HEREABOUTS pamela dillon
Just tell him he gets to eat a lot of ice cream. That enticing piece of information worked for Dan Gilmore, despite the fact that big sister was also going on the trip. The Springboro dad, sixteen-year-old daughter Theresa, and son Christopher were three of the 250 riders who took part in The Across Ohio Bike Adventure (XOBA) during the last week of July.
XOBA is an annual bike tour from one side of the state to the other run by Columbus Outdoor Pursuits. This was “Adventure Number 12,” and it started in Eaton and ended up in New Castle, Pa. This year’s theme was “The Ice Cream Tour,” and they stopped at many homemade ice cream destinations. Those included Young’s Dairy in Yellow Springs, the Velvet Ice Cream factory and store near Mansfield, and many other local ice cream producers, such as Graeters and Handels.
“As always, it was a challenging ride, including one very hilly 74-mile day riding into the Mansfield area from Grove City near Columbus. It was not only very difficult terrain, but it poured rain all day,” said Gilmore. “That was the day we went to the Velvet Ice Cream headquarters, and while most of us enjoyed the ice cream, a few brave souls did the factory tour. They were in fairly wet bicycling clothes, and were almost turned into popsicles themselves in the freezing temperatures.”
Most mornings, the bikers left at 7 a.m. from stayovers at indoor/outdoor camping spots such as Wittenberg University, Loudonville High School, and Youngstown State University. Participants biked for 60 to 75 miles per day, stopping around noon or maybe riding until 2 p.m. Ride organizers hauled the bikers’ luggage from place to place.
Theresa was a veteran of the bike tour; this was her sixth year riding in it with her dad.
“It was really fun, just like the rest of them. It was hard this year, because a few of the days it was really hilly,” said Theresa, a junior at Fenwick High School.”
At 14, Christopher was the youngest solo rider of the large group. He started training for the adventure in late May.
“I met a lot of people doing it. It was more fun than I thought it was going to be,” said Christopher, an eighth-grader at Bishop Leibold.
Hardships on the trip included nine flat tires.
Theresa had three flats in one day. Dan Gilmore grew up in Stow, and a highlight was visiting grandma one morning.
“You really see Ohio from a different perspective when you do this. You certainly come away sensing how important agriculture still is in the state; we pass miles and miles of corn and bean fields and dairy farms,” said Gilmore. “We also see a lot of small towns struggling, their little downtowns decimated by the big box stores that opened up down the highway over the last decade. But the Ohio people, especially in the small towns, are exceptionally friendly. A trip such as this makes you like Ohio even more.”
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