Columbus Rides Bikes!

The video is here...

UPDATE - The 24 Hours of Waffle Ride is being rescheduled. Start from 15th and High in front of the Wex. We will plan on visiting 10-12 Waffle House locations on the ride. The route will be posted so people can join in at anytime. More info will be posted as we get closer. Please join the Columbus Rides group for updated emails about rides. - See sidebar.

USA Today Cities take bike-transit plans for a spin Led by Washington, D.C., several cities across the U.S. are launching or considering public bike-rental programs to give residents and tourists an alternative to $4 gas, pollution and congestion. More...

Link here... Here is the manufacturer's website... Duncan was looking for a bike powered vehicle to carry his equipment. I think the GoBoy would work out well for him.

* Bicycles would be allowed on sidewalks under the related changes designed to clean up inconsistencies in city laws. Helmets for kids weren't the only changes proposed to Columbus rules on bicycles. In addition to requiring that those age 17 or younger wear helmets while operating bicycles or other non-motorized vehicles, the ordinance proposed by Councilwoman Charleta Tavares, chairwoman of council's Health, Housing and Human Services Committee, would allow bicyclists on sidewalks. Lara Baker, chief prosecutor for the city of Columbus, said after she was asked to look at the helmet law, she saw "inconsistencies in the statute." City laws "cannot be vague, cannot be conflicting," she said. More...

It is a small but busy space and the rich smell of rubber tires mingled with grease hangs in the air. The tires are hanging by the dozens from hooks embedded in the ceiling, the wall is lined with bicycle frames and at several stations, pairs of workers are fixing flats, removing rust, greasing chains and adjusting brakes. A man with a shaved head, piercing blue eyes and a wide smile approaches and says, "Hi, welcome to Third Hand, what can I help you with?" His arms are quite literally covered with thick, black grease. more...

Quick report - some highlights Beautiful weather - clear in low 70's - dropped into 60's toward the end 120+ people 2 tandems Cooper Stadium Multiple flat tires Run-ins with several autos Pinky squealing like a little girl The breakaway - The Abbey High Beck Three Creeks Park - The low hanging fog in the fields and on the trail was incredible. 36 miles

I met Matt through a friend. His band is releasing an album and you can listen to some tracks on Myspace . Here is some info from the page... The members of One Car Motorcade have been friends since high school and have played music together on and off over the years. Somewhere in the mid aughts, life took them away from making music, but not from maintaining their friendships. Sometime in the late summer of 2007, they determined that the friendships were OK, but what they really missed was making music. So they got together for a jam session and before they knew it, an album was written. The idea was just to have fun and write some cool rock ‘n’ roll songs without taking themselves too seriously. However, they are just pretentious enough to have one of the band members write this bio in the third person. So here’s the myspace page – with photos taken by Jennifer Schaaf and music produced by Rick May. The six songs on this page are from the self titled album which is currently being pr

Probably fog, but pretty cool shot at one of the cemeteries. Although, we have other shots in the same cemetery and there is no fog. What do you think?

Location(s) Undecided Columbus, OH United States See map: Google Maps Time: 09/06/2008 - 10:00am Website : Contact Email: kgreason@yahoo.com Press release

I stopped over last year and watched the races. It is fun to watch the cyclists group break up when they reach the hill before the finish line. It is an indicator of who is fit and who is not. The website...

Campagnolo will introduce 11 speed cassettes next year. In Feltre, Italy, this week, just 15km away from the memorial to Tullio Campagnolo at the summit of the Croce d’Aune pass, Campagnolo reintroduced its Super Record racing group. More...

A friend of mine just picked up one of the Olympus shockproof, waterproof, crushproof cameras. You can drop it 5 feet, ride in the rain, ride your bike across it and it will still work. I am thinking of getting one for my wife. I call her "Destructo" because she can break anything. More details...

Last weekend when we were hanging out at Buckeye Donuts waiting for the Cemescary Ride to start I saw my car drive by. Someone else has a silver Prius with the same rack system on the back of their car. It was eery. I couldn't see if it was a bald guy driving, but that would have made the cake. Here is a pic of my car with rack/hitch. See original story here...

Now you can check out what the house or business looks like before you drive to it! Most streets are covered, even out into the burbs where I live. Click into the map and it Street View. Pretty amazing. View Larger Map

The next rally may be a Waffle House Bicycle Rally. There are sixteen Waffle House restaurants within the Columbus beltway or close to the beltway. Still trying to nail down a date Map of locations from wafflehouse.com The mileage stated is from downtown Columbus. 1 Waffle House (614) 536-0409 1405 N CASSADY AVE COLUMBUS, OH 43219-1528 5.12 miles away 2 Waffle House (614) 885-8210 1050 EAST DUBLIN- COLUMBUS, OH 43229-2503 6.56 miles away 3 Waffle House (614) 272-9575 900 WILSON ROAD COLUMBUS, OH 43204-1466 6.67 miles away 4 Waffle House (614) 409-2721 3960 SOUTH HIGH ST COLUMBUS, OH 43207-4014 7.82 miles away 5 Waffle House (614) 882-9791 3385 DUBLIN-GRANVLLE WESTERVILLE, OH 43081-9359 6 Waffle House (614) 876-9834 2360 WEST BELT DRIVE COLUMBUS, OH 43228-3822 8.23 miles away 7 Waffle House (614) 539-9225 3085 BROADWAY GROVE CITY, OH 43123-1400 8.28 miles away 8 Waffle House (614) 539-0610 4140 MARLANE DR GROVE CITY, OH 43123-2925 8.70 miles away 9 Waffle House (614) 878-6778 4595 WEST

I want to estimate at least 70 people showed up. First headed down south, then west, then north. East, then headed up north and rode down Walhalla. Then headed north again to the Park of Roses? We had a mobile sound system providing music, pretty cool except he had it cranked up too loud and the music was blown out and distorted. The pace was one of the slowest I have ever been on. Then we bolted south on the trail then headed east toward the railroad tracks. As we headed south on High I pushed it to 30mph on the crest passed the convention center. South to Tip Top. Headed home after that. Our group put in around 25 miles. Overall it wasn't one of the best evenings. I may consider skipping the ride for awhile. : (

The link and story is here...

See the video...

I am looking for ideas for the next bicycle rally. One idea is a thrift store ride. At each store you will need to buy and wear a garment to the end. Any other ideas will be welcome. We may be doing a Waffle House Rally. I will post details as they become available.

68 miles - averaged 15mph We started with 6 people, lost one before the first cemetery but picked up two more at the first stop. Five of us rode the entire route. I had 75 miles for the evening. We picked up and lost a few riders as the night went on. So we may have had ten people ride some section. We reached all but one of the cemeteries and stopped at the ice cream shop, The only cemetery we missed was the Feebleminded Cemetery in Franklinton. We shot straight down McKinley to the Franklinton Cemetery, which is where Sullivant has a obelisk commemorating his contribution to the city. The map shows our approximate route. We may have picked some different streets to get to some of the cemeteries but it is pretty close. We rode west, then north and east to Westerville. Down south to Alum Creek (stopped at Kroger for supplies) and headed west south of downtown over the Franklinton. It was a great ride, the weather was hot at the beginning but became pleasant toward the end of the e

Since it is raining out now we have decided to move the ride to Saturday. We are trying to setup the additional cemeteries and we will start at the same time and same place. We decided to call the ride because of the severity of the rain and lightning. About 8PM we realized that it was indeed a nice evening to ride, but it was too late to start the ride in my opinion. We will be starting at 6PM from 15th and High on Saturday the 14th. We may add a pet cemetery or just another cemetery to the list. Hope to see everybody out this evening.

I would like to invite everyone to a cemetery rally on Friday the 13th. The route map is below. I think we will start between 6-7PM from 15th and High on FRIDAY the 13th. I have a meeting every Friday from 4:30-5:30PM and may not be able to get over to the starting point until 6:30PM. I will update the start time as we get closer. I do not see us starting after 7PM. Sunset is 9:02 p.m. so please bring lights and cameras for the action. We will make stops and we have an ice cream shop on the route. View Larger Map

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It could soon be easier for cyclists to get around Central Ohio. A bicentennial bikeway plan, proposed by Mayor Michael Coleman, is a step closer to becoming a reality, NBC 4's Patrick Preston reported. With gas prices on the rise and global warming concerns higher than ever, bike riding is more than a hobby for cyclists like Jeff Stephens. It's a way to get to work, and a way of life. more... The plan PDF

Some highlights... Rode early with Pinky (Chris) got in a fast 12 miles. Averaged 18mph. We rode up the trail and encountered a snapping turtle hanging out in the center of the path. So we decided to be nice and move him/her. I burst out laughing when Pinky squealed like a little girl. We both were intimidated by it and used a stick to move it off the path. Snapping turtles have a lot of power in their jaw. Stopped at bike polo to watch them play for a while. I learned not to ride close to walls. Matt showed off his wall burn on his leg. He got too close to a wall and ended up with wall (road) rash. I guesstimate 40 people were there at the start. Casey led out toward the east. Somewhere along the way a bloody coup took place (only it ran Pink). We rode east toward the airport. I needed to leave early so I headed down south to the bar. Total 28 miles.

I wanted to get out of the city and ride a rural route. So I instigated a ride to Granville with some riders I met last summer. Seven people showed up, which surprised me because of the threat for rain. We left from Gahanna (route info from GPS later) and headed east on Clark State at a slow pace. We continued to head east for about 10 miles and decided to turn north toward 161. We crossed 161 and had to portage onto the new 161 which is closed to auto traffic. At that point technology, a godsend, turned on the ride. I pulled up the radar and it looked as though the rain was about to hit us. So four of the riders decided to head back for a 20-25 mile ride. Tricia needed to head back anyway since she was driving to Cleveland in the afternoon. We rode east on the incomplete 161 and had to portage onto a access road. We headed north and hooked up with Jersey Mill Road. The Marathon in Alexandria was the next stop. There were a lot of cyclists out. The temps were in the 80's but the hu

I would like to invite everyone to a cemetery rally on Friday the 13th. The route map is below. I think we will start between 6-7PM from the 15th and High starting point on FRIDAY the 13th. I have a meeting every Friday from 4:30-5:30PM and may not be able to get over to the starting point until 6:30PM. I will update the start time as we get closer. I do not see us starting after 7PM. Sunset is 9:02 p.m. so please bring lights and cameras for the action. We will make stops and we have an ice cream shop on the route. View Larger Map

Elmore, Ohio (June 22, 2008) – The Toledo Area Council of Hostelling International launches its Bike Tour season with its 33rd annual Portage River Bicycle Tour on Sunday, June 22, 2008 in Elmore, Ohio. The organization, which aims to help all, especially the young, gain a greater understanding of the world and its people through hostelling, holds four major Bike Tours every year: Portage River Bicycle Tour (June 22, 2008) Metroparks Bicycle Tour (July 12, 2008) Irish Hills Bicycle Tour (September 21, 2008) Tombstone Bicycle Tour, (October 19, 2008) The Portage River Bicycle Tour, which follows the beautiful meandering Portage River, offers a flat and scenic ride through mostly rural Northwest Ohio. This Bicycle Tour boasts about 250 riders every year and welcomes riders of every level, from novice to expert. Riders may choose from four routes of varying distances—10 miles, 31 miles, 62 miles and 100 miles—and may complete the route at their own pace. All routes include rest stops wh

Meet the Trailcart, the future of offroad adventure for the post peak oil generation. A series of lucky coincidences led Frank Fraune and his invention — a four wheel drive pedal powered vehicle called the Trailcart — to the Adventure and Offroad Convention in Bad Kissingen Germany. There, surrounded by gas-guzzling, large footprinted vehicles, two trailcart prototypes drew a curious crowd. More info...

A car driven by an alleged drunken driver plowed into a bicycle race along a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday, killing one cyclist and injuring 10 others. More...

(Budget Travel) -- Tens of thousands of people head to Columbus every fall during Ohio State's football season. I'm as much a road-trip loving football fan as the next guy, but I actually never thought the Ohio capital was as charming as say Madison, Wisconsin, or Ann Arbor, Michigan. I obviously wasn't looking very hard. With a revamped downtown and a booming population (it surpassed Cleveland in size in the 1980s), the city has restyled itself from a college town into a fairly happening urban center. The full story...