AeroGut

PSA for folks riding the Ohio-to-Erie Trail - this winter the Wasson Way bike path was connected to the Murray Path, creating a route between central Cincinnati and the Little Miami/OTE bike path that is almost completely bike path. Maybe useful for those who want to avoid road riding as much as possible or if it's just more convenient to start in a different part of the city from the usual waterfront start.

The Wasson Way trail starts on Montgomery Rd just north of the intersection with Dana near the Xavier University campus. It travels east on an old rail bed (with lots of street crossings, so a bit slow) until it reaches the east side of Ault Park, where it drops down to Old Red Bank Rd via a series of switchbacks. Those switchbacks and the bridge that precedes them are the new section. After a short distance going north on Old Red Bank Rd (a dead end st with little to no traffic), you can pick up the Murray trail at the intersection with Woodland rd. The Murray Trail parallels Red Bank Rd until just before Erie Ave, where turns east and runs along Murray Rd into Mariemont. At Plainville Rd in Mariemont, turn right and then left on Wooster Pike. There's a short stretch on a busy road here to get down the hill to the OTE trailhead at 50 West brewery, but still much less than if you take the standard OTE route along the river and past Lunken Airport to get to the same stretch of Wooster Pike. And the downhill helps with keeping your speed closer to that of the passing traffic.

Mrpotamus

Eh, I am waiting for the bike bridge over the Little Miami river. I think that will make a big difference to safely navigating the city. Getting to the start of the Wasson Way trail from downtown would be hard. I would avoid it and take the streets with bike lanes from downtown to the start of the Murray path until the bridge is complete.

robow

We're there in mid May, any chance you have this route mapped out on Ridewithgps or something similar ?

AeroGut

Here it is on G-map pedometer: https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7646095

a_d_a_m

I agree wholeheartedly. For those wanting to do the official OTET route, it's kind of counterproductive to get up to Wasson. However, more miles of rail trail are always a good thing for cyclists in general, so I'm in favor and the locals will certainly love it.

The new LM bridge will be a game changer.

Was thinking of riding OTET again this year since my NY trip got cancelled, but there's an extended construction project up near Kings Mills that has no real decent detour. I may pass on a long tour this year.