The possible pleasures of “bicycling in the Blue Grass,” and
conquering the hills of northern Kentucky a-wheelback, I cannot too highly
commend; but, to those riders whom this report may incline to follow in my
trail, I would offer a few words of caution. Bicyclers who seek the Mammoth
Cave should not attempt to push their wheels any nearer to it than
Louisville. The pike southward from there to Bardstown, about 35 or 40 m.,
is said to supply good wheeling; and thence eastward to Springfield, 19 m.,
I have described it as good. Between that point and Harrodsburg, 25 m., I
know nothing of its character; but, if it chances to be passable, there
will be no break in the good riding to Lexington, 33 m., and Paris, 15 m.,
whence the return may be made directly w., through Georgetown, Frankfort,
and Shelbyville, to Louisville, 86 m., – making a round trip of about
220 m. without repetition. If the road between Springfield and Harrodsburg
is not good, the tourist making the round trip may cross from Lebanon to
Brumfield, with the chance of finding the poorer half of those 16 m. more
tolerable in dry weather and daylight than I found them in the night-time
after a shower. Branch railroads connect both Bardstown and New Haven,
which is 15 m. s., with the main line, whereby one may ride back to
Louisville, or proceed onward to Cave City. The beautiful n. and s. pike 11
m., connecting Lexington and Georgetown, may be considered as the base of
two triangles, – the apex of the eastern one being at Paris, 15 or 16
m. away, and that of the western one being at Frankfort, 17 or 20 m. In
other words, from either one of those four points a bicycler may make a
trip of about 65 m. around the “double triangle,” or a trip of
42 or 48 m. around one of the single triangles, without repeating his
course at all, or encountering any poor pieces of road, or going outside
the Blue Grass Region. If a ride from Paris to Maysville and back (90 m.)
be added to the “round trip from Louisville,” as already
described, the whole tour will amount to a little more than 300 m.; but I
am sure that any good rider could easily accomplish it within a week, and
still have several hours left in which to prolong it across the river into
Indiana, whose roads, from New Albany, are smooth for quite a number of
miles.