It's the way you ride the trail that counts

July 13, 2022

Ohio bike day

Today we explored one of the bike trails in the Columbus area. Since many of the roads around here that we've seen aren't safe for biking - narrow, busy and no shoulders, we have to resort to trail riding. Luckily there are several long paved trails nearby. But we did have to drive to a start point rather than ride right out of the campground.

Our choice this morning was the Alum Creek Trail which starts at Alum Reservoir and goes south into the Columbus downtown area. As it was going to be another hot day, we got an early start and were riding before 10.

The trail was paved, although it did have a few rough spots where the asphalt surface had heaved up. It was also signed quite well with directional signposts at every intersection, markings on the trail itself and even bike maps every so often. So we had no problems with making a wrong turn.

The trail meandered along Alum Creek and was often in the woods so the shade was appreciated. It reminded us of biking the trails in D.C. Lots of others were out walking or cycling, including 4 trikes - 2 were hand trikes. We also saw several deer.

Most of the trail was built under roads and there was only one at-grade street crossing to deal with. It wasn't a big deal.

When we had reached about 10 miles, Don turned around and we reversed our route back to the park. We enjoyed the ride and would do it again if we came back to this area as we could ride all the way to downtown Columbus.

The rest of the day was spent doing some financial stuff at the bank and then a grocery run at Walmart. By the time we got back to the campground, we were both pooped from the heat and the day's activities. Hopefully we'll be able to get in another ride tomorrow.

Very nice signposts on the Alum Creek Trail!

And in case you missed the signs posted, there were ones on the trail itself.

The trail meandered through the woods and crossed Alum Creek many times where there were several interesting bridges. This one looked like an old railroad bridge, but it's new. This trail is not a rail trail.

I wouldn't care to run over one of these black walnuts on my bike!

Today's ride: 21 miles (34 km)
Total: 201 miles (323 km)

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