58-mile bike ride loop from Edgewater Park
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- One of the best ways to experience Cleveland's park system is by bike. You can ride a bike from Edgewater Park to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and from the national park to the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation. Most of this mileage is dedicated bike trail without the need to ride on the road. Here's a breakdown of how I made this ride into a 58-mile loop beginning and ending at Edgewater Park.
I began at Edgewater Park and rode the all-purpose trail to the southeast corner of the park by the traffic roundabout. From there I rode east on the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway toward downtown.
The Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway connects Edgewater Park with West 25th Street in Ohio City. It’s a windy, paved multipurpose trail with views of the city skyline and Lake Erie.
I turned right at West 25th Street and rode on the street for less than a quarter mile to Franklin Avenue.
Turn left at Franklin Avenue. The street goes downhill to a stop sign at Columbus Road.
Cross Columbus Road and enter the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail. This critical trail provides you a link to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the flats.
Turn right on the Towpath Trail and ride south. At the top of the first hill you’ll come to an overlook in front of Sokolowski’s. The University Road section of the Towpath was under construction at the time of my ride, but I was able to pick up my bike and walk through the dirt area to Literary Road. If you run into problems, you could take West 10th Street to Literary Road and follow Literary Road back north to where the Towpath resumes.
The Phase 3 section of the Towpath is very enjoyable, with overlooks at Literary Road and the Towpath Mounds. Past Steelyard Commons, the Towpath travels alongside Jennings Road.
Turn left at Harvard Avenue. You’ll cross a dedicated Towpath bridge and come to an entrance of the Cleveland Metroparks Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation.
Turn right into the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. This is the transition into forested area as you follow the Cuyahoga River on its crooked way south. You’ll see a huge railroad truss and then come to a section that runs parallel to Canal Road in Valley View. Once you cross under Rockside Road, you’ve entered Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The Towpath follows the historic Ohio & Erie Canal through a serene 6-mile stretch before reaching the Station Road Bridge area.
Turn right at the Station Road Bridge toward the Brecksville Station of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. This turn comes at a trail intersection after you cross under the large Route 82 bridge.
Follow the bike trail past the train station. The trail follows the exit drive out of the parking lot toward Riverview Road.
Enter the Emerald Necklace Trail as you come to the Cleveland Metroparks Brecksville Reservation. The Emerald Necklace Trail is nearly 33 uninterrupted miles of all purpose trail that take you all the way to Rocky River.
There’s an important left turn after the bridge at Chippewa Creek. Turn left at Valley Parkway and ride (or walk) up the steep incline. The trail from Chippewa Creek Drive to Brecksville Road was the most strenuous for me.
After Breckville Road, you’ll travel 6 miles on the Valley Parkway Connector Trail through Brecksville, Broadview Heights and North Royalton.
At West Edgerton Road you enter the Mill Stream Run Reservation and the trail curves north in Strongsville. There are more than 8 miles of trail weaving through forest at Mill Stream Run.
At Bagley Road, you enter the Rocky River Reservation. Make sure you turn right at Valley Parkway toward the Berea Falls Overlook to stay on the trail.
I spent the most time in the Rocky River Reservation out of all the parks on this ride. There are over 13 miles of trail there. The Emerald Necklace Trail ends at Detroit Avenue. The rest of the ride will be on road.
Cross Detroit Avenue onto Sloane Avenue. Follow Sloane to West Clifton Boulevard.
Turn left onto West Clifton Boulevard.
Turn right onto Clifton Boulevard.
Turn left onto Webb Road.
Turn right onto Lake Avenue. There’s a bike lane on Lake Road that will provide an enjoyable ride through Lakewood and Cleveland as you move east. You’ll pass the 31-acre Lakewood Park which makes for a great place to stop.
At West 117th Street, you might choose to turn left so that you can get to Edgewater Drive for the final stretch of this bike ride. This is a very neat Cleveland neighborhood and is also part of the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway. Edgewater Drive leads directly back to Edgewater Park.
You’ve just travelled 58 miles on one of the best bike rides Northeast Ohio has to offer.
This video is part of the Northeast Ohio Bike Rides series which explores the best bike trails and routes near Cleveland: www.cleveland....
Here's a RideWithGPS map I created for this ride. Some of the Towpath and Valley Parkway Connector are so new that they weren't on the gps map at the time I made it. I tried to follow the actual route as close as possible. ridewithgps.com/routes/33666107
Awesome! I really enjoyed the 53mi ride across the city, looking forward to trying this one!
Hi Mike, did you get a chance to try this ride before the snow hit? For your entertainment, here's my entire playlist of bike ride videos: ruclips.net/p/PLPyb4fiSl8GuATiFq_iG9XjzFk0p9B5tc
Great video - shows how much the Cleveland region offers - wonderful to have all of that!
Awesome! Appreciate the detailed instructions. Been trying to figure out some connecting points and you solved it for me. Rock on!
Thank you! It was a great ride. Are there any other bike routes you've really enjoyed riding in the Cleveland area? - John
This looks like a great ride. Wife and I live in western Lake county and I think it would be worth hitching our ebikes to the 4Runner and driving to Edgewater Prk and taking the tour.
I did this ride on monday! got caught in the rain though, but i followed your RideWithGPS map and it was great! thank you!
I'm so glad the map worked well for you! The rain doesn't sound fun but good for you for pushing through.
Is this a safe route to ride? Any sketchy areas?
How is this possible, I rode my bike to the towpath trail, it got intense when I rode there, I made it to the valley parkway trail it got even more intense so my quad muscles and legs got all sore and I had to ditch that one out because it was too intense for me to ride all the way through the valley parkway trail maybe my body wasn't used to have a long trail like that so maybe having long trails like that is for the advanced bike riders to ride on there. As for me I'm the beginner one so yeah maybe I'm not ready to ride through the long trails like that but I'll find another way to go around the valley parkway trail just by having a short ride on it instead of taking a long one.
Are there bikes for rent at Edgewater Park?
There aren't bikes for rent at Edgewater Park as of 2023. The closest bike rental I know of is Fridrich Bicycle Shop in Ohio City. -John