6, 13 & 20 Mile Bike Routes Within New Albany, Ohio

New Albany / Drone photo by John Fraim

John Fraim

A lot of bike riders fall between the “cracks” in the perception of bike riding categories: they are not interested in riding in a group with a local bike club but they want to ride a bike more a few blocks around the neighborhood. I’m one of these people.

Like many, I started riding a bike when I was a kid in LA and had my first bike accident when my dad took off the training wheels. I didn’t ride bikes again until we moved back to the Upper Arlington suburb of Columbus in 2003. I started riding around Upper Arlington with my son Matt, looking for safe streets to ride on. Eventually, I created a few routes where we could ride a number of miles within the city of Upper Arlington, then cross the bridge over 315 and go south on the Olentangy River Trail through Clintonville to the edge of the OSU campus and then west on 5th Avenue back to my apartment. I think the entire loop was around 16 miles or so. My son Matt often went with me.

When I separated from my wife in 2005, I moved to an apartment complex in Grandview just south of Upper Arlington. I worked out routes from Grandview through Upper Arlington and starts riding on a regular basis. Soon, I got a rack on the back of my jeep which opened up a whole new world of bike riding for me on the Rails to Trails bike routes around Ohio. (Rails to Trails are bike paths made from converted railroad beds and Ohio has many of these trials).

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We moved to New Albany in 2015 and I gave up bike riding and joined the Heit Center to work out. In the spring of 2023 – after we had to put our greyhound down – I got a Trek Verve 2 bike and started riding again. Unlike Upper Arlington, New Albany is much more bike friendly with many bike paths and is a key city promoting the annual Pelotonia bike ride that raises money for cancer research. It also has some of the top bike riders in Central Ohio in its excellent Cycling Club. (See link below).

I heard about The Cycling Club when I posted a note to NextDoor Neighbor about bike routes in New Albany. The respondent wrote “I think the club is always open to doing something new. The C group really got going the last couple of yrs. If there were a few folks to help kick off a D group with some shorter routes etc, the club could be a good forum to get started- either way.” I never followed up with the Cycle Club even if they were open to creating a C or D group because riding with a group has never interested me. I also didn’t like the idea of riding along two lane country roads with hardly any shoulder on them.

I started riding around New Albany, exploring bike routes within the city limits that were safe and offered good rides. I started plotting the bike routes on a map and then got the app Ride with GPS which allows plotting and sharing GPS data of a bike ride. After a lot of testing, I created two New Albany routes as my favorites. They utilize the bike paths as much as possible and travel over quiet streets with little traffic. The two routes are shown below and separated by state route 161. Both begin on Market Street in downtown New Albany next to CVS.

The Northern Route is north of 161 in a mixed industrial and residential part of New Albany. The bike route is 13.4 miles from the starting point. The Southern Route covers the all residential part of New Albany and is 6.3 miles. Of course, one does not have to start on Market and residents of New Albany can join any part of the two routes shown below that are closest to them. Zoom in on the map from the app link and see street names and other details. One can also combine both routes and can ride 20 miles within the city limits of New Albany without having to venture out on the two lane country roads outside New Albany.

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My favorite type of bike riding is still riding Rails to Trails and I wish we had some accessible from New Albany. The nearest Rail to Trail route is the JT Evans Trail from Johnstown to Newark. On the west side of Columbus is The Heritage Trail from downtown Old Hilliard to Plain City. One of the most useful sources for finding bike routes is the TrailLink site created by the Rails to Trails Conservancy. The conservancy also publishes various guidebooks. I have the Illinois, Indiana & Ohio guide, the definitive guide to multiuser trails in our region.

The City of New Albany created a bike plan for New Albany that can be found at Bike New Albany. The plan was created in 2014 and contains much information about the ambitious biking plans for New Albany. Anyone who wants to get quickly educated about biking in New Albany should take a look at the plan. There is also an interactive site to discuss biking in NA called Bike New Albany MindMixer.

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A Few Links for Bike Riders

The Cycling Club. A group of road cyclists from New Albany, Granville, Westerville, Bexley, and other neighboring towns. A fantastic club if one likes riding in a group for distances of 30-45 miles. Membership is free and I joined and plan on going to a meeting. Maybe a ride with them in the future. The rides suggested below.

Ride with GPS. The leading GPS tracking app that is used from one’s smart phone. For the first time, bike riders have a true way to communicate information about various rides. Very easy to use. Below are two maps and links created via Ride with GPS.

Rails to Trails. One of the greatest organizations today promoting old railroad beds as walking and bicycle paths. You need to contact U-Haul below and get a hitch on your vehicle and you need to buy a rack to go in the hitch. Do you want a one, two, three or four bike rack? But once you have a bike hitch on your car or SUV the world of Rail to Trails is open to you. It is an incredible world.

U-Haul Hitch. If you want to use Rails to Trails or take your bike out of your neighborhood. A hitch needs to be attached to your car’s frame. Different racks to fit the hitch are offered at this center and its the closest U-Haul to New Albany. Besides installing a hitch, there are also racks held by straps on the back of your car.

Peloton. New Albany is home for the Peloton in many ways. An annual road bicycle race in Central Ohio to raise money for cancer research. The peloton (from French, originally meaning platoon) is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting or slipstreaming to other riders. The reduction in drag is dramatic; riding in the middle of a well-developed group, drag can be reduced to as little as 5–10%. Exploitation of this potential energy saving leads to complex cooperative and competitive interactions between riders and teams in race tactics. The term is also used to refer to the community of professional cyclists in general.

Need inspiration? Read about New Albany resident Tanny Crane bike ride across the nation to raise money for cancer research. Subscribe to her blog and follow her posts each day.

Girls with Gears. A community of women (and men too) cycling for a cause. Girls with Gears is a leading grassroots peloton that has raised $1.4 million for cancer research by participating in Pelotonia the past 14 years.

Trek Bike of Gahanna. A fantastic bike store with all types of advice and help for all levels of bike riders.

The top bicycling cities in America from the Travel Channel. The top bicycling cities in the world from Travel & Leisure Magazine. Both benchmarks when planning for the future of cycling. The New Albany report mentions Portland a few times as a specific benchmark.

Official site of the Tour de France.

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Northern New Albany Route Link

(The link is interactive and the map can be enlarged to see details like road names)

Southern New Albany Route Link

(The link is interactive and the map can be enlarged to see details like road names)

Head of the Pond Road on Southern Route

The Bike Trail follows Lambton Road Around the NA Country Club

Downtown New Albany / The Two Routes Start on the Market Street Curve on Right