Bike for the Health of it
It isn’t about how long you ride, how far you ride, or how fast you ride. For us it was just about the ride. About the places we go, the sites we see, and just the pleasure of sharing nature and recreation together.
Our interest in biking began shortly after we married in 1981. Back then, our rides were just short excursions around the neighborhood and nearby city streets because bike trails were few and far between—if they even existed. Rides were less than 10 miles long, but we enjoyed the freedom and togetherness we shared.
Our family began to grow in 1984. There were occasional short neighborhood rides with our first-born child (in a child carrier) until our twins arrived in 1987. At that time, our bikes went into the shed and were ignored for many, many years.
We resurrected the “old” bikes when the children reached high school age because there was now a rail trail very close to our house. It offered ten continuous miles, and we rode it often. We started meeting “bike people” who talked about other trails, which really stoked our interest.
As a result, we started surfing the net and discovered there was a whole world we never knew existed. We began taking day trips all over Ohio, and to nearby Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to enjoy new trails and adventures. Indiana and Michigan soon followed, as did western New York. We were hooked!
Around 2006, I enrolled to receive Rails-to-Trails Conservancy magazine. This magazine changed our lives. We could now see that there were trails everywhere—and we wanted to ride them.
There was an article on the Arkansas River Trail that really caught my attention. However, it was so far from home that we couldn’t justify a weekend trip for just one trail. That was the impetus that got us started planning vacations around bike rides and trails.
Planning began for a vacation that would include riding the Arkansas River Trail. In 2008, we headed to Little Rock, Arkansas without the aid of a GPS—because our phones weren’t that advanced yet, and I didn’t actually know such a thing as a GPS existed. Maybe they did, but I can’t recall. Our printed driving instructions served us well during the week-long adventure.
We rode the Arkansas River Trail, then headed to St. Charles, Missouri to enjoy a long ride on the Katy Trail. Up next was St. Louis. We stayed within walking distance of the Gateway Arch, which allowed us to easily access the Mississippi River Trail. We were enjoying our long ride so much that the extreme temps didn’t bother us much. Riding across the “Chain of Rocks” bridge into Illinois was exhilarating.
After allowing a day to explore St. Louis, we headed to Muncie, Indiana to ride the Cardinal Greenway Trail as we started heading back home. We were able to slightly alter our vacation plans so that we could attend a wedding in Loveland, Ohio. Loveland just happens to be a great spot to start a ride on the Little Miami Scenic Trail, too, so we took advantage of it before driving the final four hours home.
After completing our first-ever biking vacation—roughly 1,900 driving miles—we began thinking about possible future trips. Thanks to a wedding in Nashville and a work trip to Las Vegas later that same year, we were able to add three states to our list, giving us eleven states with at least one 20-mile bike ride.
It was then that a plan was initiated: to try achieving at least one 20-mile bike ride in all fifty states.
With the aid of Rails-to-Trails, we’ve been able to find many trails near points of interest. Our bike vacations typically include visiting scenic sites and/or historic places. We consider 2005 to be the start of our challenge. We completed the goal in 2021 with a ride on the Tammany Trace Trail near New Orleans.
In the process, we have also ridden on 24 of the 39 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame trails. It took a while because our work schedules didn’t always allow us to plan vacations together as we had hoped. Still, we’ve done well for a couple of weekend warriors (part-time bikers), logging just shy of 19,000 miles to date (2025).
As with most people, the dynamics of life have changed, and we no longer bike as often as we once did—but it still feels good when we do find ourselves “in the saddle.”
Related Posts
How One Shelter Dog Changed My Life
This story about Zolo will explain how I became an active, passionate volunteer at Animal Charity of Ohio. In early autumn of 2016, I watched a short Facebook video of a volunteer walking a shelter dog on the bike trail that passed just 50 yards from my place of...