In the breaking light of Sunday morning, almost 250 cyclists gathered gathered in a hotel parking lot outside of Bellville. They rummaged through cars for their gear, shuffled to registration to grab a last cup of coffee and visit with friends, eventually setting out in small groups on a long held fall tradition. The 34th annual Fall-N-Leaf bicycle tour presented by the Mid Ohio Bikers bicycle club clicked into gear and was on the road.
The Fall -N-Leaf tour is the one of the longest running organized bicycle tours in the area. It is also the primary fundraising event for the Mid Ohio Bikers (MOB), which is the largest and most active cycling club in Richland and the surrounding counties.
Along with raising operating funds for the club, the Fall-N-Leaf provides the MOB with crucial dollars they use to support Toy Time and provide a Christmas to several needy families each winter.
Terry White, a fifteen year member and tour director for the past five years emphasized the friendliness of the Fall-N-Leaf to newer or recreational cyclists, “The front part of our loop, which is thirty-nine miles, is very biker-friendly. The course is very well marked and we make a big effort to place corner marshals on any major intersection. We generally get great feedback from riders”.
There are two longer routes of fifty and seventy-one miles that offer additional challenges to the advanced rider in the form of the numerous hills in Mohican country. All riders benefit from organized rest stops and a lunch stop in Bellville complete with hot sandwiches.
With all those great features, it is no wonder riders come in droves from Wooster, Ashland, Cleveland, Columbus, and Pennsylvania to pedal through changing seasons in the verdant farm country of mid-Ohio.
I’ve been riding bicycles or organizing bike rides for going on twenty-one years now, but this year was the first time I’ve had the chance to ride the Fall-N-Leaf tour. I won’t let it go that long before I ride it again, that’s for sure.
The MOB hits all the marks to create a great day on the bike for recreational and advanced cyclists alike. The route is beautiful, and very well marked and staffed. Maps are easy to read, registration is simple, and the rest stops have plenty of tasty grub for hungry cyclists. But the best parts of the Fall n Leaf, in my opinion, were the little personal touches provided by the whole MOB staff.
For example, the club provided bags at the lunch stop in which riders could drop jackets or arm warmers as temperatures rose. The bags were returned to registration where riders could pick them up when they finished. As far as bike tours go, this takes customer service to a new level. And that’s without mentioning the home baked chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I ate a few of those babies. All these little touches added up to a great morning of beautiful scenery.
