Malabar Farm Historic Bicycle Tour

Malabar Farm. Pleasant Valley. Pulitzer-Prize winning author and screenwriter Louis Bromfield. The Big House. The Bogey and Bacall wedding. Heritage Days. Many old time members of Columbus Council have many fond memories of the annual bike tour from Columbus to Malabar Farm hostel, enjoying a special dinner and an evening of camaraderie at the hostel, and returning the next day. The Central and Southern Ohio Council of Hostelling International USA is reviving the annual tour this September 11-12.

The old Columbus Council once had hostels spread throughout Central Ohio. The most scenic of all of these hostels was Malabar Farm Hostel at Malabar Farm State Park near Mansfield, the historic working farm where Louis Bromfield taught the world how to do sustainable conservation farming and which he left to Ohioans. The hostel was the original home and farm of Louis Bromfield. It was ordered as a kit from a Sears catalog and built in 1919.

The Malabar Farm Historic Bicycle Tour is historic because it resumes the tradition of annual tours started many, many years ago by Columbus Council and because it is the first since the management of the hostel was transferred to Central and Southern Ohio Council and is, in fact, the first bike tour they have organized.

The tour will start at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 11th at the New Albany Elementary School at 87 North High Street in New Albany. The tour will head north into the beautiful and eventually hilly farm country that leads to Malabar Farm. The pace will be easy. The distance each way is approximately 50 miles. Dinner (at your own expense) will be at the Malabar Inn and breakfast (included in the fee) will be at the hostel. The tour will return to New Albany on Sunday, September 12th.

To enhance the historic nature of the ride, the tour will visit the Fredericktown Museum and try to locate the Greenville Treaty Line. Riders who have not been to Malabar Farm will be encouraged to visit the Big House. The last tour at Malabar Farm begins at 4:00 p.m.

The tour looks to be a great trip. The weather with fall coming should have cooled down. It will also be a great excuse for a nice evening fire after dinner.

The tour is limited to the capacity of the hostel: 19 people. So, don't procrastinate. Copy, complete, and mail your registration and liability waiver to Allan South c/o Central and Southern Ohio Council, P.O. Box 41, Columbus, Ohio 43216-0041. If you have any questions, call Allan at (614) 276-0447. The registration and liability waiver form is here in Adobe format.