Second Leg of the Great American Rail Trail Completed!

We started off our fall ride in gorgeous early fall weather- 70s during the day, blue skies and big puffy cumulus clouds. The scenery to our sides rolled and there was much to look at- barns and old cars and tractors and silos and enough shade to keep us cool. And then it got flat and then it got exposed and then it got hot and we got scared. What if this is what the rest of the ride will be like?…miles and miles of corn fields and soybean fields in the sun. Thank goodness most of the rest of this fall’s ride was shady with trees on at least one side of the trail, and sometimes a beautiful sheltering canopy from the heat. The trails in both western Ohio and Indiana were all blacktop and enabled us to roll nearly effortlessly, (unless as in Indiana, the trail had huge cracks in it and needed repair, especially for Todd who had to aim all three individual tires on his trike). 

There are many gaps in the Great American Rail Trail (GART), especially in Indiana, and we rode individual trails like the Erie to Ohio Trail, the Sweetster Trail, the Cardinal Greenway and the Nickel Plate Trail. Each trail had its own personality. Some were more developed with ports Jons and mileage signs (or rocks) every half mile and picnic pavilions; some had nothing. There were not many towns, this is Midwest farmland at its best, so not many accommodations. We had to shuttle very far every day to get to our state park campgrounds, so that squelched our hopes for doing big days on the blacktop trail. We did manage to locate ice cream at the end of every day, however, usually a Dairy Queen, which we all enjoyed. 

Rod Mann had to put a ton of miles on his van carting our butts and our bikes around and in 9 straight days of cycling, we only managed to put on 240 miles on our tires. Still, we had a very nice time and really enjoyed riding every day and getting to know another part of the country. No media outlets were interested in our endeavor (compared to six newspapers in PA & MD) so we could not publicize locally about our mission of raising awareness for the need of accessible trails for the disabled. They are clearly not there yet, especially compared to the amazing Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Trail in PA and Maryland. We began this endeavor last spring, cycling the best of the best sections of the GART and everything pales in comparison. Still, our greater message will be shared in the publications I will be writing for as in the Rails to Trails Magazine later this fall and hopefully some bigger mags like Men’s Health, that I plan to target. I think the story line of going from cycling America’s premier mountain bike gravel trail, the Great Divide, from Jasper NP to Mexico which we completed not long before Todd fell, to quadriplegia. How does someone come back from that and which direction do you decide to go after such a devastating blow to an adventure cyclist? I think it would be very inspiring, (besides the last chapter of my book, “Road to Recovery.”) 

Todd did very well once again and his paralyzed body felt better and better with every passing day and mile. He decided to work on weaning himself off of his anti-spasmatic drug (Baclofin) and use exercise like cycling and stretching in place of it. Baclofin wracks havoc with bone loss over time and we don’t need a fall and broken bones taking him out down the pike. 

Our team, Leslie & Walt Krater and Beth-Ellen Pennell were angelic and magical the way they orchestrated in camp chores like cooking and cleaning up, and Rod Mann did a stellar job of shuttling and caring for our bikes. There is no way Todd and I could do this without them and without all YOUR support in the wings. 

So to date, we have 675 miles completed of the 2,000 constructed miles of the trail. Not bad, and we had lots of fun.