Looks like a couple of STers post here from Cincinnati and I am looking for some advice on where to train.
I signed up for IMFL - still a long ways away but I’ve been getting out more on my bike as the weather has gotten better (finally! it’s been a long winter and I am really sick of my trainer). I’ve got some friends to ride with for short rides but I’m still working out how to do the longer rides. I usually bike on some back roads near Miami-Whitewater but the longest I’ve gone from there is 60 miles. I’ve also ridden on the Loveland Bike Trail - it’s great, beautiful, but kind of monotonous after a couple of hours. Any advice on groups to ride with or other places to ride? Thanks.
Buckeye…I would look into some of the areas in Morrow, there’s not a lot of traffic out that way, and there’s some real good hills. You can get to Morrow from the bike path. You could also could ride out to Ceasar creek and check out hfp.com - see their bike coure map for Ceasar.
I also like to ride route 8 in Kentucky. From newport to maysville is 50 miles with a couple of challenging hills. I also ride a lot in the Rabbit hash area. A few great hills down there. Neither area has a lot of traffic either.
Check out the Cincinnati Cycle Club for a few group rides. Depending on who shows up for the rides they can be challenging.
I can definitly help here. I’ll be riding long this summer in cincy, training for hawaii. I go ride many different directions, there is good riding in cincy. When I ride long, I tend to go to loveland and loop, then indian hills, Batavia. That adds up easily.
The cycle club leaves from dewey’s in oakley on saturdays and rides long… That is a good way to get to know routes and the leader sends an e-mail on friday with a cue sheet. i can forward that to you if you would like. Also, send me a pm, I have a friend that moved here from c-bus and he is also training for IMFL. He doesn’t know where to ride, we showed him some routes this morning. I am sure he’ll be looking for riding partners as well. I’ll be glad to help
Just depends on you schedule, I ride with a couple of people out of L-M trail (socialville-fosters, train stop inn) most Sat. mornings, and after work (5:00 pm). The best way to use the trail is take it out to several road loops, that let you get some hill climbing in, and gets you away from the multi-users on the trail. It is easy to put together several of these loops into 100+ miles without putting yourself deep into the country.
I also ride out of Wyoming, and know some good routes west, and north west of Cinci. These ride down into the Miami river valley, and include some long climbs out.
Yup, lots of good tri people in the Cincinnati area for some reason. I will also be doing IMFL along with a few others. I have several groups I train with, but will be looking for some people for the longer (5+ hours) rides in late summer/early fall to prep for IMFL. If you want to hook up with our bike group (a great one - some cyclists, some tri guys/gals, some slow, some VERY fast), we bike on Wed eves at about 6-6:30 to get in around 30-40 (depending on sun) then beer at the gazebo in Loveland and Sund morning at 7 (tri guys get in an hour), then 8 (main group). Currently meeting at 10am though.
Oh man! i still haven’t gotten used to the whole chili thing here. i crave poutine and ketchup chips from Montreal:-) how about Greater’s? did you use to live in cincy?
I was married to someone who grew up there, lived there for a year, then in Indy for 6 more years before returning to Hawaii 16 years ago. My sons visit their grandmother and numerous cousins in CVG every summer so I still have a strong connection. Since living there, I’ve always rooted for the Bengals and have taken much abuse for it.
I expect to meet you when you come to Kona! Was hoping to get all the Slowtwitch women together for a photo op.
Thanks very much for the responses. I will definitely be in touch with some of you. I am not a very fast cyclist though (coming at this from a running background) so I need some slower folks to ride with. This will be my first IM so my only goals are to have fun and finish. I live on the west side of town so I could definitely use some good directions for riding on the east side!
BTW - I’m not origininally from Cincinnati either and still haven’t developed a taste for chili or goetta (although I have started saying “please” which gets some interesting responses when I go back home). Didn’t take me too long to find Graeter’s though -black raspberry chip - that is some good ice cream!.
