Mentor OH
Miles = 421
We didn't wait long to find another window to ride. We decided to get another one in before the 4th of July but we only had two days. Once again we faced the dilemma of where to ride and we thought NE Ohio wold be good. We have not ridden there much and there were some good backroads and a few covered bridges. This was also a first in that it was the only two-day trip that we didn't leave the state.
Day One - 391 miles
Just like our earlier trip this month it was going to be impossible to find a route leaving town that wasn't well travelled by us in the past. Therefore we blasted up I-71 through Washington CH and turned off US22 on Sand Hill rd. Our first stop was going to be Rock Mill Park. A county park that includes a covered bridge across the Hocking River and an old mill. The covered bridge looks like it was recently reconstructed and we couldn't get down to the mill as there was some construction going on so we didn't stay long. We rode through Lancaster but on the north side and not through the historic center.We rode north on OH188 and rode through many Amish areas and nice little towns that looked well kept such as Thornville. Next was Newark and we rode through the center of town passing the Licking County Courthouse which was actually the fourth courthouse built on this location built in 1876. We continued on a northeastern tac and ran into some road closures but managed to navigate to the Bridge of Dreams on the outskirts of Brinkhaven. The bridge was an old RR bridge that was converted to pedestrian/bicycle bridge on the Mohican Valley Trail. We continued on OH514 which is not very twisty but the scenery in the countryside makes for a nice enjoyable ride. We went through Wooster which seems to be trying to shake some of the rust off being in the middle of the rust belt. In Barberton we got a little turned around but we found Ignite Brewing and had a nice lunch. We got on the interstate to make some time getting through and around Akron. We headed north on OH534 stopping in Newton Falls at the covered bridge there. The bridge was built in 1831 and there have been many rehabilitation projects on the bridge over the years with the most recent being in 2007. The bridge looks to normally be open to traffic but was closed for us. Next we rode through the village of Mesopotamia, an Amish area which had a split Main Street with a green area in the middle known as the commons that looked to be roughly 60' wide. On the day we rode through they were in full preparation mode for the 48th annual Ox roasting festival. In hindsight I wished we had stopped. Further north as we looked to cross the Grand River we took a slight detour down to the Harpersfield Covered Bridge but to our surprise it was it the midst of a major reconditioning so we didn't spend much time there. We rode on the Madison, a nice little town with a brewery we felt compelled to stop at. The Cornerstone Brewing Co. had a nice location on Main St. We parked the bikes at the Hampton and walked to Mentor Brewing for dinner.
Day Two - 329 miles
We got to our breakfast spot, Mentor Ave Family Restaurant right as it opens at 7:00. It was good food and good service. We had a road closure on Chagrin Falls but we still made it to the town and their falls by 8:30. This looked to be a high end area with some good looking restaurants and a nice main street. We rode south through Medina and continued on paralleling I-71 in an uneventful and not very fun ride. Once we reached Ashville and headed south the ride improved. We stopped at the Pleasant Hill Dam on Pleasant Hill Lake. It wasn't much of a stop but we made the best of it. We stopped in Marysville at Walking Distance Brewing hoping for some lunch but all they had were snacks. It had gotten pretty toasty so we were happy to sit in the place. Our last stop was in Yellow Springs at the Yellow Springs Brewery on the Little Miami Trail. Not the best ride home but we covered some new ground.