40 miles :: trip total 96 miles
Holiday Inn Express, 100 Holiday Trail NE
::
Leaving Xenia, we switched onto the Ohio-to-Erie Trail (1) which coincides all the way to London with (1) the new national trail-in-process (US Bicycle Route 50), (2) our Adventure Cycling Underground Railroad Route, and (3) the local Prairie Grass Trail. Suffice it to say that Ohio has been a national leader in the establishment and linkage of rail trails.
Large farms growing corn and grains were the sights for our day's ride. Tall stalks of Queen Anne's lace, and wildflowers bordered the trail. The trail passed thru Cedarville (population 4000), on to South Charleston (population 1700) where we ate lunch and loaded up on snacks for our very rural days ahead, and finally--in a downpour--to London (population 9,900) .
The downpour ended while we were stopped under the cyclist shelter in London; the sun came out. Here
we talked briefly with two individual long distance cyclists. Each has pedaled
thousands of miles all over the country for years. Today, they, as we, are following the same Adventure Cycling route.
As
beautiful, flat, and straight as the trails are, we are a bit bored with beautiful-flat-straight after 3
days. The weekend weather will be hotter, sunnier and drier as we depart
on the more varied stretches of the Underground Railroad Route northward. We look
forward to some new sights, hills, and curves.
Oh, we love the way an electric motor can change the last miles of the day from drudgery to pampered satisfaction!
We let the motor emerge from its day as junior partner to shine triumphantly as majority shareholder.
Route Notes: We
followed Adventure Cycling's Underground Railroad Route along well paved and maintained trails. The route
worked well, though our off-route way to our hotel was on high-traffic highway 42.
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