28th Annual Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure schedule
June 18: Hamilton;
June 19: Hamilton to Eaton, 50 miles;
June 20: Eaton to Oxford, 50 miles;
June 21: Oxford (layover day), optional 50 miles;
June 22: Oxford to Brookville, 49 miles with 101 mile option;
June 23: Brookville to Miamisburg 45 miles;
June 24: Miamisburg (layover day), optional 42 mile loop;
June 25: Miamisburg to Hamilton, 45 miles.
A week-long biking tour is coming to Hamilton for the first time and returning to Miamisburg after 22 years, providing a boost to the economy of those cities, as well as three others.
Hamilton and Miamisburg will join Oxford as hosts for the 28th Annual Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure — and about 1,500 cyclists expected to take part — later this month.
GOBA – which last year drew participants from 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Japan, Sweden and Australia – also will include overnight stops in Brookville and Eaton.
GOBA estimates one-night stays translate into about $50,000 in revenue for those communities, said Miamisburg Downtown Development Coordinator Katie Frank.
“It’s a pretty significant impact that is just a great boost for the community as a whole,” she said, noting later, “every community would love to have this event in their community.”
The tour is owned and organized by the nonprofit Columbus Outdoor Pursuits. It will begin June 18-19 at the Butler County Fairgrounds in Hamilton and wrap up there seven days later.
In between, cyclists will make camp at Eaton High School and Golden Gate Park in Brookville, and stay in Miami University residence halls before camping at Miamisburg Middle School from June 23-25 as part of a 289-mile trip.
GOBA picking Hamilton is “a huge deal,” said Scott Ellsworth, interim president and chief executive officer of the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a big deal for all the people who ride bikes in Hamilton and southwest Ohio to get that exposure to the biking community.”
“Beyond the fact that it brings a lot of people to our community that get a chance to see all of the good things that are going on here in Hamilton, it also raises the awareness of our biking community and the bike trail on the Great Miami River,” he said.
“I think it’s really great exposure for this area as a biking area that there’s a lot of great things to do in the city of Hamilton,” Ellsworth added.
While cyclists will travel extensively on roads, the tour includes optional rides on the Great Miami River Trail. Tours on the trail — at 70-plus miles is one of the longest paved routes in the nation — will include stops at Carillon Park and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Attractions on the main trail will include Hueston Woods State Park, Pioneer Farm Museum, McGuffey Reader Museum, , Sycamore Trails Aquatic Center and Miamisburg Mound.
“This is a huge community event,” Frank said. “There are lots of people involved. This couldn’t happen if it wasn’t the whole community coming together and working on this. It’s the schools. It’s the city. It’s businesses. It’s residents. It’s everybody.”
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