Southeast Ohio Ride Report

[TimC]

Another great day in the twisties of SE Ohio yesterday, with one serious 'pucker' moment. :biggrin:

I met up with Phil (02vfr) in Zanesville around 10 a.m. After discussing routes and riding styles/strategies, I gased up my VFR and we immediately hit OH 555, one of the best but toughest roads down there. For those who don't know, it's a 60+ mile stretch of 2-lane road, with many farms and several small towns along the way. Tho much of the road surface is good, there is dirt and gravel to steer clear of in many places. A long section of the southern 1/2 of 555 has been freshly blacktopped but even on that section there is already some gravel in the turns.

The only scare of the day came when I almost lowsided once during the new blacktop section on 555. :biggrin: (I'll create a separate thread to discuss this in the Riding Technique area of VFRD.)

We finished 555 at the southern end and then doubled back to OH 550W to go toward Athens and lunch, with Phil leading the way. (BTW, 550 from Athens to 555 is a fun road, but east of 555 to Marietta it's kind of tame IIRC.) We stopped for lunch in Glouster, OH, and parted ways afterward, with Phil taking 13N toward home and me hitting 78E out of Glouster. Phil looked smooth all day and was a terrific riding partner. :biggrin:

I took a couple smaller 2-lane highways off 78 for awhile, tho they weren't that memorable. I crossed over I-77 and hit 800N all the way to E Canton, then took 44N to home. In all I logged 460 miles with only about 90 of that being on the interstate. I was tired and hot and happy to be home. It was a long and very warm day, esp. in full gear! I probably sweat out a couple gallons of water on the day.

Hope a couple more folks can make the next ride, tho I'm not sure exactly when that will be yet.

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Personal observation/opinion: While there were some very nice twisties thru the day, I don't think you can compare these roads with the mountain roads seen during TMac and other rides in that area. There are some real challenges here to be sure, but not the 180+ degree switchbacks you see down south. More of the challenges in SE OH are imperfect road surfaces, farm/road debris, driveways, etc. Picture county roads but with serious curves. Plus 555 features some really nasty blind turns at the top of short hills. If and when you ride there, be aware that you need to slow a bit at the top of almost every hill. Most curves are signed well, but you still may not know how gentle or sharp that next bend is. Also, many of the "25 mph" or other yellow caution curve speed signs are subjective. Some really mean it, while others are not as bad as the sign might suggest. As always, 'slow in, fast out' is the best tactic.

Tho the fun roads in SE OH are broken up by small towns and have some surface flaws, they benefit from being long. 555 is over 60 miles long, and Routes 78, 26 and 800 are all great longer roads, too. And the challenges in the road surfaces benefit us northerners during rides down south where the road surfaces (sometimes) aren't perfect. I know some folks do not like Wayah Road (seen during TMac), but I was fine with it when the group I was in hit that road - I think in part because that's kind of what I'm used to from riding SE OH roads, so it didn't seem that bad to me.

If I got to ride The Dragon all the time I'd probably hate roads like OH 78 and 800, but I consider myself lucky to get to ride any twisties at least a few times per year. So while I've had my 'fix' for now, SE Ohio and it's fun but not perfect pavement will be calling again soon!

[okred]

Plus 555 features some really nasty blind turns at the top of short hills. If and when you ride there, be aware that you need to slow a bit at the top of almost every hill.

Having ridden in the southern appalachians, this is the most significant difference between the two areas. The elevation changes tend to be on the gut wrenching side - in the mountain biking world they're called 'whoopy's' - and when you add direction changes immediately after the elevation changes.... well, you damn well better be sure you're not carrying too much speed.

My next time to Marietta I'm going to try the WV side of the Ohio and see how those roads are.

How was 800N? I've been looking that that as an alternate route to get down south (rather than Interstate 77) but wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble..

[TimC]

How was 800N? I've been looking that that as an alternate route to get down south (rather than Interstate 77) but wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble..

Oh, it's worth the trouble. Trust me.

800 is a good road, but count on it taking awhile. Between the fun twisties (watch out for gravel here and there) and the numerous small towns, it takes some time to get south from E Canton. The section just south of I-70 is tame but fast. I've heard it gets very good the closer you get to W Virginia, too. If it's anything like the sections I've already ridden (which is most of it) I think you'd love it.

I've also heard that once you cross into WV it's still good, too. Pretty sure Phil just told me that yesteday, but we discussed so many roads it's kind of hard to remember.

OH 26 down there is good, too, but more sweepers than tight stuff IIRC.

Please let me know if you ever want company heading down there. I'm always up for a good ride in SE Ohio, and hoping to hit some great roads in WV sometime, too. :biggrin: