Summer is bike-ride season for me. Lucky, Cleveland has
awesome places to ride on. I love riding though the Cleveland Metroparks, and
through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park; they have awesome bike trails, there
are restrooms available, and you see gorgeous scenery. However, I am a
destination-driven rider. I want to go places. I want to see places. I want to
experience places. So for every time I’ve rode on a Metropark trail, I’ve rode to “somewhere”
at least 5 or 6 times.
 |
| Rocky River, OH. June 2014 |
Sometimes the Metroparks can be “the destination”. I
love (LOVE) riding my bike to
Huntington
Beach. I ride there a few times a year from the East Side, but my favorite
part of this ride is the stretch between Rocky River and Bay Village. This 5-mile segment takes the average rider (me) under 30 minutes to complete. It's a
relatively easy terrain to ride on because it’s mostly flat, and it only has a few
small "hills" along the way (the hardest one being around Bradstreet’s Landing
Park).
There are no bike lanes on Lake
Rd, but since it’s common to have riders on this stretch of the road, the drivers are
generally mindful of (and sometimes kind to) cyclists.
 |
| Bay Village, OH. June 2014 |
Along the way you’ll see beautiful homes and lakefront parks.
At the Rocky River end you’ll find some boutique stores, a local “farmer’s”
market, and a few restaurants. A short 5-mininute ride (under a mile) southwest
towards Detroit and Old Detroit roads will take you to many more cool stores, coffee shops and restaurants, and it'll give
you a more “Downtown” Rocky River experience. At the Huntington Beach end, well
there’s the beach. This beautiful beach in Bay Village is one of the nicest beaches in the Cleveland Area.
It's clean and manicured, there's no trash around, and people are always having fun and at their best behavior; kudos to Cleveland Metroparks! While there, you can have a picnic, you can go sun-bathing, or you can go for a swim. If you are
up for a hike, you have
Huntington’s
Reservation literally across the street. Throughout the summer there are multiple events both at the beach and at the reservation. My usual routine though, involves getting some good ice cream at Mitchell’s Ice Cream (at the beach), and then I get
back to my ride. But that’s just me.
 |
| Huntington Beach. June 2014 |
There’s plenty of free parking both at Huntington Beach and
at Huntington Reservation. Bike-parking is available as well (at the beach). There are clean
bathrooms at the beach, and additional bathrooms and changing areas on the reservation. There's a pedestrian tunnel that connects the two parks so you can easily go between the two. It's probably best to walk your bike through the tunnel, to prevent any accidents with the pedestrians. Once again, there are no bike lanes on Lake Rd so ride with caution, avoid
distractions, and respect the traffic laws. Have fun!
 |
| Huntington Beach. June 2014 |
|
 |
| Huntington Reservation. June 2014 |
|
 |
| Huntington Beach. June 2014 |
|
 |
| Huntington Beach. June 2014 |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment