View 2013 Van Wert to Marietta OH in a larger map Today’s ride took me from Mt. Vernon to Zanesville, though a part of Ohio I had never seen before. I was not surprised that there were hills. And in fact, much of the route was not as bad I expected it to be. But [...]
Apr 062013
I had expected the last day to be the most difficult of all. However, the ride from Zanesville to Marietta was surprisingly easy. It was about 20 miles longer I had originally planned, but by staying close to the Muskingum River it was mostly level and quiet going.
A road closure on Ohio Hwy 60 south of Zanesville forced me to the west side of the river. I then missed a turn and headed south on Hwy 555. Even though it added five extra miles to the day’s ride, I made the right choice by going back and continuing along the river.
At the point shown in the photo, 2.5 miles after rejoining the river, I thought such a nice, level ride close to the river couldn’t last. So I stopped to take a photo of the way I had come. But in fact, it did last for much of the way.
At McConnelsville I re-crossed to the east side of the river, and instead of taking Hwy 60 on a shortcut across a loop of the river, decided it would be easily worth the 10 extra miles to stay close to the river. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have happened on the site of the Big Bottom Massacre, now a public park (shown in the photo above) near StockPort. However, a few miles later I did meet some big hills at the base of the loop, and then contrary winds on my way north again.
In Beverly a woman at a convenience store told me that there was one big hill on the 20 miles remaining to Marietta. That turned out to be exactly right, but it was easy to take knowing that once I was over this one, the hard part would be over.
The day’s ride was 81 miles. The ride across Ohio was 304.5 miles. YTD 354.5
View 2013 Van Wert to Marietta OH in a larger map
