Riding the Ohio to Erie Trail [Dispatch]

There’s a thin strip of mostly-paved amazingness that runs from Cincinnati to Columbus and on to Cleveland.

And it’s not Interstate 71.

It’s the Ohio to Erie Trail, and while technically it’s a multi-use path and walkers, runners, roller bladers and even cross-country skiers (but only in the winter) are welcome, we all know it’s really a bike trail.

And it is 329.7 miles long.

I had the chance to ride a 30-mile chunk of it this weekend with the guy who probably knows as much about the O to E as anyone: Jerry Rempelt, executive director of the O to E Trail Fund. They’re the non-profit group that promotes the trail and are helping local communities acquire and pave the last few miles needed to complete it.

“It was started in 1991 and is 85-percent paved,” Jerry said, adding it will be totally complete in another couple of years. One of the biggest missing pieces of the puzzle is here in Columbus, but they’re working on it. In the meantime hundreds of people ride from one end of the O to E to the other every year and thousands more ride sections, such as the popular and nearby London to Xenia portion...

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