Two Wheeling

Today was NOT an ordinary twowheeling day

I debated driving a car today--mainly because I had a very ight schedule:

6:30 am--breakfast with friends at Bob Evans at 161 and 71

8:00 am--physical therapy in Dublin (to work on a pesky hip)

10:00 am--meeting with a prospective client at my office downtown

noon--tee off at New Albany CC in an outing

I calculated that if I got out of every meeting and appointment on time and rode like a bat out of hell, I could just about make each of my commitments. Since I'll be on vacation Thursday and Friday and not able to bike, I figured I'd go for it.

Here's how it turned out.

Left the house at 6:10 am and rode approximately 6 miles up HIgh St and out 161 to my breakfast and arrived on time.

Left Bob Evans at 7:30 and rode straight out 161 to Dublin, approximately 6-7 miles and made it to my appointment with 5 minutes to spare.

Left Dublin about 9:10 am and raced straight down 33 to downtown and made it at 9:50 with 10 minutes to spare. I figure it's about 15 miles.

My meeting ran late and I left for home around11:15--called ahead to let my friends know I was running late. I rode straight up High St to North Broadway and crossed the river and finished the ride going up Olentangy River Rd. I changed into golf clothes, threw my clubs in my old pickup truck and headed around the outerbelt to New Albany. I arrived at the tee just as my group was teeing off.

All told I put in about 36 miles this morning. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it. I don't know that I would cut things as close as I did this morning, but it is definitely doable. And I'm sure going to sleep well tonight.

Couple More Pelotonia Stories

I wanted to share a couple more Pelotonia stories with you to give you a flavor for how this event has permeated our city and helps "connect" us to each other--twowheeling has a way of doing this.

I'm a partner in a large corporate law firm with an office in a downtown high-rise. I park my bike every day under the building at the loading dock, an industrial, "back of the house" part of our swanky office building that most of the other tenants never see and probably don't know exists. The security guards in the building rotate and split time between the loading dock and the front desk. Consequently, I've gotten to know them pretty well and we're on a first name basis. I'm also getting to know their families, hobbies, backgrounds, etc. I consider them friends and wonder why so few other tenants say hi or take the time to talk with them--they're great guys! I've also gotten to know several members of the custodial staff, but I don't see them as much and don't know them by name yet.

The Friday before Pelotonia as I locked up my bike at the loading dock and began to walk up to the lobby, one of the guards, Jason, asked me if I was riding Pelotonia. "Yes," I said. He wished me good luck. 100 feet down the hallway, one of the custodians did the same. I thought it was pretty cool that they were aware of the event and cared enough to ask me about it. When I walked into the lobby on Monday morning after the event, Jason was sitting at the front desk. "Doug, when I heard on the news that someone died riding Pelotonia, I was worried it was you. Thank goodness you made it safely." I was very touched by his concern.

I rode down to Athens on Saturday with a good friend I went to Whetstone High School with. But he took the bus back to CBus Saturday night and I was left without a group to ride home with on Sunday. Waiting at the starting line at 7 am, I saw my friends from Porter Wright, another downtown law firm. They had more than 30 lawyers participate in the ride this year which is pretty amazing (that's more lawyers than we have in our Columbus office). I asked if I could ride with them and they welcomed me heartily. As we rode the first 10 miles along a nice bikepath, I took the lead for awhile. There was some debris on the path from the previous night's storm, so I tried to call out hazards as I spotted them. "Stick," I would say, and the other riders would pass it on.........."Stick............stick............stick." "Post," I would yell when we passed a crossing area where they placed a post to keep vehicles from driving on the path. "Post.............post..............post," my friends would pass back.

After 15-20 minutes of this, we got into a nice cadence with both our riding and our Gregorian chant-like call and response. Then I spotted what looked like a thick twisted stick on the side of the path and I was about to yell, "Stick," when I noticed the stick moving. "Snake," I chanted instead. "Sna............what?..................WHAT?...............WHAT????" came the response. We had a good laugh about this at the next rest stop.

I really enjoyed riding back with my friends from Porter Wright. I could tell they've formed some close bonds and friendships training and riding in Pelotonia--for many of them this was their second year. As we crossed the finish line at Slate Run Park, the announcer barked, "And here comes the team from Porter Wright!!" I was honored to be an honorary member of their team for the day.

Pelotonia and biking at other events, and just biking to work and school, have the ability to reconnect and bring our community closer together. I think that would be a very good thing.   

Pelotonia Recap

I finished the 180 mile Pelotonia a few hours ago and had a great time. The 100+ ride to Athens Saturday counted as my third "century"--I rode the full TOSRV 2 years ago. My 16 mile daily ride to and from work keeps me fit, but doesn't prepare me properly for this kind of long-distance riding. I did do two 57 mile rides to our farm in Knox County in June, a 40 mile ride to Plain City in July and a 55 mile ride 2 weeks ago, but nothing approaching the 100+ mile ride to Athens and the 80 miles back to Slate Run Park the next day. Having said this, I can generally average 18-22 mph on the flats and I'm a pretty good climber, so I can more than hold my own with the folks who DO train properly. I think most folks who ride Pelotonia would benefit greatly from biking to work since it really creates a solid base of mileage. If you then layered on the proper training regiment of longer rides, you would be an animal!

I had heard from my experienced cyclist friends that the course was extremely challenging, especially the hills beginning around Amanda at the 50+ mile point, but I wasn't prepared for what I found. The first big hill was very steep and seemed to go about a half mile or so. Several people were getting off their bikes to walk up the hill and I was up on my pedals when I was only half way up. I made it, but it was by far the hardest, longest hill I've ever climbed. Two or three more lesser hills had my legs doing something they've never done before--cramping, severe cramping--in both quads. 100 yards up another hill and there went my hamstring.........then a calf........then my right foot and the middle toe on my left foot. I thought my weekend was over, but a passing cyclist observing my distress told me to "spin" through it. So I put it in the easiest gear, kept pedaling through the pain and it gradually subsided and I never got off the bike. Only problem was I had a dozen+ hills left to climb, some pretty severe, and every time I tried to get on my pedals, my quads and hamstring would spasm. So, I had to climb every remaining hill in the saddle, which was no small feat. I learned from friends that night in Athens that my cramps were likely a result of dehydration, so I resolved to drink more fluids on the way home Sunday--it worked.

Pelotonia is a great event and is doing a tremendous job of getting more butts on bikes in central Ohio and raising a significant amount of money for the James Cancer Hospital.  Unfortunately, on Saturday there was a terrible accident that resulted in a cyclist, Michelle Kazlausky, losing her life. As a distraught Tom Lennox, the ride organizer, said when he announced the tragedy to the riders in Athens on Saturday night, "This isn't supposed to happen." But the fact is Tom and the rest of the Pelotonia team did everything they could to make the course safe for the cyclists, but something outside their control went terribly wrong (it appears that a pickup truck driver ran through a state trooper's stop signal). 

Those of us that spend a lot of time cycling on the roads and highways understand the risks, but we need to provide better education to both motorists and cyclists to mitigate these risks. There is a pedaling revolution going on in America and central Ohio and there are going to be lots more bicycles on our roads in the coming years. We need to make them as safe as possible for everyone.

I am honored to have cycled Pelotonia this year with Michelle.   

Pelotonia, Here I Come

I wasn't going to ride Pelotonia again this year, but three weeks ago I was with a friend who's been battling cancer for several years. "Are you riding Pelotonia?" he asked. "No, I don't feel right asking friends and family for $2,000," I replied. "I'd like you to ride and will pledge $500 for you," he offered. I was overwhelmed.

It just so happened I was playing guitar at Mike Caligiuri's house that evening for a Pelotonia reception. They happened to have a laptop set up for folks to sign up--I did.

As I packed up my guitar at the end of the evening in Mike's kitchen, he thanked me for signing up. "I'm looking forward to it, Michael, but you and I both know that all of the great gains you're making in cancer research at the James are being outpaced by the increased incidence of cancer as a result of the obesity epidemic sweeping across America. You keep getting butts on bikes once a year for Pelotonia, and my friends and I will get folks biking to work and school the other 364--working together we'll beat both of these afflictions."

I don't usually ride recreationally, preferring to use my energy productively to bike to work or somewhere else I need to go--I call this "twowheeling"--biking with purpose beyond just the exercise. The exercise is a natural byproduct of twowheeling. But I occasionally make an exception for TOSRV, Hi Lo, and now Pelotonia. The little bit of biking I do each day (16-25 miles) keeps me very fit and I shouldn't have too much trouble doing the 100 miles to Athens tomorrow or the 80 back home on Sunday.

I'm actually looking forward to riding with lots of good friends for a great cause and a great organization. Power to the Pedal! and to Pelotonia!

A Good Day

This was a day that started out very ordinary, like every other day. Nothing earthshattering happened, but it was still a very special day...........on twowheels.

Biking to work down High Street with the sharrows makes me feel very happy. I can't tell you what a difference this has made. I swear the twowheelers on High Street have doubled since they installed the sharrows. It may be psychological, but who cares--it's making a huge difference. Just past campus I passed another cyclist who turned out to be my good friend, John, who is retired from the City Attorney's office and is working part-time for the City. John has been biking to work from his home in UA to City Hall for almost 10 years, year round, so he's one of my idols.

I've known John for almost 30 years, but hadn't seen him in several months. I rode downtown with him and we caught up, talking about our mostly grown children. He invited me to join him and his wife, BJ, who also bikes to work downtown, at Brioso--they meet, have coffee and read the paper there almost every morning. I readily agreed.

After a very pleasant morning coffee, I headed to work. As I passed Trinity Church at the corner of Broad and Third, the church bells were playing a very animated hymn--I was inspired and felt sorry for all the folks in their cars, with the windows up and air conditioning on, unable to hear the bells.

I had lunch with a merchant banker from Chicago who is an avid cyclist and is making investments in the health care space that are bold and forward thinking. We talked a lot about cycling and its potential for solving the national health care crisis.

After a full day's work, I biked back up High Street to Worthington at the end of the day, to a meeting with a nice young woman at the Heart Association to discuss ways the cycling community might be able to partner with the Heart Association to promote active transportation as an antidote to heart disease and strokes.

Then, back on the bike and up to the Worthington Inn for a drink with my good friend, Michael, the managing partner of a large accounting firm, to discuss new economic development initiatives in the region. Michael left for a meeting and my wife, Beth, joined me on the patio for a wonderful dinner of Ohio-grown/raised meat and produce.

Back on the bike and headed south on HIgh Street toward home. As I crossed over the Olentangy River, the sky was almost dark and I could barely make out the shapes of 30+ Canada geese "bedding down" on the river.  A very good day, indeed.