Exploring a New Route

 Today I hit the road heading due Southwest for 30-35 miles to explore new roads for a possible permanent route for rando riders. The weather conditions when I left were sunny (for North East Ohio at least), in the 90°s and decently windy.

This a restaurant directly on route that had some bicycles around the building. Researched it further post ride and it has pretty good reviews.  

When scouting for new routes, some of the things I check for include: 

• Are the roads in good condition and have decent shoulders? This can be hard to find in NEO due to being in or near the snow belt and the frequent heavy use of salt. 
• Are the roads less traveled by cars?
• Are there places were riders can get food or potty breaks?
• Any places where riders might be able to get bike support on route?
• If possible, are there interesting sites to see while riding endless miles?
  
  

I met these lovely ladies  to try and get an idea where I was at one point. Turns out they were more lost than me. 😀 They were in Ohio from Louisiana to be in a wedding for a friend.  They were very happy to be enjoying the 90s vs avg 100°+ in their home town.

Who doesn't like bike porn! Old faithful - a Specialized Tri-Cross. I may do a blog post on this bike in the future with the current gear setup.

This is downtown Massillon, Ohio. Not 100% sure what the castle looking building is, but it looks very distinctive. 

This was getting close to my turn around distance. Still pretty skies, but the winds were getting more fierce by the hour. It was getting moderately difficult to average a mere 15 mph. 

I stopped at a Bell Store three hours or so into the ride to refill my water bottles. I saw this motor cycle and asked the owner how many miles it had. He responded "about 10k". He explained that the bike is actually in very good running condition, but that he and his kids purposely designed it to look very old and like it barely runs. He had his kids go to a junk yard and pick random objects to design the motor cycle with. It very much looks like something from the Mad Max movies. Got several pictures to show off the amount of detail and various items that they incorporated into the build. Very slick! Love the Freight Liner logo. 

Note the bicycle bell on the left side of the handle bar. 

The very distressed and old leather bag is a nice touch with a rusted toolbox shoved towards the inside as well. 

All photos ceased on this ride when the heavens opened up. It was pretty comical really, but that's why I roll with fenders.

So test ride results? The vast majority of the roads were solid to use. Some changes need to be made, but I have those marked out. There were a decent amount of interesting sites and plenty of back country roads for green space. Several places for quick pit stops and 24 access to food on route with no gaps larger than 15 miles. Also found Ernie's bike shop - which is absolutely massive and would be a big help for those with technical issues on route. 

After I got back home, finally discovered why the winds were so bad. The rain was also three hours early. Go figure, but that's randonneuring. Deal with the elements while logging miles. 

She still rides like a steed in the rain. Until next time!