Paint Creek Trail Ride to Southern Ohio Forset Rally, Chillocothe

[Retro Grouch]

Join yours truly this Thursday to ride the Paint Creek Recreational Trail from Frankfort to Chillocothe, Ohio (32 mile round trip).

Chillocothe will be the headquarters for the Southern Ohio Forest  Rally which takes place on June 11-13, 2026.  This is a premiere North American motorsport event featuring turbocharged World Rally Cars carving up the forest roads of Southern Ohio.  

The bike ride to Chillocothe High School will roll out from the Tri-County Triangle Trailhead in Frankfort at 3pm.  After we arrive in Chillocothe, we will visit the Rally Car Parc Expose where all 76 rally car entries will be on display as they are being worked on.

At 5pm we will watch the Yocangee Street Stage which is adjacent to the High School.  Most of this special stage can be viewed from the High School.  

Afterwards, we will ride back to Frankfort then load up for the trip back to Cincy via US 35 and I-71.

Here is the link to the Southern Ohio Forest Rally:https://www.southernohioforestrally.com/

Here is the link to the Paint Creek Recreational Trail: https://rosscountyparkdistrict.com/paint-creek-recreational-trail-data/

Retro out.

[Jonathan Spicker]

Paint Creek Trail is really nice. You can actually start on it in Washington Court House. They have a Cookie Ride on August 22nd in Franklin. Unfortunately it conflicts with the Tour de Donut in Troy.

I saw a FB post about that Rally and it said Portsmouth which is a lot closer to the Shawnee. Guess they prefer the larger city of Chillicothe for their race headquarters?

[Retro Grouch]

The Southern Ohio Forest Rally has stages located east of Chillicothe as well as down towards Portsmouth.  The Southern Ohio Forest Rally is under consideration to become a WRC (World Rally Association) event in the future and officials from the FIA (Federation de Automobile International) will be present to evaluate the event.  Because of it's potential to be the WRC Rally of America, the Southern Ohio Forest Rally chose to locate it's headquarters in Chillicothe which is closer to the international airport (CHM) in Columbus and the nearby Wilmington Air Park (ILN) which will be used to fly in the Rally Cars and equipment from Europe.

If the Southern Ohio Forest Rally is selected to become the WRC Rally of America, this will draw thousands of spectators from around the world and will sellout motels all up and down US 23 between Columbus and Portsmouth. Thus the success of the Southern Ohio Forest Rally is critical to the US 23 corridor and cannot be underestimated.

Fingers are crossed that the FIA will be pleased with this event!

Retro out.

[Retro Grouch]

A view of the Park Annex Street Jump at the Southern Ohio Forest Rally last night:

 

Retro out.