If you would prefer to avoid city riding in the Cleveland Metro area, I've mapped a route that follows an outer ring of bike trails and mostly quiet country roads from Rocky River to Ashtabula.  This roughly 130-mile route includes about 90 miles of shady, paved bike trails, 30 miles of back roads (especially east of Kent), and less than 10 miles of packed limestone.  This detour will add 50-60 miles to your transit of the Cleveland area if traveling on the Northern Tier Route.   Camping and hotel options exist along the way.  The route is posted at: 

https://www.bikeportage.com/cleveland-bypass-for-the-northern-tier-route.html   

Thanks for the route, Pete! Always good to have local knowledge post about an area. I'll look to this on future tours. Who knows, maybe I'll complete the Northern tier after the GDMBR. Retirement coming soon so I'll have lots of time

Hope it is helpful, Paul.  I had a couple come through last week using most of the route.  They seemed to appreciate it.  Cheers!