I had another cool adventure this weekend with Velo Junkie
and my Gunnar. My alma mater, Miami
University, had an event at several locations around the city, north,
south, east, and west, called Put Miami on the Map. Not to be confused with the University of Miami in Florida. (Miami, Oxford opened its doors
to students in 1824. UofM didn’t open till more than 100 years later.) The
party on the east side was at a brewery. So, even though we live on the west
side of Cincinnati, we decided it would be more fun to ride to the east side.
It was about a twenty mile ride to 50 West Brewing and the
Reluctant Cyclist started out true to her name. We have a 6% (+/-) grade right
out of the gate. I never do well on hills until my lungs and heart get together
and figure out a rhythm they can both be happy with. On top of that, my front
wheel was slightly out of true and had a little bit of a wobble. Of course I
blamed my discontent and discomfort on the Gunnar, and Velo patiently waited for me to stop grumbling.
Once we crested the hill it was smooth sailing, except it
got too hot, my seat was too low, we had to ride through Bengal’s football
traffic, yada, yada, yada. Velo really is a saint to put up with me at times.
About halfway there we stopped so I could get my Coca-Cola to keep my sugar levels from crashing and I became as wobbly as my front
wheel. The heat and humidity were making us both sweat Lunken
Airport, Cincinnati’s first commercial air field. A few commercial flights
still leave out of Lunken but it is mostly used by private jet and small craft
owners. Lunken is short for Lunkenheimer,
a once prominent family in Cincinnati, but we can save that story for a history
lesson later. I’ve included a picture of their house in Cincinnati for
reference, but I won’t be riding a bike there any time soon. It sits at the top of one of
Cincinnati’s best known hills, Mt. Adams. Just outside of Eden Park.
profusely, so we were losing valuable electrolytes by the minute. This was right before entering the bike-way
through
Back to the ride, after the airport it was on through
Fairfax to Mariemont, home of 50 West
Brewing. #50westbrewing
50 West is known for its Micro Bus named Penny Lane,
which unfortunately caught fire and has been retired to the back of the
building.
The new micro bus is named Eleanor Rigby, but
she was busy and not available for viewing. I guess we will have to make
another trip to the brewery for her debut. There was, however, a busload of people on a brewery tour across the city. I may have to look that up sometime.
I was excited to get the chance to hand out my new business cards for “The
Reluctant Cyclist” to
some new friends. I was sitting with several other Miami
Alumni and found out that most of them had also graduated from the Farmer
School of Business, some from the same program as me. Go Hawks!.
#FarmerSchoolofBusiness
50 West is a common destination for cyclists on the east
side of Cincinnati and we ran into a group of ladies riding from Milford
enjoying the summer Saturday with a beer. More new friends, some friendly cyclist
banter, a picture or two and we were off headed back to the west side.
Again, just as when we started out, there was a steep hill
almost immediately after leaving the brewery parking lot. This time the two
pale ales made me forget about the wobble, it was extremely slight anyway. The
Reluctant Cyclist was in a favorable mood, the ride was half over, and we were headed home