Two Wheeling, Now with Barns!

Where the Hell is Spring?

I biked down to Plank's on Parsons after work last night to meet a few friends. At 7:20 pm I headed north up High Street to the Pig Iron BBQ to meet my son, Brandon (the world traveler). It was cold and blustery and still spitting snow and the headwind was brutal. By the time I arrived at the Pig, I could hardly feel my fingers and toes and barely had enough energy to drag myself inside to order a Bourbon to revive me.

I locked up the bike to the old pickup truck/bar on the patio--hopefully the snow will be gone soon and replaced with friends and libations.

 
   

Hop on the Bike Bus!

BIKE BUSES will start running next week. Organized by Consider Biking, the BIKE BUS system will provide the opportunity for new bicycle commuters to meetup and ride to work or school with more experienced cyclists. Bus routes, departure times and bus bike stops will be easily accessed by the community on Consider Biking's RideNet website. To check it out, go to www.ridenet.net, click on "Rides" on the toolbar, and look for "BIKE BUS". You don't have to be a RideNet member to access the BIKE BUS information, but please consider signing up so you can have access to all the other great RideNet tools.

If you are an experienced cyclist who would be willing to be a bus leader, please let me know ([email protected]) and I'll get you all the info you need to get your bus line started.

Spring is hopefully right around the corner (although it didn't feel that way this morning). We hope to see lots of BIKE BUSES running around CBUS soon! 

Is that a Lagavulin in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?

A good friend had surgery last week and Parker and I decided to stop by his house last night to see how he's doing. Our friend loves a good scotch so I decided to stop any get him a bottle to cheer him up (and so Parker and I could have a little nip, too). Parker knows scotch better than I do and recommended Lagavulin--"he likes 'em smokey," he said.

Our friend lives in Bexley so I left downtown and pedaled out Main Street, figuring I'd find a state store somewhere along Main. By the time I hit the Whitehall city limits, I'd seen plenty of carryouts, but no liquor store. I finally found one, but from the tired facade, the newspapers over the windows and the trash accumulated by the entrance, I seriously doubted whether they would have the Lagavulin.

 
 

But believe it or not, they did have the Lagavulin. It comes in a lovely box that didn't fit very well in my backpack, so I stuffed it in the best I could and checked my email to see where Parker was. "I'm in New York City with my daughter--I thought we were talking about visiting on Friday." Obviously a miscommunication.

I headed back down Main to Giusseppi's, a very nice Italian restaurant in Bexley. I stumbled into the restaurant in my spandex with the Lagavulin hanging out of my backpack and ordered a stiff drink and called my wife to join me for dinner. We had a lovely dinner and as we were leaving, one of the bartenders pointed to my backpack and inquired, "Lagavulin?" "Yes," I told him, "long story." "Nice......," he replied.  

 

So Sad

This past Tuesday about 5 pm I was riding  north on High Street when I saw lots of flashing lights and stopped traffic ahead, near the intersection of Torrance and High. My stomach sinks whenever I see flashing lights on High Street for fear that there's been an accident involving a cyclist.( I've actually only witnessed one incident involving a cyclist and he was just scraped up a bit.)

I could tell this one was bad because the police had the entire street barricaded and traffic was stopped in both directions. I followed a long line of cars that maneuvered through side streets and alleys to get around the blocked off section of High Street. As we turned off High, I caught a glimpse of two heavily damaged cars in the middle of the road.

The next morning, the Dispatch reported that a beloved Bexley elementary teacher named Molly Davis had died in the accident.

Thursday morning I was biking south past the accident site and but for a bit of glass along the side of the road there was no indication that a terrible tragedy had occurred there less than 48 hours earlier.

 I felt a deep sadness and a bit of anger at the human lives that are senselessly lost each year on our highways. I know we're working hard to make autos safer and keep drunk and distracted drivers off the road--and I know we can't all ride bicycles everywhere, every time. But I can't help but think there must be a better, safer way to travel around our dense urban areas.

How to get out of work on St. Patrick's Day

Catch a leprechaun! (At least that's what he said.)

 

You can only see leprechauns when you're on a bike and your vision is unobscured by a windshield and the ability to dream and believe that you possessed as a child has been restored. Twowheeling is magical this way.

And you won't find leprechauns anywhere near a freeway--they never saw any in Ireland and consequently are scared to death of them. Instead they hang out in little nooks and crannies like the Walla Halla ravine in Clintonville near where I caught this leprechaun coming out of Nancy's diner (and the waitresses yelling "Eat it and beat it!--I think Nancy's does a good business on St. Patty's Day).  

So what am I doing at work?

Lady Gaga--Outta my Way!

I biked to work yesterday through a light rain, but the temperature wasn't too bad and all in all it was a pleasant ride in.

By the time I left the office at 5 pm to meet a client at Champs restaurant at Lennox, the temperature had plummeted and the wind was brisk and in my face.

By the time I left Lennox, the wind had picked up considerably and the snow and sleet was coming down--actually it was blowing horizontally right into my face and felt like tiny darts.

It was dark and visibility was obscured as I biked north on Olentangy River Road--not the most bike-friendly road in good conditions, it scared even me last night. And the traffic was horrible. As I approached Lane Avenue I saw some people in pretty scary outfits walking along Olentangy RR. Most of the women and girls were wearing fishnet hose and no pants. Then I remembered--Lady Gaga was in town.

I waited for what seemed like 10 minutes for the police to let us through the intersection at Lane and Olentangy--by then I was thoroughly drenched and shaking with the cold. 

All in all, one of my most miserable commutes, thanks in part to Lady Gaga. 

Whew! That was one long winter.

I've been twowheeling to work for almost 10 years now, and have biked through the past 5 winters. The first two winters were mild, but the last three have been pretty harsh, and this winter has been the worst of all. I don't mind the cold, but won't ride if there's too much ice and snow since I don't know how many falls I've got left in me. I also came down with a bad cold right after Thanksgiving and haven't been able to shake it. Wha, Wha, Wha, Wha, Wha............ 

 I've been taking the No. 2 bus to work the past 5 weeks. I really enjoy riding the bus and come from a long line of bus riders--my dad took the bus from Clintonville to his downtown office and my mom has taken the No. 31 Express for over 30 years (she sometimes waves to me as she passes me on my bike). My mom has made some of her best friends on the bus--they've grown old together and "watched" their kids grow up over the years they've spent together riding the bus.

Unfortunately, I haven't witnessed any of that commaraderie on the No. 2 bus over the past few weeks. I blame it on the smart phones, blackberries and Ipods. Many of the riders, especially the young riders, have their earphones in and are totally in their own world--they avoid eye contact with their fellow passengers, and rarely does anyone smile or say anything to anyone else. (It reminds me of the anti-social behavior I witnessed on the subways of New York City when I worked there in the 1980s.) For all the "connections" we make in this age of internet social media, it's ironic that it's impaired our ability to connect to the person sitting right next to us.  

So I was very happy to get back on my bike this week. It's a bit brisk in the morning, about 28 degrees, but the pavement is dry and the sun's out. The sunrise was beautiful and I'm sure I caught a whiff of spring in the air this morning. It won't be long before we'll be shedding the winter bike clothes. And I made eye contact and smiled at several people waiting at the bus stops along High Street to catch the No. 2.