I did the AVC Hagertown race on Sat. then went directly to Athens Ohio, home of Ohio University. Sara was working there for a couple of days, and I came along for the trip. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and I used their breakfast bar for fillin' up in the morning and the Hot tub for the after ride cool down. I went to OU back in the Mid-nighties, and it has changed a little but still has the same good vibe that it had years ago. I had decided on doing two rides while I was there, one was a road ride, and the other was a mountain bike ride. When I was in school I had the C-Dale F400 and I would occasionally ride it at Sells and Strouds Run. The trails at these parks has been bolstered by the local mountain biking community, but I didn't get a chance to ride these trails while I was there.
The Rim of the World Ride
I took my cross bike and slapped on some road tires, and put on a 120mm stem instead of the 110mm, and made it flat instead of tilting up. I had gotten this route from the Cyclepath website and did this route with some variations, due to there being no signs that said what road was what and I also changed the start point to my Hotel so added miles to the route in the beginning, and then rerouted to come back a different way. I started the ride under dressed, so that did not help with the rest of the trip with me being halfway sick. The route had some climbs, but mostly it was these little burgs that were on the hill line that would go up and down and up and down. You would go 35 and then like 12, it took allot out of you. I ended up on some Dirt roads I would like to try and redo the ride and make it a dirt road ride, or just stick with the smooth regular roads. The country was pretty would like to ride there more actually, one of the big issues was the lack of rest stops. I would come to a town on the map and it wouldn't have anything there! I did finally find a general store and got something to drink and a warm Ham and Cheese sandwich. I was allot closer to home then I thought so another hour later I was back in Athens. I finally got done after doing like 78miles, in about 4.5+ hours ride time. I then did a 15 minute Hot Tube session followed by a nice shower.
Lake Hope State Park
I was originally not suppose to do this ride, but I was feeling better and decided to give it a go. I packed up for the trip back to DC and then made my way out to the park. I didn't get started until 11:30 or so, and I needed to pick up Sara at 3pm to leave the area to head back to DC.
I wanted a chill ride and the place delivered! I liked the bench cut trails, but in saying that some of the trail seems a little too curvy for no apparent reason other to make the trail slower for riders. With the dry conditions, the corners were a little washed out, so I was never able to really lean the bike over and drill the corners. I didn't know how my body would feel, and how much time I would have but I was able to do the loop that I wanted to do which was coming down the blue Red Oak trail, then doing the Copperhead trail, continuing on to the Sidewinder trail, then coming back the Little Sandy trail, to the WildCat trail, to the Bobcat Trail, and then back up the Read Oak trail. I ended up with about 17miles of trail fun. I think of the trails I did I liked the Bobcat trail the most, and it is the most recently made trail. I over dressed with my arm warmers, but thought it better to be sweating then to have the chills like the day before.
I think it was a worthwhile trip to OH I might even do it again next year if Sara will have me with her. It was nice to have a good dinner with her at Stephen's restaurant, and the meal on the way home on Rt. 68 Puctino's.
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