Our second annual Towpath Expedition took place on Saturday and Sunday, October 28-29. This year, we decided to ride to raise money for the Organization for Autism Research. We set a goal of $2000 and surpassed it easily. To date, we have raised over $3000.

Last year, we rode in June and the weather was pleasant. The same could not be said for the entire event this weekend. So without further delay, here is the story of the Towpath Expedition 2006.

We planned to get an early start this year and met at Vince's once again. This time, everyone was on time. We were hoping for good weather - the forecast had changed constantly during the week leading up to the ride. It had rained during the night and temperatures were expected to reach the high 40's. But we were going to be prepared for anything. Jeremy and Paul were on time this year and the ever reliable Dom was there to take us to our starting point in Cleveland.

We arrived at our starting point at Canal Basin Park on time and unloaded the bikes. Canal Basin Park, you say? That's right. Although there is no such place yet, it is in the planning stages along the banks of the Cuyahoga River. It is the location of the original terminus of the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Flats in Cleveland. The first 6 miles of Towpath are not completed yet but we decided we'd be historically accurate and start where the trail will eventually begin.

The ride started on a difficult note right off the bat. Since there is no Towpath Trail through Cleveland, we had to follow the CanalWay Ohio National Scenic Byway. This meant we had to leave the Flats right away and head up a steep hill to West Prospect Avenue. I did not get a chance to prepare physically for the ride due to obligations, weather, and a trip to Massachusetts the week before the ride. I hadn't even been on my bike for about two months prior to this weekend, so I was not in the best of shape for this event. That first hill was tough for me.

We continued down Prospect to Ontario, passing the Quicken Loans Arena and Jacobs Field on the way. Ontario became Broadway and we followed that to Rockefeller Avenue. The road is closed to auto traffic but we decided to follow it into the Cuyahoga Valley again (it IS the Scenic Byway and the detour would have taken us way out of our way).

After crossing the closed off bridge, we started down a long hill into the valley. Paul was in the lead followed by me and then Vince and Jeremy. I was glad to get a good head of steam going down the hill. Unfortunately, I saw the railroad tracks too late. A set of them crossed the road and wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact that they were at an angle. My tire hit the tracks and sent my bike in a direction it shouldn't have gone at about 20 MPH. Thanks to inertia, I continued on down the hill without my bike, sliding and tumbling about 20 feet or so on the wet pavement until I came to a stop. Vince saw the whole thing and said it was pretty impressive.

The fact that I'm writing this tells you I survived, but was a little worse for wear. I didn't hit my head (I did have a helmet on though) but nearly every other part of my body took the brunt of the fall. All in all, I scraped up my right arm, bruised my left shoulder, crushed the tip of my middle finger on my left hand, and banged my right knee. Sorry for all the detail, but I am a nurse.

After taking some time to right my bike, we got back to riding along Rockefeller Avenue. We followed the central portion of the Byway along Independence Avenue. It was pretty interesting to see the heart of Cleveland's steel manufacturing center before finding more natural settings farther south. The windy and dreary day added to the ambience as well. After riding up another long hill, we followed one of the Cleveland Metroparks trails along E. 49th Street to Harvard Avenue. We headed west to the trailhead at Harvard Avenue to start our ride on the Towpath Trail itself. The first part of the day had added 6 1/2 miles to the length of our trip.

Following the Towpath in the lower Cleveland suburbs was much nicer than the ride on the city streets. We passed some construction which I believe might be for a train station for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Soon we came to the new bridges that had just opened in the last month to carry the trail over Warner and Granger Roads. The bridges are very nice and were easier to ride on than I thought they would be. They were definitely safer than trying to dodge cars at those intersections like it used to be. We made it to our first official stop of the day at Park City Diner in Thornburg Station and enjoyed breakfast and a celebratory beer.

Mother Nature decided to add a new twist to the day as we set out again - rain. South of Thornburg Station, the trail is in the hands of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and changes from asphalt to crushed limestone. This is usually no big deal, but the rain made the trail a little soggy and therefore harder to pedal on. But pedal on we did. After a quick stop at the Canal Visitor Center, we continued on past Wilson's Mill and the Frazee House. At some point during the ride through the Pinery Narrows, the rain stopped, much to our chagrin.

We took a bathroom break at Red Lock and then rode through Boston. The boardwalk through Stumpy Basin was a little slippery but we made it through without trouble. Soon, we arrived at the Winking Lizard in Peninsula for lunch. I walked in and the hostess said "You must be the four wet bike riders." Jeremy's parents Larry and Caroline Varner, Paul's wife Becky and daughter Elena, and Jeremy's wife Tracy were already there awaiting us. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and talked about the ride so far. Then we looked outside. The rain had picked up again and this time it was joined by hail. We considered canceling the rest of the ride for the day, but after a few phone calls to family south of us along the planned route to see what the weather was like there and watching the local weather on the Weather Channel, we decided that we would indeed head out again and reevaluate things at the Mustill Store in Akron.

The hail had stopped but it kept on raining as we headed south from Peninsula. Before long, we came upon a large tree that had fallen across the trail, completely blocking it. Since we weren't there when it fell, we weren't sure if it made a noise. It did make us have to pick our bikes up and lift them over the tree to continue on our journey.

We had considered stopping at Szalay's Farm Market near the Hunt Farm Trailhead for hot apple cider but decided to just continue on. We didn't encounter any further inconveniences until we reached Akron Peninsula Road. Jeremy and Paul were in the lead and elected to take the lower path under the aforementioned road while Vince and I took the high road. Jeremy and Paul reemerged a bit more wet than before - the Cuyahoga River was high and had flooded the trail under the bridge. They said the water was up to their pedals but they made it through.

Not long after that, the rain, sleet, and hail started again. We had to go slow on the boardwalks south of the Big Bend Trailhead so as to not wreck. By this time, my lack of fitness and the previous fall were catching up to me. We finally arrived at the Mustill Store around 4:30 and I was exhausted. The weather kicked up again for the worse while we were in the store and again we seriously considered finishing for the day. I decided I couldn't go on but the other three decided to brave the final 9 miles. I felt bad for having to drop out but I felt that was better than dropping over. Erika picked me up (she was actually glad I decided to stop and thought the others were nuts) and I went home to take a hot shower and nap.

The rest of the gang continued up the new section of the trail through the Cascade Locks to the Beech Street connector and then followed the Scenic Byway to the Manchester Road Trailhead. From there, it was pure Towpath all the way to Lock 1 South. They later told me that the weather had cooperated and they had continued on without any difficulty.  Paul was pretty tired by the end of it all, but everyone survived a pretty messy day.

That night, we gathered at Jeremy's parents' house to discuss the day, relax, and finalize our plans for the following day. Paul's tiredness caught up with him and he fell asleep during the conversation. We enjoyed fresh chili and snacks thanks to Jeremy's mom. We then headed to our various homes for a well deserved good night's sleep.

Paul was to pick me up on Sunday morning at 8:40 but was late. Or was he? I realized as the clock on the cable box changed from 8:59 to 8:00 that we had forgotten to set the clocks back the night before. Even though I got a good night's sleep, I disappointed that I didn't get that extra hour of sleep. But shortly thereafter, Paul and Jeremy showed up to get me, apologizing for being late. It seems that they hadn't set their clocks back either. So we headed off to Vince's pulling in his drive at 8:30. Since he wasn't expecting us until 9, he was rather surprised to see us. Soon we were ready for the second day of the ride. The forecast was more favorable and the sun was shining as we set off.

Unlike last year, Paul was able to join us for Day 2 of the ride. We followed the same road course as last year down the Scenic Byway until we came to Vanderhoof Road. This year, we were able to ride down Vanderhoof to the start of the newest portion of the trail between that road and Center Road. The new Trailhead at Vanderhoof was newly paved and ready for cars.

We found the new portion of the trail to be rather nice and with the sun shining, we were having a much better time than the day before (speaking for myself at least). The Tuscarawas River had significantly overwhelmed its banks and came right up to the trail more than once, causing a number of areas of the trail to be flooded. But in no time at all, we were in Canal Fulton and made our way to the VFW hall for another outstanding breakfast. Just like last year, we ran into our fellow high school classmate Mike Dunn's mother. The other people in the hall were interested in what we were doing as well since we were sporting the shirts that were given to us by OAR.

Our bellies full, we headed out again along the canal in Stark County. We stopped almost as soon as we started to check out the new CanalWay Center in Canal Fulton. Soon we were back on the trail and the ride was very enjoyable despite the temperatures in the 40's.  We arrived at Towpath Court in Massillon and tried to figure out what course to take through that city since the trail is not complete there yet.

We set off again and very quickly arrived at the Lake Avenue Trailhead. We stopped in the Ernie's Bike Shop to get some advice on how to travel through Massillon. It's a good thing we did because we found that the trail was closed due to flooding in the southern part of Massillon. We stocked up on essentials at the Blue Heron Deli (ice cream, candy, and water) and were off. We followed the established trail until we came to the pedestrian connector bride near the Lincoln Way bridge. We cheated and followed a narrow bike path in the future location of the Towpath until we reached Walnut Road. Then it was off the trail to Erie Street, west on SR 241 (into 40 MPH headwinds), south on 17th Street (and its many hills), and finally east on Warmington Road to the Towpath again.

We took another bathroom break at John Glenn Grove at Warmington Road. I officially went on record as hating riding through Massillon after two years of difficulty there. It will be better in the future when the trail is complete and they can find a way to control flooding into the trail.

The final stretch of the Towpath took us to the Stark County Line without incident. Upon reaching the end of the trail, we followed SR 212 into Bolivar as we did last year. I noticed that it appeared as though some surveying had been done for the extension of the trail from the Stark County Line into Bolivar. We arrived at Yesterdays on the Canal for our end of the day meal at around 4:15. With only a little over an hour of daylight left and memories of the difficulties we encountered last year south of Bolivar, we had decided that that would be the end of our ride for this year. We were met by the same group that had joined us for lunch the day before at the Winking Lizard as well as Dom who arrived at the same time we did to take us back. We enjoyed a very good meal at Yesterdays and found out some interesting information concerning the Towpath. A gentleman who appeared to either be a manager or owner of the restaurant told us that the county was hoping to have a grand opening of the Towpath from the Stark County Line through Bolivar to the bridge over I-77 (which looks to be about half complete) and finally to the start of the existing portion of the trail near Lock 7 South on June 1st. A bridge will still have to be built over the Tuscarawas River where the original aqueduct took the canal over the river but it sounds like it will be mostly complete in time for our ride next year (which will be in warmer weather to be sure).

All in all, we had a good time and an immense feeling of accomplishment for raising the money that we did for the Organization for Autism Research. Many thanks go out to our families and friends for their support of our endeavor.

We'd also like the thank the fine folks at Park City Diner, the Winking Lizard, the Mustill Store, the Canal Fulton VFW Hall, and Yesterdays on the Canal for wonderful service. Thanks to Doug Marocco at OAR for his help with setting up our fundraising page and sending us T-shirts to commemorate the ride. And most of all, a huge thanks to the following individuals for donating their hard earned dollars to such a worthy cause: