Cycling in Ohio's Amish Country

I decided that since Monday morning was the coldest and wettest ride I have taken this year, I would write about one of the warmest rides I have taken.

The Amish Country of Ohio (Holmes and Tuscarawas Counties) is a road cyclist’s dream, with smoothly paved secondary roads, winding through rolling farm country, and small wine and cheese shops peppered along nearly any route of your choosing. Cycling is in my opinion the best way to spend your visit to the Amish Country, as you can see all of the sites of the Amish way of life up close and personal. Explore the back roads of this area and you will be surprised at the short distance you have to travel out of a town’s center in order to be lost in the breathtaking views of Amish farms, churches, and lush crop fields. Cycling is a major mode of transportation for the Amish and you will be greeted with smiles, friendly waves, and even offers of refreshments along the way. While the spider’s web of roads may look intimidating on a map, it is in fact an extremely convenient in terms of navigation as there are almost always two or three different routes (of varying lengths and topography) to get to a particular attraction or town.

In 2006, Elizabeth and I had the good fortune to travel up to Holmes County for an afternoon tour of some of the “main” towns of this area. The description of the route and tour map are provided in the links section.

We began our Amish tour by driving to Sugarcreek, Ohio and parking at the livestock auction house. We unloaded our bikes and filled our packs with water, money, and tools. We rolled out of town around 11am and headed to Baltic. The route was an initial 6 mile spin with some rolling hills and uninterrupted pavement. Upon arriving in Baltic, we visited the historic Baltic Mills bulk food shop and looked around at some of the crafts for sale. We then headed out to Charm, where we had initially planned on stopping for dinner, but we made good time (even though we were maintaining a leisurely pace) and decided just to stop at Guggisberg Cheese for a snack before pressing on. Our next stop was Berlin, where we visited the newly renovated Java Jo’s Coffee house. They serve a mean grilled chicken pita sandwich and I highly recommend their coffee!

We strolled around Berlin for awhile looking at the various shops and stretching our legs before we made our final jaunt back to the car. By this point we were starting to feel the miles and saddle time, and enjoyed the opportunity to “bargain-hunt” for a bit. Our final leg of the trip was to be a 10 mile stretch along Route 39 back to Sugarcreek. Make no mistake, Route 39 is the main road into this area and has a speed limit of 55mph with a large amount of traffic. Stay alert when riding this road! Luckily, the medians are wide and we were able to safely glide back to Sugarcreek and the welcome site of our car and dry clothes. We used a nearby grocery store’s bathroom to clean up a bit, and then enjoyed a hearty Amish cooked meal.

The route we chose is a fairly typical, straightforward route that allowed plenty of shopping time in between short sections of riding. However, there are a myriad of choices for longer or shorter variations of this particular trip and even the option of biking from town to town, staying in a different cabin or hotel each time. The beauty of this area’s farm country is unsurpassed, and, thanks to the tribute to a bygone era by the locals, the roads are kept in exceptionally good shape. I recommend taking a trip to this area to enjoy the sites and sounds of a bygone era, as well as to ride some of the smoothest and most mellow country roads you are likely to find in Ohio!