Day 21: Granville, OH to Columbus, OH

Distance: 47.7 mi, Climbed: 1,099 ft
Competed: 754.5 mi, 43,740 ft

We did it!! Joanna and I made it through the Appalachian Mountains. Today, we reaped the rewards. We had a gentle ride on mostly flat trails and roads. We are starting to ride longer miles but at a quicker pace without all the hills. My quads are much happier.

We started the day with a few miles on the Thomas J. Evans Trail. On one side, there was farm land, on the other there were people’s back yards. We would spend much of the day in suburbia as we head towards Columbus.

After a few miles, the route left the trail to follow a nice road with little traffic that unfortunately paralleled the highway most of the way. The road noise took away from the otherwise quiet road. What was nice was when Vanessa rode up along side and joined us for a few miles. She was out of for a twenty-mile ride on a nice day. We biked past massive warehouses and a huge power plant in the New Albany Tech Park. We did not see any obvious data centers, but it seemed built for that purpose.  

The scenery slowly became more suburban as we rolled into New Albany. As we passed through downtown, we saw that the Veloscience Bike Works was open, and we stopped in to get my brakes adjusted. The owner Geoff was very nice and did a great job with my brakes. The shop is not usually open on Sundays, but they had a vintage bicycle ride that morning. We got to see some old bikes and helmets. Very cool. We also learned that Geoff had biked across the United States in 27 days, when he turned forty. Lisa, who was there for the vintage bike ride, told us that she also rode cross country in just 15 days. That is 200 miles per day. Crazy. It seems that every bicyclist we have talked with has ridden across the country and each one has done it even faster than the one before.   

After New Albany, we rode across the Hoover Dam. No, not the Hoover Dam in Nevada. There are two Hoover Dams. I always find it amazing to see the contrast between the large lake on one side of the dam and the small river on the other side. I try to imagine what the river must have looked like before the dam was built. Impressive, but also a little sad.

We rode through more suburbia on our way to Columbus. Joanna had fun greeting everyone on their lawns who were out enjoying the nice day. We soon got on the Olentangy Trail which heads into downtown Columbus. The Olentangy Trail is a river trail, so it does not follow old railroad tracks. I much prefer river trails as they meander along rather than going in a straight line for miles. It feels much more organic. The trail also has many bridges back and forth over the river. 

We left the trail for a few miles to take a quick jaunt into The Ohio State University campus. We rode through the college town, passed the football stadium, and took a gentle ride around the main oval. Even Joanna appreciated seeing the campus despite being a University of Michigan graduate. From there, it was back on the trail to downtown Columbus, where we will have a rest day and a chance to see the city.