This past Sunday, a friend and I rode bikes from his parents-in-law's place to the Taylorsville Dam and hopped onto part of the Buckeye Trail (this part being a bike path). On the way there, I took a spill on the side of the road as I was hoping to avoid being run over by the cars going 50 mph, but instead found myself flying over the bike and rolling on the erosion-ridden slope by the side of the road.
Once we got to the bike path, it was much more relaxing (and accident-free), though where the path goes over the dam (but under the road), there's a really steep winding path that was a lot of fun to ride down very fast. We decided to head north from the dam, and quickly made our way on the freshly-paved bike path. The setting was pretty invigorating: there's the concrete path that we were on, which was surrounded by trees (which still had not started blooming), the train tracks up the slope a little bit to the left, and the old Miami and Erie Canal track (with crumbling locks) and the Great Miami River running parallel to it on the right, and several roads beyond the river. All of this, with the warm air and the birds happily chirping away made for a very relaxing bike ride and it felt great that spring weather was finally here. I wish I had my camera there so I could have taken a few shots.
On the way north, we passed by a sign, which said "Welcome to Tadmor". My friend had told me of an old town that used to be there and it piqued my interest as there was no houses or any sign of there being one, other than the "sign" stating that it had. Later, after getting home (much, much later), I talked to my mother about it and she told me that her ancestors had been one of the founding families of Tadmor. She also told me that all of the houses and the rest of the town had been washed away in the "Great Dayton Flood of 1913" (alt. link), which had also taken out the bridge spanning the Great Miami River on West Charleston Road in Miami County.
Continuing on the bike path north of Tadmor, which the construction for that section was completed in September of 2005, we rode until the path ended at Ross Road (supposedly it's going to be extended north possibly through Tipp City and Troy, all the way to Piqua). I drive by Ross Road all the time and had wondering why so many people had started parking on land in what used to be, from what I could tell, a small electric power or telephone building by the side of the road.
Then, we decided to head south the way we came, past where we started, and keep going till the bike path ended on the south end almost to Needmore Rd. (by 2007, it should extend all the way to Dayton). Along the way, we passed by the old Rip Rap Road Bridge, of which I have fond childhood memories and couldn't stop myself from taking a slight detour to check out the newly (green) painted and restored bridge. Sadly, as soon as you cross it, there's a high chain-link fence stopping you from passing. I remember, when I was younger, my older sister driving me down there late at night sometimes for a fun drive near the stinky Cargil factory. I had always wondered why on either side of the road, there were high fences with barbed wire that was just protecting empty fields (I guess they are "well fields"). The road, Old Rip Rap Road, used to jog off the main road over the bridge, but has been closed for years, supposedly due to the unsafe state of the bridge, but I think also to curb the deviant behavior that the road seemed to attract and to further secure the "well fields" from being contaminated. There was also a building, Brookwood Hall, which was shut down, further down the road, that local and touring punk bands would play at and there was, sometimes, rampant drug use going on there and I can't help to think that had something to do with the decision to block access to Old Rip Rap Road. My sister would remember more about that than me.
Further south, at the end of the bike path (where Old Rip Rap Road meets Rip Rap Road once again), there's another bridge going across a river that has a gate across the single lane bridge with "No Trespassing" signs posted all over. It's a shame that foot and bike traffic, at least, aren't allowed past, because I wouldn't mind just checking it out to jog my memory a little bit.
Well, since we couldn't go any further south, we decided to head back north, and exit the path onto Little York Rd. and head back to his parents-in-law's house to return the bikes. Since the bike path alone is seven miles, and we rode the entire length of it nearly twice, plus the distance both ways to get to the path, I can safely say we rode about 20-25 miles. For someone who needs all the exercise he can get, I did very well and my bad knees (which I had messed up years earlier falling while skateboarding and rollerblading) didn't hurt at all. It was so fun, I didn't even notice all of the work I was doing.
I'm glad that I found out about this bike path and am happy to see that the tax payers' money is going to something so fun and constructive. I'm also glad that it's close to my home and now that I know about it, I will be sure to go back. It would be a fun goal to be able to ride the length of it when it is further extended. Now, I just need a bike. :D
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