SHELBY ― Downtown Shelby was filled with hundreds of bicyclists June 22 who planned to spend the night before riding to Mansfield June 23 to tour the Ohio State Reformatory.
The crowd was part of the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure and filled Main Street with bicycles and people exploring the city.
Nathan Obral, 44, of Avon, was among those bicyclists who made the trek from Norwalk to Shelby.
“I’m looking forward to touring the prison,” he said.
Obral has been riding with GOBA for 14 years and braved the wind and the rain. He said he was ready to check out the downtown and enjoy a picnic with other riders after setting up his tent.
Ohio’s largest bicycle tour brought about 1,500 riders through North Central Ohio since they departed Norwalk, where the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure began June 20. After seven days of riding about 400 miles through Richland, Ashland, Wayne and Huron counties, it will end June 27.
Key stops along the way will give riders the chance to explore Shelby, Wooster and Ashland, according to Aaron Stevenson, event director for Columbus Outdoor Pursuits, the parent organization for GOBA.
Cyclists set up their tents outside the Black Fork Commons field.
Aaron Faires, 44, of Powell, said it was his 13th GOBA bicycle trip.
“We woke up floating,” he said of the rain in Norwalk pounding his tent. He and others in his group of 13 riders took the shorter route of 32 miles to Shelby.
His mother, Diana Faires, drives the Jeep with tents and supplies. His dad, Wayne Faires, 76, had just suffered a broken nose and bloody lip while en route to Shelby.
Wayne said he tripped over his bicycle while he was stopped.
He said he was hurting, but would be OK.
Aaron Faires said his 13-year-old daughter, Kinley, is also riding with the family and has ridden with him on trips since she was 2 years old.
“A lot of our group is from central Ohio,” Aaron said as he set up tents. “Some ride mountain bikes, some ride road or race bikes and others ride tandem bicycles or recumbent bikes.”
Elsewhere, 26 members of the Dayton Cycling Club were downtown or resting on folding chairs beneath a large tent.
Members came from Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina, but the majority are from all over Ohio, volunteer Scott Butler said, who came from Tipp City, explaining the group brings a service and gear truck.
“Towns are always very hospitable to us and welcome us, and we try in turn to be good marshals and follow the rules of cyclists,” he said.
One of the Dayton cycling members, Larry Steele, who turns 80 on July 4, has participated in all 37 GOBA rides.
Steele, a retired paramedic from Akron, was already in downtown Shelby sightseeing.
Nevah Parks, 14, of Columbus, said she was riding with GOBA for her second year, traveling on the outing with seven others who are part of Scouting America Troop 7192 from Westerville.
As she worked to finish putting up her tent, she said it was raining hard cycling from Norwalk to Shelby.
“I like going down(hill),” she said, laughing.
Nearby, Mike Fulton, 86, of Wooster, said he and his daughter, Ruth Fulton, who lives in Denver, have ridden together on eight of nine OBA trips.
Fulton said he’s completed GOBA events for 17 years, but not all consecutively.
“It’s great exercise,” he said.
“I’m never been to Shelby except to drive through, maybe,” he said.
Fulton said he likes the charming towns he doesn’t get to every day.
“I’ve been to Mansfield many times, but I still look forward to getting there,” he said.
His daughter, who grew up in Wooster, said she has done nine GOBAs and all have been really fun. She likes riding with her father.
“It’s a good father-daughter bonding time,” she said.
Her dad added, “Even if it rains.”
Contact Lou Whitmire at 419-521-7223. She can be reached on X at @lwhitmir.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Hundreds of bicyclists come to Shelby for Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure
Reporting by Lou Whitmire, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lou Whitmire, Mansfield News Journal | USA TODAY Network
