can anyone answer the question of whether any other national park in the country is connected to a major downtown by an uninterrupted multi-purpose trail?

 

Such a tiny example that it may be ignorable:  Rosilie National Park, a small Maryland island in on the eastern end of the Wilson Bridge (I-95) spanning the Potomac River is connected to the Washington area trail system that will eventually and with difficulty get you to downtown DC.

^That's pretty cool to think about. I never actually realized that we are basically the only national park with direct access. Once the trail is fully complete, we need to tout that more as a region.

 

I'm not sure if they're going to resurface everything or whatnot, but CSX has been working down at the crossing on Jennings Rd. for the past week and some. Looks like they're installing new cross-arms, but here's to hoping that they hold up to their end of the deal and actually finish the portion of the trail that crosses the tracks! 

 

Just tweeted at Canalway Partners they've been good in the past about questions, hopefully it's finally happening!

Edited April 6, 20205 yr by GISguy

 

Upside of the Coronavirus lockdown - work on Tremont section of the Towpath Trail

 

 

Now that I have started biking I realize how important this work is... so exciting to see and also I now realize how critical Irishtown Bend is for MANY reasons- including trail connections.  Hope they can begin work soon.

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 12:30 AM, jmecklenborg said:

This past weekend I biked over to the site of the future bridge over the Little Miami River that will bring the trail a lot closer to Cincinnati.  I wasn't sure if it was under construction or not and here you can see that it most definitely is not:

 

 

So just to the left of the road bridge on the far bank - that's where the trail currently ends.  And yes it dead-ends right into some woods.  When the bicycle bridge is built it will cross to the right of the highway bridge and connect to the existing Lunken Airport Trail, which becomes the Ohio River Trail about one mile south of this spot. 

 

 

 

Update: this bridge is scheduled to be built in 2021.  It will close what is now the only significant trail gap near Cincinnati.  Anyone from the north who attempts to pick up the trail as-is is going to get frustrated, even with the benefit of GPS.  

 

That said, there is no progress in extending a dedicated trail from Lunken Airport west to DT Cincinnati.  Only about 1/2 mile of it has been built west of the airport, however the 5~ mile ride on Riverside Drive to DT Cincinnati is very easy.   

 

 

 

 

@jmecklenborg I'm planning on riding from CLE-CIN via the trail, is it that bad down towards cinci? I have GPS loaded in but is it tricky/is there a better route once you get towards the city?

 

Here's what I have for my computer: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32148015

47 minutes ago, GISguy said:

@jmecklenborg I'm planning on riding from CLE-CIN via the trail, is it that bad down towards cinci? I have GPS loaded in but is it tricky/is there a better route once you get towards the city?

 

Here's what I have for my computer: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32148015

 

This route will work fine.  It is the "old" route, before the trail was extended south from Newtown, eastward across the Little Miami River (the unbuilt bridge will bring riders back over onto the Cincinnati side of the river).  So you will leave the paved bike path at 50 West Brewing & bike shop and then have to pedal up a hill in a fairly busy area into Meriemont's English-sty,e town square, then leave that main road onto Wooster next to the Keebler Elves factory.  The mile from that spot down to Lunken Airport is light industrial.  It is somewhat busy but not too dangerous. 

 

The ride from Lunken Airport toward downtown is very flat and easy.  So you're only looking at 2-3 miles off a paved trail and one mild uphill climb.  It's not a big deal - it's just a shame that you have to snap out of the bike trail "trance" right at the end of the ride. 

 

Also, Lunken Airport has a bathroom and drinking fountain right in the lobby but it might be closed due to Covid restrictions.  I haven't been on the bike trail in a few weeks but most of the drinking fountains near Cincinnati are turned off.  The restroom and drinking fountain across from the Monkey Bar have been open the whole time (search that map location so you can plan ahead to refill your water bottles). 

 

The bathroom/drinking fountain situation has been crazy all year.  The handful that are open across the city seem to be very randomly chosen.  I have had to go out with a camel back on relatively short rides since the drinking fountains are turned off in most city/county parks. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up @jmecklenborg, I streetviewed that section and while it isn't ideal it doesn't seem too terrible in the scheme of things- would you suggest the new part of the trail? One of my first times down there I had an Airbnb on Delta Ave so I'm kind of familiar with Riverside into downtown (and with Eli's BBQ lol). Heading out on Friday, so hopefully will be down there around this time next week (it looks like Xenia for this time next week, Cinci Tuesday). Maybe the timeline's wishful thinking (I'm in full on covid weight gain mode lol), but I look forward to seeing the trail and parts of Ohio I've previously never experienced via bike! 

 

Also shoutout to @ColDayMan for the offer of a UO-esque tour of Dayton and/or Cinci. Next time, next time.

If you're going downtown I would not recommend following the trail extension that was built about 5 years ago.  In order to cross over to Lunken Airport you will need to ride your bike onto Ohio 32, which has fast traffic, and then follow an expressway-type ramp onto the Beechmont Levee, which is a very busy pseudo-expressway.   You then need to bike onto this obscure gravel path in order to connect with the Lunken Airport paved trail:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1103103,-84.4025123,3a,46y,247.49h,91.09t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syurWkgj_sT4Sz84ImoFz4Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DyurWkgj_sT4Sz84ImoFz4Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D141.7998%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

 

28 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

If you're going downtown I would not recommend following the trail extension that was built about 5 years ago.  In order to cross over to Lunken Airport you will need to ride your bike onto Ohio 32, which has fast traffic, and then follow an expressway-type ramp onto the Beechmont Levee, which is a very busy pseudo-expressway.   You then need to bike onto this obscure gravel path in order to connect with the Lunken Airport paved trail:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1103103,-84.4025123,3a,46y,247.49h,91.09t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syurWkgj_sT4Sz84ImoFz4Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DyurWkgj_sT4Sz84ImoFz4Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D141.7998%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

 

 

Arent they planning on building a real path to connect them eventually? Or am I thinking of something else?

48 minutes ago, seaswan said:

 

Arent they planning on building a real path to connect them eventually? Or am I thinking of something else?

 

Yes, a bicycle-only bridge is going to be built next year parallel to the Beechmont Ave. bridge over the Little Miami.  

 

The whole issue is that there is an active railroad yard immediately west of the point at which the trail used to terminate in Newtown:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Newtown,+OH+45244/@39.1402898,-84.3821299,427m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8841a948ee2f9edf:0xbc33a3892e643551!8m2!3d39.1245047!4d-84.361606

 

The railroad did not permit construction of a continuation of the trail on the west side of the Little Miami.  This necessitated the circuitous approach to Cincinnati which adds 2+ miles to the trip and two crossings of the Little Miami.  

 

Left for the trail earlier, currently sitting in Akron drinking a beer, hoping for Massillonish tonight but 90* temps aren't helping! Lol

 

For the curious: https://www.wahooligan.com/users/live/qiS_jeHjjOB8BV4LoCWjag

^ hahaha get those fluids!!!! 

 

I can not wait to do this trip when/if I ever get back. So many new breweries to hit up....

This is pretty damn impressive.  The Race Across America guys regularly do over 400 miles in 24 hours but 300+ miles in just under 20 is still really impressive.  It looks to me as if she spent the night or at least got lunch at a friend's house in Westerville. 

 

I'm in decent shape right now and am confident that I could match it or come close to matching it on back-to-back days but I don't think I could do it in one day without dedicating a month of my life to training for it, plus getting perfect weather on the day of, plus having support at 1-2 points on the ride with somebody bringing me a good meal or maybe stopping into my uncle's house in Columbus to take a shower and change clothes at the halfway point! 

 

Also, I rode the Loveland Bike Trail on Thursday night this week at night for the first time ever and the insects were at times almost overwhelming.  If you're riding 18mph+ it's hard to keep your mouth closed and so you're just hoovering up all of these flying insects and they're sneaking up your nostrils and in between your glasses and your eyes.  Also, the deer were giving me dumb looks and threatening to jump across the trail without warning. 

 

13 hours ago, GISguy said:

Left for the trail earlier, currently sitting in Akron drinking a beer, hoping for Massillonish tonight but 90* temps aren't helping! Lol

 

For the curious: https://www.wahooligan.com/users/live/qiS_jeHjjOB8BV4LoCWjag

 

 Stop at the Canal Boat Lounge in Canal Fulton. Great multiple level outdoor deck on the Towpath. Full disclosure, I know the owner, but it's a great spot.

 

Edited July 4, 20204 yr by metrocity

So idk if I was inspired by @jmecklenborg's post or from heat exhaustion but made the push for cbus last night. Rolled into town around 330a- traveling like a Bedouin! Hah

 

 

And @metrocity I stopped in CF for a hot minute, wish I would've seen that sooner!

7 hours ago, GISguy said:

So idk if I was inspired by @jmecklenborg's post

 

I did 100 miles on the Little Miami (Loveland) trail on the 4th.  I started fairly early in the morning (8:30am) but wish I had started sooner to reduce the heat exposure.  I still felt great at mile 85 and was cruising at 15-16mph no problem but that's when I came out of the bike path's "tree tunnel", felt the full force of the afternoon sun, and bonked when the Cincinnati skyline first came into view.  I was stunned by how rapidly it all fell apart, and with my house just 7-8 miles away.  If I had started an hour earlier and eaten something healthy for lunch instead of a slice of pizza I would have been fine. 

 

The great thing about the trail from Xenia south to Newtown is that you are in the shade basically the entire time.  Not only are you not getting hit by the sun, the pavement stays cool too. 

 

6 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

I did 100 miles on the Little Miami (Loveland) trail on the 4th.  I started fairly early in the morning (8:30am) but wish I had started sooner to reduce the heat exposure.  I still felt great at mile 85 and was cruising at 15-16mph no problem but that's when I came out of the bike path's "tree tunnel", felt the full force of the afternoon sun, and bonked when the Cincinnati skyline first came into view.  I was stunned by how rapidly it all fell apart, and with my house just 7-8 miles away.  If I had started an hour earlier and eaten something healthy for lunch instead of a slice of pizza I would have been fine. 

 

The great thing about the trail from Xenia south to Newtown is that you are in the shade basically the entire time.  Not only are you not getting hit by the sun, the pavement stays cool too. 

 

That's so good to know. Getting ready to leave the hotel and I was dreading another day of getting blasted by the sun. Same thing happened to me the other day, hence riding about 70 miles in the dark. My HR was nearly 30 ticks lower in the cool darkness!

 

1 hour ago, GISguy said:

That's so good to know. Getting ready to leave the hotel and I was dreading another day of getting blasted by the sun. Same thing happened to me the other day, hence riding about 70 miles in the dark. My HR was nearly 30 ticks lower in the cool darkness!

 

 

So, I know I obviously didn't go as far as you, and that changes the circumstances - but I went from my house in Ohio City to Peninsula, for about a 55 mile round trip. 

 

It was 92 the day I went, and my saving grace was pulling into the Winking Lizard and asking for a glass of ice water - I poured half over the towel I brought and put the other half into my Yeti, then put the towel over my neck... I stopped and poured the rest over my neck by Lockkeepers in Valley View. I had goosebumps and felt nauseous when I got home (left at 9am got back around 2:15pm), and I didn't have an appetite until 5... I still think that water was my saving grace in keeping my internal temp cool. 

^^^It is odd that so many people call the Little Miami Scenic Trail the "Loveland Trail."

 

Did the first segment start from Loveland?

1 hour ago, ink said:

^^^It is odd that so many people call the Little Miami Scenic Trail the "Loveland Trail."

 

Did the first segment start from Loveland?

 

I think so.  I believe that the stretch from Xenia to Milford opened around 1988, but the trail actually goes through downtown Loveland whereas the trail merely skirts Milford (it's on the opposite side of the river from downtown Milford). 

 

Also, Loveland had a mayor in the 1990s who was a hardcore biker.  He was the guy who brought the big criterion race to the streets of Downtown Loveland in the 1990s.  I went one year and they had competitors from as far away as California.  He might have been the person who boosted the term "LOVELAND bike trail" to the local media. 

 

 

 

 

@YABO713 oof that sounds scary. Winking lizard is in the perfect spot when riding either direction, Peninsula in general is tbh. My lifesaver yesterday was Pedialyte, I swear between that and a weird carboloaded meal of pasta and mashed potatoes (and TONS of water) I would've probably stopped at bridge of dreams.

 

Didn't hurt it was a redneck campout there too, so sleep probably wasn't going to happen lol

I completed it Monday night with a final push from Columbus to Cinci, once I got down to the city, I appreciate your descriptions and whatnot @jmecklenborg- google wanted me to continue straight vs turning off on the bike route/industrial area by the airport and after driving it with @ColDayMan, pretty sure google would've killed me. Definitely going to stop back in a lot of these smaller towns, since I was trying to move at such a clip (and get out of the heat), I didn't really have the opportunity to really take in some of these places. I'll just say the Little Miami trail is absolutely gorgeous, I traveled maybe half of it before I had to turn on my bike light but I could definitely tell it's a gem during the day.

 

Big thanks to @ColDayMan for the tour too! Got to see a Cincinnati I never knew existed!

 

 

Here my strava links are:

Day 1 (Cle-Massilon, 62mi) - https://www.strava.com/activities/3709324835

Day 2 (Massilon-Columbus, 154mi) - https://www.strava.com/activities/3715324746

Day 3 -  Rest in Columbus

Day 4 (Columbus-Cincinnati, 126mi)- https://www.strava.com/activities/3725170401

Edited July 8, 20204 yr by GISguy

4 hours ago, GISguy said:

I'll just say the Little Miami trail is absolutely gorgeous, I traveled maybe half of it before I had to turn on my bike light but I could definitely tell it's a gem during the day.

 

 

When the trail and the river are really hopping (like during the weekends during the summer) there are 2,000+ people on the trail or canoeing parallel to it.  On the 4th the level of bicycle traffic was basically a traffic jam for several miles.    

 

It might have been dark when you passed the cartridge factory but it is being renovated into apartments:

https://www.pcfapts.com/ 

 

The paradox of all of the bars is that you can't drink beer on a hot day if you're biking long distance.  

 

 

17 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

When the trail and the river are really hopping (like during the weekends during the summer) there are 2,000+ people on the trail or canoeing parallel to it.  On the 4th the level of bicycle traffic was basically a traffic jam for several miles.    

 

It might have been dark when you passed the cartridge factory but it is being renovated into apartments:

https://www.pcfapts.com/ 

 

The paradox of all of the bars is that you can't drink beer on a hot day if you're biking long distance.  

 

 

 

I did go right past that, it was lit up and looked AMAZING. Definitely caught me off guard after coming from the dark trail. And certain parts of the trail certainly looked like it could get busy so maybe it's a good thing I did it in the dark because I was really able to cruise. I live right off the towpath up here in CLE but have avoided it almost all year because I figure with COVID it'll be hard to avoid people/throngs of folks that move to your left when you say on your left lol. 

 

And trust me, that's definitely another downside of getting into these places late is all the beer is shut down at that point, had I not been hotelling/it wasn't 800 degrees out I probably would've spent another day in Cinci to actually celebrate. Oh well, there's always next time (but definitely by car that time around!!).

32 minutes ago, GISguy said:

 

I did go right past that, it was lit up and looked AMAZING.

 

It's pretty crazy to see an abandoned big-city factory out in the middle of nowhere like that.  It's been sitting empty for 50+ years.  The bike trail is obviously an amenity that will help attract tenants.  I could definitely see a hardcore biker wanting to live there since it would be so easy to go out after work and do 20 fast miles, even during the winter.  

Here's the last post I'll have for a while (unless folks have questions) but I put together a storymap of my experience getting down to Cincinnati as well as some tidbits here and there. Thanks again to tips (@jmecklenborg) and the tour (@coldayman)! It's definitely designed for a desktop but will work fine on smaller devices!

 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e8c9772dd204bcfb220edccf6f0d4d8

^So are there significant sections of the trail in northern Ohio that are crushed gravel rather than pavement?  I have 25mm Continental 5000s on my road bike and they'd probably be fine on it but doing 20-30 miles on that surface would wear that sort of tire. 

 

I have been thinking about getting a Salsa Warroad with 28mm tires on 700C wheels which would be almost as fast as my road bike but much better suited for touring and it can do gravel events with 650B wheels. 

12 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

^So are there significant sections of the trail in northern Ohio that are crushed gravel rather than pavement?  I have 25mm Continental 5000s on my road bike and they'd probably be fine on it but doing 20-30 miles on that surface would wear that sort of tire. 

 

I have been thinking about getting a Salsa Warroad with 28mm tires on 700C wheels which would be almost as fast as my road bike but much better suited for touring and it can do gravel events with 650B wheels. 

I ride 28s with some grip on them but nothing gnarly. It's just enough to get me through snow and wet conditions when need be (here's the tire). 

 

I'm sure it'd be fine but yeah areas in CVNP and Summit parks are chip. Once you get through Akron it's mostly paved. Not to mention boardwalks are hell with slick tires and some rain (some in CVNP and outside of cbus). 

 

And that sounds like a badass bike! I've been wanting to get a gravel grinder to do some more off-road type touring but for now my Cannondale will have to do haha.

 

 

Great news for Irishtown Bend!  Wasn't sure where best to post so also cross-posted in the Ohio City development page.

 

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/07/16/metroparks-to-demolish-two-buildings-on-w-25th-street-for-irishtown-bend-project

 

"Metroparks to Demolish Two Buildings on W. 25th Street for Irishtown Bend Project"

 

'The Cleveland Metroparks will demolish two buildings on W. 25th Street in what will be the "first major visible step" in the forthcoming Irishtown Bend project, which aims to clear and stabilize the Cuyahoga River hillside along the eponymous bend and transform it into a 23-acre park.'