Lindsey Updike grew up in Bellefontaine, but she doesn’t have many opportunities to get back to town.
Lindsey Updike, far left, a former Bellefontaine resident who now lives in Columbus, takes photos of her riding buddies, Shelley Downs, left, of Perrysburg, and Lynn Graham of Oregon, Ohio, next to a sign welcoming the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure to downtown Bellefontaine. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES)
That is until the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure comes around, which the 29-year-old former resident has ridden for the past 21 years. She now lives in Columbus.
“I had to come down to the Presbyterian Church to eat because that was my church when I lived here,” she said Wednesday evening. “I saw some of the girls I was in Sunday school with and it was great to catch up.”
She is riding with here father, Dennis Updike, also a former city resident who now lives in North Canton, and two friends — Shelley Downs of Perrysburg and Lynn Graham of Oregon, Ohio, all of whom met on the GOBA ride over the years.
“You pick up right where you left off each year,” Graham said. “GOBA is like a big traveling family.”
The trio of ladies had high regards for the local hospitality.
“Bellefontaine is by far the best town on the route,” Updike said. “It’s great to see the community come out and engage with the cyclists. It’s not like that in every town.”
“It’s so much fun. The block party with a band is a riot,” Downs added, referencing the inaugural Shine FM Summer Kick Off Concert that was moved to a Wednesday to coincide with the GOBA stop.
“And the selection of dining and shopping are excellent,” Graham said. “Those are my two favorite things, shopping and eating.”
For many participants, the GOBA ride, which stops in five different cities over eight days and seven nights, is an adventure to share with family.
David and Jeri Groves of Loveland have adopted the ride as an opportunity to vacation with their children and grandchildren who live out of state, Mr. Groves said.
David Groves, left, of Loveland, and one of his sons and six grandchildren, who live in Huntsville, Ala., stop for a history lesson on George Bartholomew and the history of concrete streets in America during a downtown block party Wednesday evening. The family is spending a family vacation on the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure that has stopped in Bellefontaine for two days.
Now in their fourth year of the tradition, different family members may choose to join as their situation permits. This year two sons and six grandchildren, ranging in age from 5 to 13, all who live in the Huntsville, Ala., area made the trip north for the vacation.
“A few years ago, our son wanted to do something together as a family and my wife had already done this a few times with her brother who had been doing GOBA since the beginning. So we decided to make this our trip,” Groves said.
Complete story and more photos in Thursday’s Examiner.
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