Ready to start biking across Ohio: Pierogies, kielbasa, weird beer — check, check, check

Five of us are in Cleveland, ready to start biking the Ohio to Erie Trail — or should I say Lake Erie to the Ohio River?

We arrived a bit later than expected, so yay that sunset here isn’t until 9 pm in June.

Dip the tires in Lake Erie at Edgewater Beach, grab some photos at the Cleveland sign nearby and then start pedaling to the house in the Tremont section. Maybe 8 miles.

I’ve never seen anything like this: all bike paths (not bike lanes) all the way, taking us in the shadow of active industrial sites. So much to see! We were held up at one point by a bridge opening; with this one, the middle section was lifted straight up so the boat could pass.

The parks and their wildflowers … have those always been there or are they brownfield sites?

And yes we felt safe.

My only criticism is that the route needs some wayfinding signage for OTET riders, especially given the number of spurs off the route we followed. Even just a symbol spray painted on asphalt to reassure you that you’re going the right way if medallion signs are too much. After all, we don’t have local knowledge. I would not have wanted to attempt this without RideWithGPS on my Garmin.

And for fun (and photos), a sign with the mileage to Cincinnati.

We make it to Tremont. A steep hill and we are at our place for the night. The bright red lights of industrial Cleveland are visible from the back yard.

We stayed a few blocks from the house in the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story” that’s apparently so well known that it deserves a gift shop. Call us culturally illiterate, but none of us knew the movie.

We were more impressed with the food at the Rowley Inn, a bar and restaurant around the corner from the house. Here’s where we got our taste of Cleveland — pierogies and kielbasa — and my “weird beer” (I do “weird beer” rides.). A sour from North Dakota that tasted like passion fruit and guava juice.

Another plus for Tremont is the Terrapin Bakery, with its amazing donuts made from brioche dough. So many unusual flavors (lemon lavender? Lemon with raspberry drizzle?), and none of that empty, pure sugar feeling you get from so many others. Brioche also is used for the flavorful breakfast sandwiches. Just their weight is a tip-off that they are substantial, not tasteless English muffins.

We even had a nice chat with one of the co-owners.

Now on to Akron.

Some practical stuff

Our itinerary is based on a suggestion on the OTET website. Don’t want to do this in 6 days (and a bit) like we are? They’ve got everything from 3 to 8 days. We also took their RideWithGPS info and adapted it to our overnight spots.

We left our cars at our final hotel, across the river from Cincinnati. That seemed fine with hotel management when we reserved back in the winter, but the front desk person when we arrived was not happy.

Complaints about OTET riders’ cars, we heard, is a growing issue. Given what we experienced, I’d consider skipping a riverfront hotel for something cheaper and pay for garage parking instead. The one next to the Fairfield Inn, for example, charges $5 a day.

So how did we get from Cincinnati from Cleveland? No Amtrak, at least for many more years. We used a shuttle service. Paul at Zipi Transit is a great and careful driver. He can transport at least six bikes in his trailer, but the van only has room for five passengers.

Check out his set-up: