Bicycling the Little Miami Scenic Trail
Mrs. Cartophiliac and I are pleased to announce the newest addition to our family... bicycles!
Neither of us have done a lot of bicycling since our teenage and young adult years. We are not serious bicyclists, and these bikes are not for serious biking. We just like to toodle around town. Last week, during Memorial Day Weekend, we visited family on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, near St. Louis. So, we took the bikes with us and tried them out on the Mississippi flats (the flood plain). Seventeen miles altogether (there and back). No small feat for an old, out of shape cartophile.And of course, we had to map our route!
This novice bicyclist also discovered something... the "flats" are not completely "flat". It was noticeably more difficult to ride "upstream" than down. Well, duh. Even on a large river, there's a reason the water flows downstream, there is a slight change in elevation.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Cartophiliac and I were inspired to continue our adventure by attempting to cover the entire Little Miami Scenic Trail here in Ohio. Designated Ohio Bike Route #1. Primarily created along the right-of-way of the old Little Miami Railroad:The Little Miami Scenic Trail is over 78 miles long. The trail starts at Springfield in Clark County. From there the trail runs South through Yellow Springs and Xenia in Greene County. Then the trail travels through Corwin, Oregonia, Morrow, Foster in Warren County, Loveland, Milford in Clermont County and Terrace Park in Hamilton County...The trail ends just short of the Ohio River, but there are plans to extend it.
So, our summer project is to complete the trail. On Sunday we road from Yellow Springs, up to Springfield (the northern terminus of the trail) and back. Twenty miles or thereabouts. Then made up for all the calories burnt with a pitcher of Abita's Purple Haze at Peaches Grill. A good day.
This time, we made sure the first leg of the ride was "uphill" before returning "downstream".
I'll keep you informed of our progress... with maps.
posted by Cartophiliac @ Tuesday, June 02, 2009
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Fun stuff. I take my bike over to the bike trail across 35 sometimes, but I don't ride that far--maybe to Xenia and back. It's a beautiful trail though, and you can stop along the river or watch the stock car races. Before you know it, you'll be riding Ragbrai! ;-)
Then you can do the Buckeye Trail, Erie Circle Tour, Rails to Trails, etc...although I don't know if bikes are allowed the whole length of the Buckeye Trail.
http://www.buckeyetrail.org/index.html
http://www.circle-erie.com/
http://www.traillink.com/
Sweet! I love married couple bicycling. It makes me feel all old and young at the same time.
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