The purpose of this event is to introduce bike touring to riders who have little or no bike touring experience. The route is a modest 30 miles one way on mostly flat, paved surfaces. Experienced tour leaders will share their knowledge about bike touring throughout the trip. You must register for this event, so please register early if you want to attend. We have one campsite reserved (max 6 adults), but will reserve additional sites if needed. There are only a few unreserved campsites left as of 7/27/2020. When they are gone, we will have to close the trip registration.
The group will meet at Xenia Station on Saturday, Oct 3, for a 1pm departure. (The city of Xenia allows cars to be parked at the Xenia Station parking lot over night.) The route follows OH Bike Route 3 north to Springfield (about 20 miles). The route then takes local roads from Springfield to Buck Creek State Park (about 10 miles). The entire route consists of paved surfaces. Riders have the choice of eating dinner at a Springfield restaurant either before or after setting up camp, or to cook dinner at the campsite. Note that it is a 5-10 mile ride one way from the campsite to the nearest restaurant. You could also order take-out while cycling through Springfield, and not have to ride back to town for dinner. The campsite has water, flush toilets and showers.
On Sunday morning, riders will either cook breakfast at the campsite before departing for Xenia Station, or have breakfast at a restaurant in Springfield. The plan is to have all riders return to Xenia Station by noon Sunday.
There will be no SAG support for this ride. If you do not have the necessary gear to carry your camping/cooking equipment on your bike, then maybe you can convince someone to drop off your equipment at the campsite on Saturday afternoon, and pick it up Sunday morning. If you do not want to camp, then there are hotels/B&B’s in Springfield 5-10 miles from the campsite.
Rain date is Oct 4-5 (Sun-Mon).