Mathew's bike tours.

[Mathew Fy]

Leaving Buffalo (in the rain again) I’m glad I planned the next section to be three short days instead of two long days in anticipation of riding into the prevailing wind. It was otherwise pleasant with adequate shoulders on the busier roads. Just remember: “I can't blame all on the sun, oh no, We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue”

 

[Mathew Fy]

Leaving Lake Erie. First a day almost entirely on rail-trail. Then another rainy day into Canton. See here for pics from a previous bike trip. This time I visited the Saxton McKinley House and had dinner while listening to the girl band Anya VanRose rehearse for the evening concert for Canton’s First Fridays festivities.


Then on to follow the Ohio to Erie Canal route (mostly gone, some locks remain) in a river valley that cuts through the Appalachian foothills. Read about the Gnadenhutten massacre if you want to feel awful.

 

[Mathew Fy]

For the final day I was blessed with perfect weather and a nice tailwind. Yay!
Along the way I stopped at a memorial for Woody Hays and the the now defunct Longaberger basket factory and headquarters. I remember touring the factory with my in-laws back in the day.


The Licking Summit Reservoir provided water for the Ohio to Erie Canal before being renamed Buckeye Lake. Here a park was promoted as “offering every amusement consistent with good morals and behavior." Buckeye Lake Park featured the "Dips" roller coaster. a 100-by-200-foot swimming pool, a roller skating rink, and dozens of other attractions. During the park's heyday in the 1940s, many big bands-including those of Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey with his singer Frank Sinatra-played at the Crystal Ballroom and Lake Breeze Pier Ballroom. Now the central fountain is all that remains.