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Bella Roberts' entry into third grade this September won't find her lacking a way to start her "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essay.

Ten days after classes ended, the 7-year-old Liberty Twp. girl hopped atop her pink, modified six-speed Raleigh bicycle and pedaled 390 miles between June 14-21 as part of the 357-mile Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure.

Bella was the youngest documented solo rider in GOBA 2008, said Mary Plumley, the event's administrative assistant.

Joining Bella on the two-wheeling trek were father Nick Roberts, mother Leticia Roberts, uncle Matthew Roberts, and sisters Tia, 15, and Stephanie, 10.

Many of the more than 2,000 GOBA riders cheered and offered his daughter encouraging words, Nick Roberts said.

"It amazed a lot of other people, but everyone in our family knew that once she sets her mind to do something, she does it," he said. "We gave the opportunity to either ride on a pull-along on the back of my bike or to ride by herself and she jumped on the opportunity" to ride her own bicycle.

After learning about the bicycle event, the family rode each weekend for three months until they could comfortably complete 50 miles a day.

GOBA gained Bella a bit of celebrity status. A local radio station and two northern Ohio newspapers interviewed her and event video-

graphers recorded her for possible inclusion in the GOBA 2008 DVD.

Bella said the ride left her both happy and sad.

"Happy because it was done, but sad because I met some friends and I'm not going to see them," she said.