Special Issue #85 - The Cycling in Between
Columbus to Cincinnati 2021
Hello,
Rather than invade the regular Friday newsletter and thinking that this probably isn’t going to interest everyone, I thought, while memories are fresh and as my achy legs recover, that I would write a short travelogue about my cycling trip from Columbus to Cincinnati along the Ohio to Erie Trail.
I’ve been wanting to do a trip like this for years, and I have to admit to letting that thought drift away once we arrived in Pittsburgh, in fact, I thought that cycling would be too tough with all the hills and busy traffic. That was until I discovered the incredible network of trails around the city and out into the countryside.
Together with a few friends, we plotted a weekend escape, with stops en route and somewhere to stay overnight about halfway and at the end. Here are a few pics and stories from the trip.
Preparation
What’s wonderful about all these trails is that they are often maintained by a local conservancy group who work to join up the networks, clear or pave the trail service and build some rest-stops with water fountains, repair stands, tools, and air pumps. So there’s a ton of info to help you plan, which we did, around a month before embarking on our trip.
It’s the first time that I’ve done this in the US, so I had to get a few parts for my bike, a handlebar bag, a rear rack, and a few bits and pieces to take with me. Luckily there are a ton of bikepacking websites out there and I’m always fascinated by those shots of kit all laid out. They’re useful to see how minimalist you have to go, what bike bits you need, and eye up some space-saving devices. In the end, the handlebar bag wasn’t great and I needed an extra bungee to keep it in place, but the rear rack was fine and didn’t swing about as I feared it might.
We’ve been riding all summer and although this would be two of our longest rides, I don’t think we were too worried about our physical condition, just that it would be tiring. Eating is so important when you’re cycling (even when you think you have a few extra stores of fat around your mid-drift) so we packed plenty of Cliff Bars, bananas, and Haribo, I can’t tell you how good a bit of food is when you’re starting to feel it in your legs.
Day 1 - Columbus to Xenia
I got picked up at 6 am and grabbed some coffee to go for the two-and-a-half-hour journey from Pittsburgh to Columbus. The highway is direct, and it didn’t feel like too long before we’d arrived at an underground car park downtown near the trail and began unloading the bikes and getting ourselves ready for the ride.
The weather was cool but pleasant, a bit cloudy but dry as we headed along the riverside to start our journey along the trail, in the shadow of the Columbus Crew soccer stadium. We had to negotiate a few roads out of town, and find our way through industrial parts of town but soon we were in the countryside, flying and finding a comfortable rhythm on the bike.
I just love these trails and especially these bridges, which often have been adapted or reconstructed for the trail. My favorites are metal bridges, dusted with rust, a crisscrossing lattice of steel, and wooden slats.
All along the trail, there are murals and artworks painted along factory walls. Being out here feels like you’re riding in celebration of the bicycle. Across open track and then suddenly you’re turning, dipping down through the forest amongst the trees and along the river before bursting out into the sunshine and vast open fields of soybean and corn.
After a few hours of riding, we stopped for lunch at a rest stop frequented by locals. We were hungry from our early start and ate and topped up our water bottles. Quickly I regretted a heavy meal, sitting on my belly as we started on the trail again. It took a few more miles to let things settle and in a little rest stop in London, Ohio we rested on the grass and let our dinners digest.
Then, into the afternoon we hurried on, sometimes chatting, sometimes quiet in our thoughts. We learn too that the power seems to be passed to each person in turn and that it is only ever with one of us at a time. As cycling lore has it, sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail.
Those fields seem to go on forever and have to say that the afternoon of the first day was perhaps the hardest, feeling that I was seeing the same view, again and again, trapped in the horizon and the sensation of not going anywhere. It didn’t help too that we were into a headwind, fighting all the time to gather momentum. It was a relief when the landscape changed and we arrived in Cedarville at a small fayre, with ice-cream vans and food trucks. We stopped at the Hearthstone Inn and dropped a few bucks in the honesty box for a can of soda and a chocolate bar. We sat out front on the rocking chairs trying not to get too comfortable.
Later that afternoon, powered by pop (soda) we arrived in Xenia, our halfway point, about 60 miles along the route. We checked into our motel, the Deerfield Inn, and wheeled our bikes into our rooms. I’m afraid it wasn’t the nicest of places, pretty grubby and badly in need of some work. I tried not to look around too much but was pleased that the shower sort of worked and that the bed was firm. We found a bar and ate enchiladas and nursed our beers, listening to a local band murder cover versions of songs by The Killers and Guns and Roses. My body was craving fruit, so we found a gas station on the way back to the hotel and I managed to find some pineapple chunks (which later tasted zingy), and treated ourselves to choc ice.
I have a thing about pillows, I’ve become fussy in my dotage and it took a moment of folding and layering almost all the pillows in the room before I finally found a solution that meant I could sleep.
Day 2 - Xenia to Cincinnati
The rain woke me up the next morning, tapping on the broken window and seeping through the tape they’d used to keep the shards in place. I got my things together and change into my cycling gear. My kids call it my “cycling costume”, like a superhero.
We ate at a breakfast biscuit place which for those who don’t know is a sort of dry savory scone type deal with a filling consisting of egg or breakfast sausage (flat like a burger). I’m not a huge fan, so I stuck to the protein plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, the coffee hit the spot. We joined a long line of cops putting in their orders, saying our good mornings and hellos, talking about where we had come from and where we were going to some impressed nods.
It was still drizzling as we left, but we were soon on the trail and enjoying the shelter on the trees on either side, avoiding chipmunks and squirrels as we started to turn our legs. The rain eased quickly and we stripped off our raincoats, tucking them back into our bags or stuffing them in the pockets of our jerseys. My bike felt good, the tarmac smooth underneath, and my legs were feeling strong, despite a restless night.
We were soon away and the bikes seemed to eat up the trail, moving at a solid 15mph pace for the first part of the day we seemed to take the first thirty miles before nine-thirty. The trail seemed easier somehow and more interesting in this second leg. Plenty to see as we wound our way through small villages, past fishing ponds, and smelling open fires in campsites, then snaking along the river as people in kayaks and canoes paddled alongside.
We stopped at an old renovated factory, one that once manufactured a million shotgun cartridges a day, back in the early 1900s, and now home to apartments and the brewery where we enjoyed lunch. Thinking back to the day before, I ordered a chicken salad, hoping it would be filling but wouldn’t sit too heavy on the stomach. I’d been snacking on the occasional Cliff bar, but otherwise, I was trying not to overeat, just keeping fuelled up.
Back on the trail after lunch and we rolled through villages like Loveland and Milford, along the section called Little Miami Valley. The sun was shining now and I stripped off my sleeves and dug my shades out of my back pocket. As we closed in on Cincinnati, the trail got busier with people riding bikes, rollerskating, and whizzing along on electric scooters. We stopped for another drink and soaked up the atmosphere, watching everyone out enjoying themselves.
The last few miles into Cincinnati as we left the trail and navigated as best we could, were scary, to say the least. There are still sections that need to be joined up and the detours aren’t well signposted. We rode alongside a busy highway, avoiding the detritus of the hard shoulder. We skirted around the airport, found what few sections of trail were left, and finally rode into the city. Of course, the end of the 72 miles we had traveled that day felt a little anti-climactic, there’s no arch or finish line, it felt a bit untidy. We left the waterfront and found our digs, riding through the city to our reward, a lovely, modern AirBnB with a garage for our bikes and tidy, clean ground-floor apartment, in stark contrast to the previous night, with a warm shower, comfy bed, and half-decent pillows.
That evening, we celebrated with San Miguel, tacos, and churros at Nada and walked home through the city, admiring the street art and architecture. The next morning we had breakfast and explored the hip and colorful Over the Rhine area before our minibus came to pick us up and shuttled us back to Columbus.
Cincinnati and the journey home to Pittsburgh
We’d booked the minibus to pick us up at 9.30 am, driven by a couple close to retirement who arrange pickups and dropoffs for cyclists using the trail. On the journey back we chatted to them about our journey and the places we’d stayed.
It is lovely to feel that we were part of a community, riding along the trails, immersed in an adventure. I think we’d be up for another one, it felt good and my body held up.
I’m home now and looking through the photos and so pleased that we did this and thinking about how much I enjoyed living on the bike for a few days. I’m tempted by the idea of a week’s travel, but that would take a lot of organizing and wouldn’t be fair on home life. I love being out there, riding, feeling the bike as it rolls along the track, through the forests, along the valley, and up hills.
So, next week we’ll be out on the trails in our area, looking forward to autumn when the leaves fall, enjoying blue skies, and wrapping up with warm clothes as we ride on the bike. This might be the best season, conditions are perfect, not too cold, and the sun so bright and so much to see.
There’s so much adventure to take in, so much pure enjoyment on a bike.
See you out there.