A 10 Mile Bike Ride
This past Saturday was a beautiful day in North East Ohio. My two daughters (14 and 9 years old) and I loaded the bikes in our van and headed over to the Mill Creek MetroParks Bikeway. I parked in the Pilot Travel Center parking lot at I80 and Route 46. The North end of the Bikeway at the county line does not have any designated parking, so most people will park in the Pilot lot or the Ice House Inn parking lot. After unloading the bikes, we purchased some candy bars at the Pilot and then got riding.
From the Pilot Travel Center or the Ice House Inn you have to bike about 1/4 mile down Webb Rd. to get to the bike trail. Once at the bike trail, we turned right (North) and made our way to the northern terminus, which is about an 1/8 mile from Webb Rd. The trail starts at County Line Rd. but there is no parking at all in that area. After getting to the northern terminus, we found that Trumbull County has started the work on their section of the bike trail. These trails are part of the Rails to Trails effort in Ohio to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. There are completed sections in northern Trumbull County to Ashtabula and the Lisbon area, down in Columbiana County, as well as the section we bike which is in Mahoning County.
Turning around and heading South, the first excitement for the girls is the fact that we go under Interstate 80. This is just not going under a bridge, it is actually going through a tunnel created specifically for the bike trail. Interstate 80 in this area is built up far above the normal ground level.shortly after passing through the tunnel we came to Ohltown Rd. There is rarely any traffic to contend with for this crossing, so we looked both ways and continued riding.
The next road you come to is Silica Rd., which does have some traffic at any given point in time. Again, we were able to make this crossing without getting off our bikes since there were no cars or trucks coming. As we do our bicycling and we come to a high traffic area, for the sake of my 9 year old, Rachel, off the bikes we go and then walk them across the street. For most of the bikeway there are not that many crossing to be concerned with.
As previously mentioned, it was a beautiful day out. The temperature was in the mid to high 80's with only moderate humidity. To top that off, this bikeway has shade for most of the trail being created by trees towering above on both sides.
Continuing on, from Silica Rd it is an undisturbed ride all the way to Mahoning Ave. This location is a designated Trailhead with a parking lot and a Porta-John. As far as I am concerned, Mahoning Ave. has the highest amount of traffic for any of the crossings. This must have been the thought when it was decided to create a bridge over the road. Both of my girls look at the Mahoning Ave. bridge as a challenge to race up and over.
The next crossing, S. Turner Rd., has just enough traffic that when Rachel is with us, we get off and walk across. Just on the other side of the crossing is the 3 mile marker, which also means you've got 3 miles to get back from this point. This was only the second time I had taken my younger daughter. The first time, it was here that we turned around and started back, which in effect gave us a 6 mile bike ride. As we passed by this marker, I let Rachel know that it was her decision as to when we turned back. She was also told that for every little bit we travel, you have that much more to get back. Onward we rode.
A short distance after crossing S. Turner Rd. is Fairview Rd. You can tell it's used, but I have never seen any cars or trucks on this road. We crossed without incidence. And continued on to New Rd. and beyond.
I will get into more details of the Mill Creek Metro Parks Bikeway in future posts. As for this day, we traveled just over 4 miles when Rachel said at 5 miles she would want to turn back. That is what we did and she can now say she kept up with her big sister, Sarah, and her dad, while taking a 10 mile bike ride.
Until next time, have a Super, Great, Fantastic, Phenomenal, Incredible, Tremendous day.
From the Pilot Travel Center or the Ice House Inn you have to bike about 1/4 mile down Webb Rd. to get to the bike trail. Once at the bike trail, we turned right (North) and made our way to the northern terminus, which is about an 1/8 mile from Webb Rd. The trail starts at County Line Rd. but there is no parking at all in that area. After getting to the northern terminus, we found that Trumbull County has started the work on their section of the bike trail. These trails are part of the Rails to Trails effort in Ohio to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. There are completed sections in northern Trumbull County to Ashtabula and the Lisbon area, down in Columbiana County, as well as the section we bike which is in Mahoning County.
Turning around and heading South, the first excitement for the girls is the fact that we go under Interstate 80. This is just not going under a bridge, it is actually going through a tunnel created specifically for the bike trail. Interstate 80 in this area is built up far above the normal ground level.shortly after passing through the tunnel we came to Ohltown Rd. There is rarely any traffic to contend with for this crossing, so we looked both ways and continued riding.
The next road you come to is Silica Rd., which does have some traffic at any given point in time. Again, we were able to make this crossing without getting off our bikes since there were no cars or trucks coming. As we do our bicycling and we come to a high traffic area, for the sake of my 9 year old, Rachel, off the bikes we go and then walk them across the street. For most of the bikeway there are not that many crossing to be concerned with.
As previously mentioned, it was a beautiful day out. The temperature was in the mid to high 80's with only moderate humidity. To top that off, this bikeway has shade for most of the trail being created by trees towering above on both sides.
Continuing on, from Silica Rd it is an undisturbed ride all the way to Mahoning Ave. This location is a designated Trailhead with a parking lot and a Porta-John. As far as I am concerned, Mahoning Ave. has the highest amount of traffic for any of the crossings. This must have been the thought when it was decided to create a bridge over the road. Both of my girls look at the Mahoning Ave. bridge as a challenge to race up and over.
The next crossing, S. Turner Rd., has just enough traffic that when Rachel is with us, we get off and walk across. Just on the other side of the crossing is the 3 mile marker, which also means you've got 3 miles to get back from this point. This was only the second time I had taken my younger daughter. The first time, it was here that we turned around and started back, which in effect gave us a 6 mile bike ride. As we passed by this marker, I let Rachel know that it was her decision as to when we turned back. She was also told that for every little bit we travel, you have that much more to get back. Onward we rode.
A short distance after crossing S. Turner Rd. is Fairview Rd. You can tell it's used, but I have never seen any cars or trucks on this road. We crossed without incidence. And continued on to New Rd. and beyond.
I will get into more details of the Mill Creek Metro Parks Bikeway in future posts. As for this day, we traveled just over 4 miles when Rachel said at 5 miles she would want to turn back. That is what we did and she can now say she kept up with her big sister, Sarah, and her dad, while taking a 10 mile bike ride.
Until next time, have a Super, Great, Fantastic, Phenomenal, Incredible, Tremendous day.
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