#PutMiamiOntheMap at #50WestBrewing

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

By the time we got to the Brewery the temperature had reached about 85⁰F and the humidity about 95%. A cold beer was the perfect reward for the early afternoon ride. I had a Lemon Bus Drop, a pale ale with just a hint of citrus.

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

Cincinnati by Bike (Part 1)

In the last several years Cincinnati has become a draw to urbanites who prefer not to own cars.

The mission of the City of Cincinnati Bicycle Transportation Program is to make bicycling an integral part of daily life in Cincinnati, so that persons of all ages and abilities utilize bicycles for all types of trips. The City works toward this goal by planning, engineering, and implementing bicycle facilities, and by educating the community about bicycle transportation.

The Bicycle Program has successfully implemented many projects, including striping 23 miles of bicycle lanes, installing over 450 bike racks, creating 20 miles of shared-use paths/trails, upgrading 231 miles of streets with bike friendly stormwater inlets, and installing 5 miles of shared lane markings, or "sharrows."
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/bikes/


Plan Summary
 The plan recommends 445 miles of on-street and off-street facilities, to be implemented in three phases over 15 years. The on-street Bicycle Network is comprised of striped bicycle lanes, shared lane markings and other on-street facilities. The off-street Bicycle Network is comprised of shared use paths (multi-use trails), sidewalks designated for bicycle use, potential rail-with-trail corridors and connector paths.

• Phase I: 2010-2015 (103 miles);
• Phase II: 2016-2020 (133 miles); and
• Phase III: 2021-2025 (176 miles).

 It is only fitting that Cincinnati become a cycling mecca. The Cincinnati Cycle Club is the oldest cycling club in the region.
 The Brighton Bicycle Club website says, "The Wheel World, published in London, had this news bit from September 8, 1880 “Last Thursday evening, the riders  of the bicycle in these parts assembled at the residence  of one of the members, and formed the Cincinnati  Bicycle Club.”




I was on Fountain Square, the heart of Cincinnati, this past Sunday and there was not a Red Bike to be had. The bikes have become a popular mode of transportation for locals and visitors alike.

I was having dinner in the Clifton area near the University of Cincinnati on a Tuesday night and saw several peddle-pushers riding past and more bikes parked outside of establishments.



More people than ever are utilizing the protected bike lanes on Central Parkway, a main artery into downtown,

and the new Bike Center by the river makes it attractive for bike commuters to ride to work and park their bike in a safe, secure location equipped with lockers and showers.








Yes, Cincinnati is fast becoming a sustainable city and The Reluctant Cyclist is going to be in the middle of it. Follow my page for future posts about Cincinnati's bike community. Exciting times are ahead.

Cincinnati Bicycle Transportation Plan

BONK!!!

This past weekend was the BikeMS ride in Cincinnati, Venture the Valley. I ride with the Pure Protein Steamrollers, one of the larger teams at the ride every year.

The Ride

The weather was perfect and the route was awesome until about mile thirty-three, when it started circling back on itself to add mileage. Velo and I were riding the 75 mile route. The part through Cincinnati was fun, this was our home turf.

The part on the rural roads north of the city were fun too, until you saw the same stretch again. Velo makes every ride fun, though. He always says something to add life, even if it is inappropriate at times.

I know I’ve said before that I like to stop at every rest stop to stretch, socialize, and look at the other bikes on the ride, so we did. All but one stop had good food. The lunch stop was really good. There was a peanut butter bar with a variety of mix-ins as well as PB sandwiches. The PB, a salami on rye, potato chips and a chocolate chip cookie and I was ready to head back out.

As the second half of the day wore on I started feel it, the exhaustion. Shut up legs! Usually, when I feel my glycogen stores running low I get a can of regular Coca-cola. None of that diet, waste of a good drink, put holes in your brain s**t. I need the Real Thing. Well, being in the middle of nowhere Ohio, there is none to be had. I pushed on.

About mile sixty-five I feel the moodiness coming on and there is nothing I can do about it. I try not to be a total b***h to Velo, but it’s hard. I keep my distance and let him ride ahead with his other com-padre because I know, in my own fuzzy headedness, I wouldn’t be very nice to ride with right now.

At mile 70 we reach the biggest, steepest, *@#%& hill of the day. My heart sinks, my hormones fire, and my eyes fill with tears. It was the perfect storm of body, mind, and soul all declaring mutiny. BONK!!! I walked the hill, reluctantly climbed back on the Gunnar and pushed on till the end.

And now, the rest of the story…

The Day

I had planned to ride only one day, socialize Saturday night, spend the night in the cabin with the rest of the Steamrollers, then head home Sunday morning after the riders all left so I had left my car at the day-one ending location . My son was going to pet-sit for us. 

Before we left the house we saw a Facebook post that my son and his girlfriend had been mugged the night before.

I couldn’t get in touch with anyone, my car was at the end of the ride, and we had to go to make it in time for the ride. I left a dozen messages for people to contact me ASAP.

I finally found out that he was OK, he had been jumped for the pizza he was carrying. Apparently some jerk was on something and randomly attacking people. His face was swollen, he had a nice shiner on his left eye, and a goose egg on the back of his head where he hit the sidewalk. Needless to say I didn’t spend the night.

I did stay for the barbecue dinner catered by AlabamaQ. If you ever get a chance to come to Cincinnati it is worth a trip to their restaurant. The Turkey Tips are fantastic.

I headed home about 9 p.m. and was ever so happy to wake up in my own bed on Sunday. I still had a residual headache from bonking but some ibuprofen and coffee seemed to do the trick.

The Bike

There may be one more long ride left in the Gunnar as it is right now. As soon as this season is over all of the old Sram Red and Force components are coming off. They are worn out to the point where the front shifter takes more strength than I have to shift back to the big ring. They have been on since I got the bike four years ago, and they had already been on one of Velo’s bikes for a while prior to that. Feel free to comment if you have a suggestion of what I should switch to. I am open to recommendations.

The Venue

The ride was organized very different from the past several years in that it was a destination ride. It started in Bellevue, Kentucky on Saturday morning, headed north across the Taylor Southgate Bridge into Cincinnati, and

proceeded to the rural roads of Lebanon, Ohio. You can see the route below if interested. Parking was in a separate lot from the luggage truck, was in a different place than the start of the ride. Less than optimum for a thousand or more cyclists, but we managed. The worst day of riding is still better than the best day working, right?

Lower rider turnout was attributed to the route change. In previous years the ride started at Camp Kern both days, a YMCA summer camp, and finished there both days. Riders could arrive Friday evening to set up camp, socialize, and go to sleep early. This year we had to arrive the morning of the ride. Instead of getting to sleep early Friday night, Velo Junkie and I ended up working late and having to arise earlier than usual to maneuver through the starting line logistics.

I believe the numbers of sponsors and supporters were down as well so the comradery at the kick-off festivities were lacking the oomph it had in the past. Change is good but can be difficult and I think a lot of people wanted to see how it would all shake out before committing. Hopefully they return next year.

All in all, a great ride for a great cause

#BikeMS #AlabamaQ #VenturetheValley #pureprotein #steamrollers #pureproteinsteamrollers #shutuplegs