Between Rockville, MD and Pittsburgh, Eyna and I had enjoyed the comfort and convenience of riding on relatively smooth, flat, and traffic-free bicycling paths. After Pittsburgh, however, we only had 29-miles on the Panhandle Trail before we would be deposited on the steep and narrow roadways of the West Virginia panhandle and Eastern Ohio.
At the end of the day we found ourselves in Steubenville, OH, which is easily one of the least appealing towns I have ever laid eyes on. It is a post-apocalyptic scene: rust-encrusted, crumbling, deserted. Don’t visit Steubenville. Go out of your way to avoid it.
West of Steubenville, we followed secondary roads to the town of Jewett where we connected with the Connotton Trail bike path. We camped out next to the trail that evening…technically illegally, but with the permission of the local police station.
Our third day out of Pittsburgh led us to Lake Park in Coshocton, OH where there is an apparently free campsite.
On our fourth day we had the pleasure to be hosted by very generous and helpful warmshowers.org hosts Diana and Linda in Newark, OH.

Replacing a spoke on my rear wheel before heading west from Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it very far. When I replaced the broken spoke I accidentally left a tire lever inside the tire and it gave me a flat less than 6 miles down the road.

Having lunch under a bridge along Route 22
Statistics:
July 28: Pittsburg, PA to Steubenville, OH, 43.05 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes
July 29: Steubenville, OH to Connotton Creek Trail, 33.16 miles in 4 hours and 38 minutes
July 30: Connotton Creek Trail to Coshocton Lake Park, 55.82 miles in 6 hours and 30 minutes
July 31: Coshocton Lake Park to Newark, OH, 43.45 miles in 4 hours and 57 minutes
August 1: Newark, OH to Westerville, OH, 36.08 miles in 4 hours and 23 minutes
Total miles: 211.56 miles





















