Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Proud to be a WRGT 'Trail Bum' Star BeaconLuoma reports that the best trout lilies are found around mile marker 20, the nicest trillium at mile marker 22 and finest jack-in-the-pulpits at Allen Road.
Visiting his Web page, you'll also learn that beyond the fence at Coffee Creek is a tunnel that carries the muddy stream's flow under the trail. Several years ago, when Luoma was gathering photographs for his Web site, he and his wife Cheryl decided to explore the pump house via the tunnel. It had rained hard the night before and Coffee Creek, normally only ankle deep, was transformed into a waist-deep torrent. Nevertheless, Luoma and his wife waded into the dark tunnel. "That was the creepiest thing I've ever done," he says. "A stick (under the water) poked my wife and she thought she'd been bit by a sea serpent. She screamed." Logging the miles Luoma has his wife to thank for introducing him to the trail. He says the Ashtabula Dream Center was holding a bicycle riding event, and his wife thought it would be a good excuse to finally act upon their discussions about purchasing bikes and becoming more physically active. Luoma says he wasn't interested in riding, but agreed to take his wife to the trail for the event. Once he saw the trail and experienced it from a bicycle, he became hooked on the resource. "I said 'This is pretty cool,'" he said. "I could just picture in my mind an old steam engine coming through here." Several years of heavy trail use followed, each annually logged 1,400 miles on their bicycles. Acquiring a new dog in 2005 cut into their riding, but Luoma says they will probably do 500 miles each this year. They have rode as far as the Trumbull County trail head, 40.6 miles. He doesn't recommend novices make that trip, however. Luoma experienced some serious muscle spasms because he wasn't conditioned for the distance. "We don't go for speed," he says. "I go for the relaxation and peacefulness. There are very few places around that are as peaceful as this." His typical ride takes him from his Woodman Avenue home to Sanborn Road, sometimes Austinburg. In the winter, he and Cheryl exchange their bicycles for snowmobile boots and outfits. There's never a time of year he's not on the trail. Luoma has made numerous friends on the WRGT and was, for a short while, a Bike Patrol member. "I felt like I had this big neon sign on me," Luoma says, referring to the green shirts patrol members wear. "Deep down, I'm a shy person," he says. However, Luoma enjoys talking about his favorite Ashtabula County resource. His only regret is that there's not more time in the week to spend on it. "If I was retired, I'd be out here every day," he says. 
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