Ohio to Erie Bike Ride Day 6: Akron to Cleveland. Last Day!!

Starting off from the Marriott Courtyard at 8am we begin our meandering north’ish ride to Cleveland on our last day of cycling.  

Of course everyday must throw us a curve ball.  We’d been seeing signs and talking to walkers/cyclists for the last hour whether the closure was real or not. Guess what, we went back! About a mile or two. 

Lots of pretty scenery and structures across the Cuyahoga River today.  

Our other natural guide was the old Ohio-Erie Canal which has mostly been stagnant and algae covered but shadows our ride regardless. 

We had a great day of riding a shorter ride than normal to Edgewater Park off of Lake Erie today, and the wild flowers were just a part of it.  We also had soooo many other pedestrians and cyclist on the trail, like every minute or less we were passing a walker, jogger or cyclist along our way.  Labor Day Sunday, a great trail, and an especially nice day brought out lots of people.  

We have our first real stop around 11’ish at Bob’s Big Boy which we pretty much chosen because it brought back memories of when Ang and I were much younger and back in Cincy where I went to high school.  It was wonderfully reminiscent but also wonderfully mediocre.  

Our server at Bob’s Big Boy was Evander, having the same unique name as our 1 1/2 yr old grandson, Evander Allistair Brand.  We traded barbs about the unique name and he took good care of us.  BTW Evander, according to my son Ryan, means “ Protector of Trojans and founder of the city that would become Rome”. Good luck Evanders!  

1pm and we’re getting closer to Edgewater Park where we can dip our front wheels into Lake Erie to “complete” our Ohio to Erie bike ride.  

Donna’s cruising into Cleveland. 

Navigating in the cities always brings a challenge and Cleveland was no exception.  In these situations our trail maps are usually pretty useless and we rely on Google or Apple Maps, dead reckoning and whatever luck we can conjure.  

As we dip our tires in Lake Eriewe can say “It’s  Done!”  We have ridden from the Ohio River to Lake Erie! Through heat and rain, good times and bad, we made it!

After dipping our front tires in Lake Erie at the Edgewater Park beach, we say good by to Peggy as she heads home with her family back to Findlay, Len and Chris drive their car to the Hotel Indigo where Donna, Angela and I meet them after riding our bikes the last 3 miles of our ride.  We saw the Blue Angels performing over Cleveland, and had a wonderful and laugh filled last meal at Flannery’s Irish Pub with Donna, Len and Chris.  It was delightful ending to a great bike trip. Tomorrow we begin our journeys back home to Summit County, CO!

Ohio to Erie Ride Day 5: Millersburg to Akron

A beautiful rainy dawn in Millersburg.Unfortunately we’ve got a 68 mile day ahead and wanted to leave at 7am, but…

…the radar shows a good size rain cell moving ESE (the dark arrow) and we want to ride NE (red arrow) so I’m hoping it will clear by 8’ish and we can start cycling.  We went to a nice little coffee house a few blocks away and by 7:40 the rain had cleared enough we were ready to start our long days ride.  

The rain may have stopped but the trail is still wet and pretty puddly in many places.  We’re going to get dirty.  

Yep, we’re in Amish & Mennonite Country and have been for several days.  Today it seemed like we saw the most of the horse carriages and E-Bikes that they’ve adopted.  

These guys were harvesting the corn with some kind of horse drawn thresher.  I wasn’t able to get a picture of the horse drawn wagon leaving the field piled 15’ high with corn stalks but it was impressive. 

Oh, and besides being wet it was pretty hilly today, especially the first 10 or 15 miles outside of Millersburg. 

Who knew that Yoder was such a common name?!

Ahhh, the magic elixir that keeps me and Ang going, chocolate milk!  It’s 9:30, we’ve been on the trail since 7:40, have about 16 miles behind us and we stopped in Apple Creek for Elevensies.  Work your magic chocolate milk!

Kind people showing kindness with a sweet little break area in the middle of no where with iced water, benches in the shade and I imagine some snacks as well. 

I guess the storm was a little severe here and we had to dodge some downfall.  

Around noon Donna, Peggy, Ang and I had made it to Massillon and had a great lunch at a place called Rockne’s, as in Knute Rockne, head coach of Notre Dame Football from 1918-1931, achieving a 105-12-5 record and 3 national Championships.  He sure has a nice restaurant in Massillon.

Chris and Len drove up ahead to Akron this morning and were expecting to meet Len about 20 miles outside of Akron near Canal Fulton.  I came to understand that Len said they had very good ice cream there, wonder how he knew?

Getting close to downtown Akron now, following the old original canal and tow path for most of the afternoon.

Nearing our hotel for the night we find a beautiful mural and what was probably on old lock from the Ohio &Erie canal.  

After carb loading pasta and meatballs at Luigi’s, a short walk and a 30 minute wait on this Saturday evening, we waddled home to rest, perchance to sleep, before our last days ride to Lake Erie.  

Ohio to Erie Ride Day 4: Mount Vernon to Millersburg

Off like a heard of turtles at 8:30 this morning.  Chris is the most excited because she’s our Subaru Sherpa and will be driving ahead to the hotel and then ride back to meet us, so comfy day for her!  We slept in because we only have a 44 mile ride today AND it’s not in the 90’s any more!  The heat is broken and today we only saw low to mid 80’s!  

Into the cloud hidden, rising sun.  It’s probably high 70’s at this point so we’re really loving the ride even though the clouds gave us pause about the rest of the day….

Riding under a very old highway overpass

Around 10’ish we make our first little stop of the day, 14 miles down the road in Danville.  We found a little mini-mart that actually had a bathroom we could use.  Unfortunately they didn’t have money to elevate the building when the built it to give us a curb to squat on so Len and I de-dignified ourselves and had to sit on the ground. The ladies were much stronger than us and they stood. 

  

Somehow I lost my thirst when I first pulled up my water bottle and saw dirt and probably horse shit from the damp trail today.  

And here’s why I had to write horse shit above, we’re in Amish country and they use the trail for their buggies to get around.  Just to be clear here, I’m not talking about Peggy being the cause of any trouble.

And we got to cross the Dreamers Bridge, so named because the skeptics said “”they” were dreamers if they ever thought  “they” would could build the bridge”.

No Harley is going to put my Surly to shame!  Lunch break at a little bar, the only place to eat in Glenmont around 11:30.  About 30 nice miles mostly under a wooded canopy so far.  

Somewhere around Killbuck the trail turned into a bike highway for us, including the no passing lines.  I had to do a double check to make sure we hadn’t accidentally missed the trail. 

Northeast of Killbuck the threatening clouds finally quit threatening and we get a little drizzle/rain off and on for an hour or so.  Either because of getting rained on or being sweaty after a hot days ride, it seems we alway end up damp at the end of the day.  

We checked into the Hotel Millersburg about 2pm, showered, rested(or blogged) and met down the hill at the Pit Stop Pizza and then waddled our fully belly’s and tired legs back up the hill for respite in our old timey beds.  

Ohio to Erie Day 3: Columbus to Mt. Vernon

Thursday morning and yes, Angela seems very happy, doesn’t she? And why is she in a car you ask? Well, she “volunteered” herself to drive Len and Chris’ Sag Subaru up ahead to Mt. Vernon and ride back and meet us on the trail.  Len was a little less happy though.  

The rest of us start our adventure from the west of Columbus to the northeast and then onward to Mount Vernon.  This could be a challenge.  

Mostly on bike path so far, riding through a nice riverfront area on the south side of downtown. 

We left at 7 and by 8 we’re already downtown in rush hour traffic but it wasn’t too bad. 

We managed our way up to the northeast suburbs and by 9:45am we were ready for a little rest, beverages and a snack.  We had to convenience marts to choose from, both sucked and had no bathrooms but the Waffle House next door accommodated our bodily needs.  Thanks Waffle House!!

Almost 1pm and we now find ourselves in the “The Heart of Ohio Trail”. 

GOD BLESS ‘MERICA!!!

Yea, Old Glory’s a little limp at the moment but we’ve had a slight tail wind most of the day.  

Just when this hot day couldn’t get any better, or warmer, we now find ourselves in the geographic center of Ohio. That might imply we’re halfway to Cleveland?  And that’s the rest of the crew, including Angela now, waiting for me to stop taking pictures again.  

And this is the moment my heart almost broke.  I was bringing up the rear as usual.  It’s a quarter to 2 and we should be at our motel in 45 minutes but the herd upfront misses this golden opportunity for Marshal’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream!  

Ice cream from a real barn!  Probably real cows too!  😢

And for the big finale a wonderful dinner at the upscale Bickerdyke restaurant.  A good day in the books.  

Ohio to Erie Day 2

7am and we’re ready to roll away from our very unique BnB in Waynesville.  At least Angela and Peggy look chipper and raring to go.   Another early sunrise start to try to get as much riding in on our way to Columbus as possible before the heat and humidity saps our will to live. 

We had a nice, dewy morning, around 72 degrees while we headed Northeast toward Columbus. 

Just in case you were wondering about my ride, it’s called a Surly Disk Trucker and it’s made for long distance bike touring. I bought it used in 2015 before our trip to the Outer Banks. It’s made of steel for carrying heavy loads over long distances and varying road quality. It’s a heavy bike, weighing 45 lbs without the panniers.  The two back panniers add about 22 lbs for just under 70 lbs.  The gearing is set up for steep climbs and modest speed on the flats.  I’ve had it up to 50mph coming down the Sierra Nevada’s with front and rear panniers and it was rock solid. It’s taken me from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico among other rides.  Sounds like I have a crush on my bike?

We were blessed on this very challenging day with a light tail wind of 5-10mph which probably helped our average speed by 1 or maybe 2mph yet we still had a light wind on our bodies to help blow away the sweat from and help us feel a little bit cooler. 

Our weather at 11am. This is not what we had hoped for our ride in September.  

Around 11 we were deciding where to have lunch in London when I hear this man calling out for help with his bike in the shelter.  Robert was from Kentucky and had already ridden his bike from Cincinnati to Cleveland and was on his way back when he got a flat tire. He had one of those new fangled electric air pump’s and couldn’t figure out how to get it attached to his valve stem. I tried it for 30 seconds and then pulled out my faithful hand pump and got him going.  I don’t how he’s gotten so far because he was kinda channeling Forrest Gump for me but I guess if Forrest could run across the country so can Robert.  Good luck Robert!  The guy on the left is a local named Ed. He had just stopped by for all the excitement.  

Sometimes we just stop and stare in silence….

Sometimes we stop and chat and rejoice that we don’t have heat exhaustion yet. 

It’s now about 1:30, the hottest, no shade sunniest part of the day and we’re down to one hour away from checking in to our motel in Columbus.  We may be delirious but nothing is gonna stop us now!

  
I’m not sure but I think that Chris is flipping off that farmer on the tractor. She’s usually so kind and considerate.  Could be the delirium I mentioned earlier.  We have to be getting close to the motel I hope.  

We finally made it to our Red Roof Inn for the night at 2:30.  Donna and Peggy are both on fixed incomes and sharing a room for the night.  I think they were trying to barter with the desk clerk for the room. 

After hot showers and perhaps a few naps also, we paraded off to Burnz’ies Old Trail.  There were some Yuenglings drank, some laughs, some great bar food like wings, Rueben’s, club sandwich, burger and even a salad by someone who actually cares about her health.  We waddled back to the motel across the street and found rest and sleep.  Nice hard day team. Bravo!!