Recap: Millfield 34
Plenty of parking is available at Trimble Elementary School - 18500 Jacksonville Rd, Glouster, OH 45732
6 cyclists. 34 miles. 4150 feet of climbing. Overcast to start with temps in low 50’s. Sunny at end and temps in the upper 70’s. Not going to complain about being too hot in early March. Gravel was dry and fast throughout with sections of new gravel and scatter gravel from grading. Some of the climbs were steep and sketchy and required a lot of concentration to keep the rear wheel planted. Route is almost 50% gravel along with some nice paved farm roads. The climbing is spread evenly across the route. We saw a number of tractors, atvs and side-by-sides. One cyclist bonked about 2/3 way on the route and at mile 24.7 opted to stay on Hooper Ridge and follow the first part of the route back to the car.
The last loop is all paved and passes the Millfield Mine Disaster memorial, Millfield and crosses the covered bridge on Monserat Rd before climbing up and over the ridge back to the start.
Some fun anecdotes.
As we turned onto Bryson Road a tractor pulled up and asked about our direction. The farmer recommend we head out Bryson and take a left and then a right. I looked at the map and said, “yes, we are turning onto Albert Keirns Rd.” The farmer responded, “hi, that’s me. I am Albert Keirns!” He started up the tractor and drove off.
We climbed the gravel road up to The Wolftree Winery. As we neared the building a dog came out and barked at us. The winery was closed but we sat down and ate lunch. The dog’s skittishness subsided as we fed him some nibbles. We checked his tags for a name and decided his name is “Athens Ohio AKA Rabies Vaccine.” He watched us as we rolled out. He downed a chunk of pizza crust faster than I could blink.
