Bike Me to the Moon

The 2016 Western Ohio  Tour

Western Ohio Bicycling Tour or Bike Me to the Moon

Bike me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars

In late July 2002 our family took a vacation in Duck, NC on the outer banks. On the first morning I got up for an early morning bike ride. I made it to Kitty Hawk where I came upon the monument to the Wright Brothers. It seems fitting to me that I first saw this monument while riding a bicycle.

In the summer of 2013 I put together the first of my 1 week tours designed to not only cover great riding but also to cover areas that are rich in points of interest.  The area I chose was one that was somewhat familiar to me, Upstate NY. On the last day of this tour we circumnavigated Keuka Lake from North to South to North. We stopped at the Glen Curtiss museum. Glen was involved with turning bicycles into the early motorcycles then was drawn into the development and manufacturing of Airplanes due to his experience in making light engines.  Glen also set a few aeronautical records himself.

After the success of my fist weekly trip I set off to design another.  Western Ohio caught my eye with its flat terrains and the connection with the Wright Brothers and the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.  So I started thinking about this area. On another ride we did in 2013 I was telling Jodi about my plans and she told me that she was from the Western Ohio area and told me about the Bicycle Museum of America and the location was set.  This area turned out to have a wealth of history and places to tour that I hope I have picked a good sampling of.  

I had planned this ride and had about 8 couples to join us in 2015 but in March I had a severe biking accident that canceled my plans for that year. Luckily, many of the originals maintained their interest in this ride and I was able to resurrect the plans for 2016. 

On Friday the 24^th  Kathie and I got out of work early and started on our way to Pittsburgh to join up with Jim and Sonya to finish the trip to Ohio on Saturday. As we left the DC area the traffic was characteristically heavy. As we approached Leesburg we came to a car accident that was exasperating the traffic problem. At one point I was in the right lane waiting for traffic to move. Waze was telling us to make a left at the next intersection and I decided to switch lanes to make the left turn possible. As I pulled out a SUV came out of the left lane and hit the front fender of my car. We stopped and the driver argued the I hit her. I cut the argument off and the drive got back in her car and left the scene.

Our car was still drivable and I didn’t want to further block traffic so I drove on to get on our way. In Pittsburgh we found Jim and Sonya’s home and waited for them to return from some errands. We all had a pleasant evening touring their new home and catching up.

On Saturday the 25^th we got up and packed Jim’s truck and trailer and started for Greenville. At about 4:00 PM we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Greenville and in the next hour the other five couples arrived. We all introduced each other and had a happy hour meeting to put together plans for riding the next 6 days. The plans for the first day were to take us up to Union City and back. Union City was actually two towns, one in Ohio and the other in Indiana. This was a loop ride the was sort of a shake down ride for all of us.

On Sunday (PIC | MAP) we got up for breakfast and then started the ride. There we found smooth roads with little traffic. Kathie and I had a small mechanical problem in Union City and soon had some navigation problems with our GPS. Luckily Mike and Pat stopped to help us with the dropped chain but Kathie and I continued having problems finding the rout out of town. After a few false starts we found ourselves on the road we brought into town. I stopped to check the Google maps for the area and found our way back to Greenville. On the way back we caught up with the Bohres and the Winslows who were resting in the shade on the side of the road. We rested with them for a while and then finished the ride back to Greenville.

After returning we showered and rested then gathered with everyone for another happy hour. After happy hour we decided to walk across the street to have dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. We all gathered together at the lobby and walked together toward the restaurant. When crossing the street Sonya tripped on uneven pavement on the sidewalk and fell. She hurt her knee and wrist in the fall. Jim returned with her to the hotel and helped her recover from the fall. While we were eating Jim came in and ordered dinner for Sonya and himself.

On Monday (PICS | MAP) we started our first transfer day. Jim and Sonya volunteered to handle the entire sagging duties for the day. Our ride for the day took us through Ft. Recovery and then Coldwater onto Celina.  We arrived at Ft. Recovery just before 11. Several of us stopped at a Subway and took our sandwiches to the park near the Fort Museum. After lunch we walked up to the Museum. They were waiting for us to start a tour of the museum and grounds.

Our tour guide told us much of the history that made Ft. Recovery a pivotal part of American history. Kathie and I finished the tour then went to the Van to get some Gator Aid then started back on the road. The next section of road took us to Coldwater where we picked up the Celina – Coldwater bike trail that took us to the west side of the Grand Lake. As we entered the trail we caught up with the Winslows again. This time we stopped for a rest and other teams caught up with us.  After the rest we started out with about 4 couples. We were soon off the trail and at the west end of Grand Lake.  Grand Lake is a shallow lake, average depth about 6 ft., and it has a green color to it that gave it a beautiful glow in the sun.

We took a path along the lake that kept us from the designated path.  With Paul and Jodi’s help we got back on track and found our way North of the city where our hotel was. We checked in, got our showers, rested and then met for happy hour. Our location for dinner was CJ Highmark’s. We ate then returned for a good night’s sleep.

On day 3 (PICS | MAP) we got up for breakfast and started on our trip to Wapakoneta. The reason for Wapakoneta was to see the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The Museum was very interesting and after touring it the Orr’s and Kathie and I went to a local Wendy’s for lunch. After lunch we took a small diversion from our route to stop at a unique home in Wapakoneta known as the rock house. This house belonged to a writer named Jim who created a back yard wonderland with a collection of stones from various scrap construction materials. The fascinating part was that the back yard seemed to go on forever. We explored for about an hour then as we were leaving the owner popped out of the back door to have conversation with us.

After exploring the house, we started on our way back to Celina. On the way back we ran into winds coming from the North West. This was as close to hills that we had seen so far. We returned to the hotel, showered, had happy hour and went to the CJ Highmark’s once again.

On day 4 (PICS | MAP), the plans called for a stop in New Bremen. This is the home of the Bicycle Museum of America. We started by repeating roads on the north side of Grand Lake then we turned south on the East end of the lake. We stopped in New Bremen and started took the tour of the Bicycle Museum. This museum was cretated when the president of the Crowne Corporation bought the Schwinn Bicycle Collection as Schwinn was going out of business. New Bremen became the location for the Bicycle Museum.

The tour of the Museum started with a film that outlined the history of the bicycle. It concentrated on the evolution of the bike in America and how it took root before the automobile and when people were trying to find a faster and respectable means of transportation. The collection on display was fascinating and truly entertaining.

After finishing, Kathie and I got on the canal trial and headed south.  After about a mile the trail turned to gravel but we pushed on a little further. At the next intersection we stopped to see if we could alter our route to get off the stones. At the intersection Paul and Jodi caught up with us and we joined together to finish the trip. We went into the next town and stopped at the Wooden Shoe restaurant. We stopped and had lunch at the restaurant.

After lunch we got back on the route and headed further south. Peter and Margaret were covering the SAG duties and were wondering where we were. Kathie and I put extra effort into getting to the next leg of the SAG duties since it was our turn to take over. We found where Peter and Margaret had stopped to let us take over and many riders had stopped there. We traded the bikes in and out of the SAG Van and Kathie and I drove to the hotel.

When we got the hotel we emptied the luggage from the van and stored it in a conference room. As the other couples arrived the stories came out that the route into Tipp City was a bit rough and narrow. Several couples were scared by a driver who was driving fast against on-coming truck traffic. That night we walked to the Harrison restaurant for dinner then we hopped a ride in the van with Jim and Sonya.

The next morning (PICS | MAP) was the beginning of most ambitious of the planned days for the trip. It included 55 miles of cycling and 2 museums to visit. The first part of the rout included getting into Dayton at the Air Force Museum. The original planned rout included taking back roads to the Miami River Trails System, then connect to the Mad River trail system to the Air Force Museum. Some of the couples opted out of taking the back roads and enteringed the trail system earlier on the route. Some of this was because they were concerned about the level of traffic that they were going to run into.

Kathie and I took the back roads and had a pretty easy ride until we got to the Mad River Trail and found a detour across the trail when we got there. Kathie and I were alone and decided to take city streets to get around the detour. We ended up on the north side of the Mad River across from the trail. I checked the Google maps to find a way to the Air Force Museum. We worked our way on the north side of the river and found an intersection with a cross road that would take us to the Museum. We took the road that to my surprise  turned into a limited access highway. Luckily it had ample shoulders to let us move forward. I missed the first exit and moved on to the next exit which was an at grade intersection. We took another look at the maps and took a road that went along the back of the museum grounds. This did not have an opening to get into the museum.  It did however take us to the B Gate of Wright Paterson AFB where we got direction to get us to the museum. We backtracked and found our way to the Museum. Ron and Shari and Mike and Pat had arrived a few minutes in front of us and we found their bikes there.

Kathie and I entered the Museum and started to work our way through the 4 Hangars of exhibits. We soon ran into Ron and Shari and Mike and Pat.  After finishing the first Hangar we stopped for lunch then moved on to the rest of the Museum.

After seeing the Museum, we started out to the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop in Dayton. Ron and Mike showed us how we should have maneuvered around the detours on the Maps River Trail and we found our way to the Aviation Heritage Park where the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop was. At the shop the ranger gave us the history of the Wright Brothers and their 4^th bike shop that was part of the park. We enjoyed the tour and went to the Heritage Park building to see more displays.

After completing our tour there we started back to Tipp City. This time the route took us on the Miami River Trail most of the way into the city. This went smoothly and we stopped for dinner at the Harrison on our way back to the hotel. We got back later than most nights and we organized a ride talk at 9:00 because we failed to have one the night before.

The sixth day (PICS | MAP) of riding had fewer mile and much fewer attractions to take in.  We rode out of Tipp City west to Arcanum. Outside Arcanum is the Brumbaugh fruit farm. At the farm they have a bakery shop that we stopped to snack at. While there I met Winston Brumbaugh who resembled my brother Bob.  We had a great talk about our family trees and how they intertwined.

After finishing at the Farm we finished our trip at the Holiday Inn Express in Greenville. We had happy hour and went into the town for our last dinner together.  The next day we got up and said our goodbyes then started our ride with the Orr’s to get back to Pittsburgh. We got to the Orr’s around 1:00 and had lunch and packed our car while visiting with Jim and Sonya’s Daughter who was in town for the holiday from North Carolina.

Kathie and I drove on from Pittsburgh and were home by 06:30.