Just when you believe that you have been on the best maintained trail you have ever ridden on, the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) surprises you. We enter Roberts Pass from London and its asphalt bed has been seal-coated within the last week or so and we are among the first to ride it. It is incredibly smooth making our peddling even more effortless which compensates for the slight smell of oil left over from the sealing process.
This condition is not lost on the road bikes that zoom by us at high velocity. Like the Autobahn in Germany, the OTET has no posted speed limits. A few travelers got on the path before the seal-coat had dried out fully. A few lines of tire tracks, a few work boot prints and those of a horse shoe are permanent reminders of those who could not wait.
At the beginning of the trail sits an old concrete mileage marker with CLE 163, meaning Cleveland, 163 miles. Our trip will take us on a less direct route as we still have over 200 miles to go.
We pass by a different crop: wheat. Corn is still king but now is complemented by an increasing number of wheat fields that undulate freely in the wind.
We exit the pristine Roberts Pass and enter the very nice Camp Chase Trail, which will take us into Columbus. As the tracks were removed for Roberts Pass, they are next to us for the Camp Chance Trail. We will keep our eyes peeled for mileage markers.
Unlike other fields we have passed, the one to our right looks very healthy with corn that is almost thigh high to me. However, there are still many wet, muddy low spots on the fields we pass. The expanse of soybeans next to us looks good and a smell of manure cannot be missed. Perhaps we will be seeing more cows than corn soon. But no, it is corn, soybeans and wheat that dominates.
We stop at a train crossing to rest and take in the background. The fields serve up a differing textured quilt of green with a few holes lacking vegetation. The large expanses of cut grass on widely spread houses buffer the dwellings from the crops. The patterns of growth and cutting are random but mesh together well when viewed from afar. Little traffic passes by save for an occasional pick-up truck.
After 120 miles on asphalt, we hit our first gravel trail. There is a familiarity to this bumpy ride but it takes us deep into a park next to a river so it is a pleasant reminder of prior rides. We stop under a railroad trestle in the cool shade. A historical plaque informs us of bygone era when trains to NYC would pass over around 5:30 in the late afternoon to arrive in Manhattan the next morning.
Our travel on gravel is brief as we are diverted to the entrance road for the park. It is an easy ride save for a little hill that neither of us enjoy. We get to its crest with little issues or effort coming out to a beautiful conservation field of pollinating flowers, shrubs and grasses. Bees and birds flitter about looking for food and we decide that it is time for us to do the same.
