E-biking fun in a Cleveland Metro Park by Brad Nellis
If you’ve happened to see someone cruising along on their bike effortlessly, such as up a hill while barely pedaling, they’re pretty likely riding an e-bike.
I joined that group of riders recently when I bought my own e-bike in December. I’ve been waiting and waiting for the weather to break so I could finally get it out and I recently took it over to the Cleveland Metro Parks Bedford Reservation for a longer ride.
Boy was it fun!
I chose a fat-tire mountain bike because I thought I’d probably want to do street, paved trail, and offroad riding. That style has the most versatility and accommodates any terrain, though it’s also pretty heavy and a little cumbersome to transport.
But the Bedford Reservation ride was great! I rode along the all-purpose trail and then went offroad onto the Bedford Single Track Mountain Biking Trail. I’ve hiked a lot of the trails in that park but I’m usually exploring through the beautiful, wooded areas so it was unique to see the park from the all-purpose trail.
Offroad was a completely different experience though!
The winding path through trees and fields and over small, muddy stream beds required serious attention. Not to mention the tree roots and rocks on the path! But the bike handled the trail perfectly. The fat tires and adjustable shock absorbers allowed me to navigate the trail very easily. Although a couple of tight spots through close in trees were a little anxiety inducing.
While I’m familiar with a lot of the hiking trails and generally know where I am on most trails, not so on this offroad trail. The Single Track trail is one direction, so once you get going you have to continue in that direction until you come to one of the connectors to the all-purpose trail. I wasn’t in any danger of getting lost, but I had no idea where I was going to come out! And as it happened, I was waaaay down the road from where I’d originally parked and started my ride.
I’m definitely looking forward to hitting up this park and others as the weather and scenery improve into the summer and fall. Especially looking forward to fall rides when the parks around here are stunning.
If you want to get into e-biking in the parks, be sure to check out regulations in the major ones: Cleveland, Summit, and CVNP . Restrictions apply based on the type of e-bike and they vary from system to system. Enjoy!
