Cycling Scene

Riding in winter

You can ride in winter without being cold! Perhaps not on the road or on the bike trail - your self-generated wind chill factor can be brutal. No, I recommend taking your mountain bike out where it belongs, on dirt trails. You won't go as fast, but you will work harder. You will probably overdress your first time out and get too hot.

Good MTB trails were scarce in our area not long ago. The best ones were along the Little Miami Bike Trail, but signs went up last year forbidding bicycles. Fortunately, official trails have been constructed that more than make up for this loss. I'll just mention four of them.

The Queen City Wheels built and now maintain with the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association a bike trail at East Fork State Park, which is 4 miles east of Amelia on Rt 125. Turn left just past the park entrance. The first loop is easy enough for a beginner, while the second loop will challenge most riders.

The Dayton Cycle Club has built trails at Caesar Creek State Park, at the end of Harveysburg road, on the east side of the lake. The trails are very extensive, with some challenging sections. No one needs to feel nervous about a "challenging section", by the way. Just walk!

Warren County has recently built a great set of trails within the park just north of Landen on Montgomery Rd. Follow the power lines and you'll find the trail head. You will not be cold riding these hilly trails.

Finally, Harbin Park near Fairfield has a good network of trails to go with an excellent view of the countryside.

What about riding during the week, after work or school? You can't imagine the thrill of riding at night with a good set of lights! Speeds seem tripled and the familiar landscape becomes bizarre. I don't think any of the park trails above allow night riding [postscript: East Fork allows riding until 11:00PM], but even a paved bike trail becomes interesting. The Cincinnati Cycle Club has regular night rides on the roads. This is not as dangerous as you might think: a group of riders at night, with all their lights and spinning reflectors, looks like an alien invasion to approaching motorists.

One tip about winter riding: The most difficult thing to keep warm are feet. The best approach is to wear oversize shoes and extra socks.

If you know about places to ride that I did not mention, please send me a note and I will post a more complete list on the QCW web site.

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Curt Austin maintains the web pages for the Queen City Wheels at www.qcw.org and can be reached at curt@AustinImage.com.

© 1998, Curt Austin