Grand Tour by bicycle- Paris!

 Ah, Paris!  The city of lights! The Eiffel Tower,

 the Left Bank of the Seine, the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile. 

The museums! The cafes! and pastries! The fashion!  The shopping!  The cathedrals! 

I visited Paris yesterday. Paris, Ohio.  I've been looking forward to the trip for a couple of weeks, and I was really glad to get good weather in November.  I planned a loop approximately 30 miles from Louisville to Paris, north to Alliance, and then southwest back to Louisville.  The planned route incorporated road riding, plus parts of two bike/hike trails, the Nickelplate trail in Louisville and the Iron Horse trail in Alliance. 

Yesterday was November 4th, the day after the 2020 Election.  Paris is about an hour and 20 minutes, by car, east of my home.  I was able to take State Route 30 most of the way.  It was quite ironic that I had to exit on Trump Avenue.  I wondered if the Avenue was named after our current President, but researching it, I found the CantonRep.com website that stated "Trump Avenue was named for George J. Trump, who owned a sawmill on Nimishillen Creek in the 1800s, according to Repository archives. Early area settlers rest behind Valley Chapel, some in graves older than the 1866 church."  

The town of Louisville was very picturesque, and seemed quite patriotic, with flags every few feet waving in the stiff breeze, contrasting with the gold-green, orange and russet leaves of the trees lining Main Street. The flags continued as I turned south onto Nickel Plate Street. I wondered if the city always flies these flags or if it is a special occasion due to Election Day.  I parked at the Metzger Playground.  A paved trail runs through the Mary C. Metzger Park, which also includes a fabulous playground and a couple of pavilions, as well as an oil (natural gas?) derrick that was operating when I pulled up. 

I got my bike out and outfitted it with a RosWheel handlebar bag from my back seat, a frame bag, and the seat-post bag for my tools.  I added a bottle of water to my Nike fanny pack, one in the "bat-cage" on the frame, and one in the handlebar bag.  I made sure I had a snack in my handlebar bag.  For yesterday's ride, I chose a lemon EPIC performance bar.  I redistributed the hand sanitizer and first aid kit to the frame bag, in order to fit the water in the handlebar bag. I put on my gloves and my helmet, and adjusted the mirror. I turned on my headlight and taillight.   Finally, I was ready to go off into unknown territory. 

The first mile of the trail was downhill, which boded well.  The bike felt like it was flying. It is so lightweight, and after the adjustments from my fitting, it felt really good. At first, I wasn't sure if I was perhaps rocking a little in the saddle, which would mean the seat was a millimeter too high, but after a half mile or so that vanished.  At the end of the park, I reached the Nickelback trail, which was a crushed limestone trail.  It was firmly packed and gave my road bike no trouble.  I reached the end of the trail at a cross street without a street sign.  Wanting to confirm my position, I consulted the hardcopy map I had printed before leaving home.  I was supposed to turn on Georgetown Street.  A jogger ran up behind me, and I asked her to confirm that it was Georgetown.  She said she didn't know, sorry!  I get this reaction sometimes from young people.  I think they have been trained not to talk to strangers and that adults are not supposed to ask kids for directions.  She was hardly a kid, but whatever!  I pulled out my phone and loaded up google maps to confirm I was in the right place.   

If you are thinking of following in my footsteps, unless you are an experienced and fearless road cyclist, I do not recommend the route I took today.   Many of the roads had medium to heavy traffic, and the shoulder varied from narrow to non-existent.  The route could be described as "rolling" but I described it as "hilly."  I am not a strong hill-climber.  However, I noticed that the electronic shifters made it much easier to time my shifting as I rode uphill, and I was able to smoothly ride over the crest of several hills in a row.  

The weather was beautiful, just a crisp November day.  I was wearing a light jacket over my jersey and bolero.  I wasn't too cold or too hot.  I could have done with a little less wind, but so far it was mostly at my back. 

As I approached Paris, at the five-mile mark, I turned onto Paris Avenue.  

So exciting to finally be close to the destination!  I continued past a few more hills and stopped to take a photo (and catch my breath.)  Another oil (or is it gas?) derrick was working on the hillside. 

I had changed my originally planned route, which went past an orchard on Route 172, to follow a lesser-traveled road.  I used the Ohio DOT bike transportation maps from 1986 that I had found when clearing out some paperwork.  These maps were created before the existence of many rail-trails in Ohio and marked lesser-travelled roads that are safer for bicyclists.  As you can see, these roads went around Paris but not through it. 

I finally reached my destination. 

The center of Paris downtown is very quiet.  

 

On my right, there was an abandoned building.  I wondered if there are any kids around that avoid it near Halloween. 

 

The Lions club has built a community pavilion.  There is a cannon in front with a plaque commemorating Ohio's bicentennial from 1976. 

There is what appears to be a working pitcher pump/ water fountain in front of the pavilion.  

 

The Methodist church appears to be well-maintained. 

The abandoned building has a hand-lettered sign "Maggie's gift shop".  

 

I walked through the cemetery behind the Lutheran church.  I could read the dates on these old stones, they were from the 1800's.  There were many stones that appeared to be older, the wind and rain and moss had eroded the lettering and I could not make out the names or the dates.  

 

All these souls who are resting in peace in the Paris Cemetery have a magnificent view of the hills of Northeast Ohio across a valley.  

I headed back north, with the southwest wind pushing me along through Freeburg.  I arrived in Alliance shortly, and almost missed the Iron Horse Trail. Looking at the map, I realized I had missed the turn on Cenfield Street that I had planned, which would have allowed me to ride most of the trail.  It is also a crushed limestone trail with a firm surface, but I shortly ran out of trail and passed the trailhead at the First Christian Church.  I headed East on Beech, and then North on Rockhill, turning left following a marked bike "Share the Road" street.  I continued north on Parkway Boulevard and it was a long downhill all the way to Main Street.  I turned right on Main and went past the Troll Museum.  

I was very conscious of the sun, which seemed to be travelling westward toward sunset pretty quickly.  Even though it looked like a fun place, I decided not to visit the Troll Museum on this trip.  There are a few other tourist destinations in downtown Alliance, including an Underground Railroad house, the Glamorgan Castle, and the Feline Museum.  Instead of searching out a restaurant for a late lunch, I decided to just eat my EPIC bar and call it lunch, to save time.  My headlight was still flashing, but my taillight had died, and I did not want to be on the road after dusk.   

I had completely missed my planned route, so I headed south on Arch Street.  I thought I would go west on Glamorgan, but somehow I missed my turn on Rosenberry.  Finally I hit Beech Street again, and I checked the map.  I realized I could go a bit further west on Beech and end up on my original route.  I had planned to go through Maximo, because I learned it was a named for being the high point on the railroad line.  There was an old depot building along the railroad there.  Like others in Ohio, it is a reminder of a different economy, when local small farmers took their grain to the rail depot to be shipped by rail to processing centers.  

It was 4:30 when I arrived back at my car.  The sun was just above the horizon, and I was starting to get chilled.  I may revisit this trip at some time in the future when the days are longer, now that I have a little familiarity with the route.  

It was a long ride home. I listened to the news in the car, and realized that the election returns were not final yet.  I realized that while riding my bike, I did not stress about the election much, my thoughts were focused on navigation, getting up and down the hills, and how I felt on my bike.  Kind of like a moving meditation. 

 Ed took me out to dinner.  Yay, Ed! He is a good husband. We masked up and went out.  

I had joined a Facebook group that is interested in the history of Paris and Palmyra.  I found out that the Paris they are talking about is Paris Township, which is 30 miles away in Portage County.  When they pointed this out, I looked at photos in the Stark county history Facebook group, and I found photos of Paris (Stark County) in a different era.  

 These photos shared by Lee Bishop. 

In 1910, a dogsled team came through Paris and were photographed in front of the bandstand. I don't see any snow on the ground, so that is an interesting photo.  I learned the current post office is possibly in the location of the former bandstand.  The abandoned building I photographed appears to be the one in the photo below. But if that's the case, then the bandstand was not in the Post Office location. 

On the same Facebook page, I found a photo of a train depot posted by Mark Howell.  

I did not notice any vestige of a railroad while in Paris. So it could be possible that this train station was actually in Paris Township in Portage County?  

Wikipedia says "Paris was laid out in 1813 on a stagecoach turnpike. A share of the early settlers being natives of France most likely caused the name Paris to be selected. A post office called Paris has been in operation since 1822."