North Coast Inland Bike Trail

With the 4th of July holiday coming up, I had some time off work so we wanted to plan a few outings.  While researching things to do around Sandusky, we discovered that Cedar Point was offering free admission for active-duty military on July 1 – 4.  Nicolas wanted to be able to take advantage of that, so on Saturday when Bryce had a split shift (he was off from 2 – 7pm), we dropped Nick off at the park and he met up with Bryce.  They really lucked out that it had rained briefly in the morning, apparently scaring everybody off, so they had almost no lines for any of the roller coasters. 

They had a great time, and while they were riding coasters, Tom and I visited a local winery.

Brad, one of the other workers in the RV Park, had mentioned to Tom that he played music at the winery on Saturday afternoon, so we went over to taste a little wine and listen to some music.

It was a nice afternoon with good music and tasty wine, and we enjoyed the company of Brad’s family!

Talking to some other campers, Tom learned about a bike trail that we could pick up a few miles south of us in the town of Clyde. From there, we could ride about 4-1/2 miles to the east to the end of the trail in Bellevue, or ride 7 miles to the west to Fremont.

We arrived at the parking lot in Clyde, which is in the center of town, at on old railroad station.

We had decided to ride the 7 miles to Fremont, which was fairly ambitious for a sunny afternoon with temps in the 80s.  The trail is on an old railroad bed, though, so it’s pretty flat and straight, so not too difficult.

We unloaded the bikes from Nick’s truck, and were ready to go!

We were off!

The trail took us through the town of Clyde, past the Whirlpool Factory, and through the Ohio countryside.

As promised, the trail was flat and straight.

It wasn’t the most adventurous ride we’ve been on, but still a nice trail.  We rode through cornfields,

and saw cows,

and even crossed a river at one point.

There were benches along the trail, and one pit stop  complete with a shelter and porta-potty.

Most of the benches were sponsored by local running clubs and cycling clubs, but a few by individuals.  Nicolas spotted this bench – and was curious to find out who Dickie and Ernie were . . . we had to take a picture on their bench!

We reached the Biggs-Kettner Park in Fremont, which was our turn-around point for the ride.  The trail continues for another 15 miles to the west, but we’ll leave that stretch for another day.

We took a break in the pavilion, while Nicolas tried (unsuccessfully) to find a geocache.  Once everyone was rested, we turned the bikes around and returned to Clyde.

It was a nice day – a great one to spend outside, getting some exercise, but we were pretty much beat by the time we got back to the RV!  I think we need to get out and do some riding more often!

We decided to stay put for the rest of the summer, so we finally got our site set up . . . it looks like home now!