Bailey’s Trail System hosted its second annual Dirt Fondo and Fundraiser Saturday at the Chauncey-Dover Trailhead in Millfield. The event brought in local businesses to showcase their products on and off the trails.
The Dirt Fondo is a take on an Italian “Gran Fondo," a long-distance cycling event that loosely translates to “big ride.” According to the Bailey’s website, the trail’s version is a “singletrack adventure consisting of casual riding between optionally-timed segments.”
The 2024 Fondo had 140 participants, growing from the 111 last year.
“It’s really exciting to see we have riders from all over the state, and I’m seeing a lot of faces who came last year who are returning this year,” Delia Palmisano, director of communications and philanthropy at Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia, said.
Holding four separate races on different trails, the Fondo welcomed mountain bikers of all levels to participate, which was one of the goals in mind when creating the idea for this event, Palmisano said.
“We had worked with Peter Kotses, who used to own the Athens bicycle shop, and he gave us this idea for this Gran Fondo,” Palmisano said. “We thought that it really hit on being able to engage all different types of riders. There’s a four-mile all the way up to a 42-mile. We really loved that idea, and we wanted it to be different than other mountain bike races that happened.”
ORCA, a council of government formed in 2019, manages and develops the Bailey’s Trail System. The event’s fundraising efforts go directly to ORCA’s non-profit wing for managing, developing and operating costs of the trails.
Palmisano, a mountain biker herself, explained the races are not timed from beginning to end but rather in segments. Rest stops were set up around the course, and participants enjoyed local food and drinks, like affogato from Dirty Girl Coffee Roasters and tiramisu from Flour and Thyme.
Jacque Engler, a Columbus resident, placed first in the 22-mile Blue Square trail even though it was her first Dirt Fondo. Engler began mountain biking in 2020 but recently became fully immersed since she started riding with a women’s group in Columbus earlier in the year. The group does weekly rides at Bailey's, and the members told Engler about the Fondo.
“It’s so smooth here and flowy,” Engler said. “I know a lot of people from Columbus, they really recommend coming here because it’s just so many miles, you can get so much in, and it’s different how they did the trail so well here.”
The reaction to the even state of the trails did not go unnoticed by other participants. Mariana Glasgow from Circleville rode the Bailey’s for the first time at the Fondo and plans to return with the rest of her family.
“I’ve ridden a lot of rooty trails, and this one, I can count on my hand how many roots I rode over,” Glasgow said. “It was just a very flowy trail.”
Glasgow and her husband’s seven children, ranging from ages 4-12, are all biking with no training wheels; her two youngest are already riding pump tracks. The couple goes out to trails to test the safety and difficulty level before their kids.
“This will definitely be one that we come back to,” Glasgow said. “We’ve rode a bunch of other trails, and they’re small and narrow. These are wider. You can bypass someone easily if need be. There’s not a big rush.”
The race concluded with a fundraising event at the trailhead park. A local student band, Exit 191, and the Ohio University Opera Theater performed. Palmisano said events like these are integral for the community to thrive.
“I think it shows what this outdoor recreation asset can do for the community,” Palmisano said. “I think it proves that this is a destination for people to come and experience because all these people, some are local but the other people are probably staying the night here. They’re going to go out and eat. It’s really cool to see just the development over a couple of years that’s happened.”
