One long day of driving...

Friday, June 14, 2013
In planning the cycling trail through Cincinnati, I’d reached out to cycling club in the vicinity seeking advice on cycling friendly routes either through or around this major metropolitan area.  I struck gold when I received a response from Glenn Talaska, an extreme cyclist who pedaled some 10,000 miles every year!  He replied to my email with a detailed trail he laid out on Map My Ride, a free internet site where cyclist could create and store routes they had ridden.  I had downloaded the information, printed out the route he’d suggested and was now preparing to drive it to see how viable it was and to make notes about important features.

I packed up my sleeping bag, showered and jumped in the car before 7 to begin my drive towards Cincinnati.  I kept telling myself I’d find a Bob Evans and stop for breakfast, but by the time I saw one, was too caught up in exploring the route to stop and eat.

Glenn had known his business.  He had me entering downtown Cincinnati from the east and riding along the Ohio River past the football and baseball stadiums.  There were several sections that offered marked bike routes on the shoulder of the roads and although I had to make many turns onto various side streets, I could see the route was very doable and as cycling friendly as a route could be in such a large city. 

I reached the western outskirts of the city and began to swing north.  As I left suburbia behind, I began to note the differences between these roads and those of Northeast Ohio and my home riding turf.  Though country roads in every sense of the ones I would ride back home, they were also straight and flat.  With a posted speed limit of 55, that meant cars buzzing along well over 60 because there were no curves or hills to slow their progress.  It also made for boring riding, but as I looked at alternative routes, there appeared to be little difference. 

I drove to my northern most point in the state on the route I thought I would be riding before heading east for home on the interstate.  I would be left with picking a route from Toledo to the western outskirts of Cleveland, where I would pick up the Emerald Necklace through the Cleveland Metroparks for the final leg of the ride.  In all, I’d spent 14 hours driving that day and was exhausted when I finally pulled into my garage.