I have a new piece over at The Daily Beast travel section (“Forget the Car, Biking Is the Best Way to See Your State“) on how to see one’s state by bike. Mindy and I are cyclists, and part of what we like to do is travel the state of Ohio via rail trails, which are defunct railways converted into multipurpose trails.
This article takes a look at that experience and I loved writing every word of it. It also features my photos. Check it out.
“…Cruiser bikes—those retro-looking bikes, which usually only have one gear—are not uncommon on a paved bike trail. The woman I’m passing has a basket on hers, whose intrepid passenger is a small Yorkshire terrier. The wind parts his hair and he has an “I’m on an adventure” steely-eyed gaze.
Soon after, I hear a pileated woodpecker, apparently adding its pointillist flare to some dead wood in the nature preserve to my right; I stop to see if I can find it. A family on bikes pass me going the other direction. The little girl pedaling furiously to keep up with them offers me a wide, tooth-bare smile and a spirited wave.
I’m on the 63-mile Wabash-Cannonball Trail, my preferred ride from home in Northwest Ohio. It is a reclaimed abandoned railroad transformed into miles of paved and unpaved bike trail. This is travel within reach of many Americans, and once you experience trails like it, you’ll never look at your state the same way again….”