Tour de Buckeye Lake sees biggest turnout in cycling event history

Cyclists from across Ohio and beyond took to the trails and country roads around Buckeye Lake this past weekend. With over 800 participants, this year’s Tour de Buckeye Lake was the event’s largest since it began eight years ago.

Riders followed one of three routes (11-, 28- or 62-miles) which started and ended in the lakeside town of Millersport at the Lions Club Sweetcorn Festival grounds. Leisure riders followed the Buckeye Lake Dam trail, while more challenging routes took cyclists along the lake, into the picturesque countryside, and through beautiful Dawes Arboretum in Newark. The post-ride celebration featured local musicians, food trucks, raffles, a cycling expo, and exhibits.

Proceeds of the Tour go toward efforts to develop a multi-use trail around Buckeye Lake, spearheaded by Bike Buckeye Lake, a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run organization. Progress toward this goal was on display at the Tour where a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opened the Buckeye Lake Trail. Newly installed wayfinding and regulatory signage identifies the Trail and provides reminders of the rules of the road.

The organization’s vision is for a multi-purpose trail to completely encircle Buckeye Lake. Currently, 5.2 miles of multi-purpose trails go around the lake, with another 22 miles following surface streets. The Trail travels through three counties (Licking, Fairfield and Perry), four townships (Licking, Thorn, Union, Walnut), two villages (Millersport, Buckeye Lake Village) and the area of Thornport.

In addition to the Tour cycling event, Bike Buckeye Lake also organizes two events that support children in the communities in the lake region. Through the generosity of donors, the group’s annual Christmas Bike Drive has given over 1000 bikes and helmets to economically disadvantaged children. The group also kicked off its inaugural Buckeye Lake Tri-County Kids’ Bike Safety Rodeo in May where children guided their bikes through a course of 13 stations designed to address specific bike handling and safety issues.

For more information about these events, visit bikebuckeyelake.org.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Tour de Buckeye Lake sees biggest turnout in cycling event history