Articles

Destination Ride #1 - Nickle Plate Trail

By Jennifer Altherr and Amy Copeland - May 2017

The first in a series of Destination Rides was held on April 22. Most people met at Starbucks at Coventry in Fort Wayne and carpooled to the beginning of the ride.

Ultimately thirteen riders gathered at the Rochester, Indiana trailhead on the northern point of the Nickelplate Trail. The Nickelplate Trail was a former railroad and is therefore very flat and straight. The trail is paved and well-marked with stop-signs at road intersections. There is a porta-potty at the Rochester trail head but no restroom or water fountains at any other trail heads between Rochester and Denver. There were several benches along the way and the trail well maintained. The scenery was rural and the group spotted several horses, cows and hawks.

The plan was to stop at Denver, Indiana for lunch at DeAngelo's Pizza but the pizzeria was not yet open. Ever resourceful, the riders found an alternate place to eat in Denver at DTs. While DTs is a small town bar and apparently not accustomed to a larger crowd, once the food finally arrived it was praised by all. After lunch everyone rode back to the Rochester trailhead and drove back to Fort Wayne.

While a few riders stretched their legs and added some extra miles and higher average speed, most of the group completed 36 miles at around 13 m.p.h. This was a social ride with long-time friends and hopefully some new friendships were made as well.

Building on the excitement of the first ride we are happy to announce plans for ride #2 in the series. On Saturday May 13th we will be riding the Indianapolis area on the Monon Rail Trail and Indy Cultural Trail. We will once again meet at the Starbucks at 5723 Coventry Lane at 8:00am and condense into cars for a ride to the trailhead in Westfield located at 17501 Dartown Rd/Quaker Park for a 10:00am ride time.

We will ride the length of the Monon until it joins the Indy Cultural Trail near 10th street for a sightseeing loop downtown to include The American Legion Mall, The Canal, Indiana State Museum and Monument Circle eventually returning to the Monon for our trip home. We plan for a lunch stop en route, and possibly a bonus stop in Broad Ripple to quench our thirst. Total mileage for the tour will be just over 40 miles and it will be all paved. Bring spending money, your camera and a bike lock if you have one. Although we hope to be home in time for dinner, due to the social nature of this event we can’t make any guarantees. Please save the date for May 13th and consider joining the fun.