Columbus Rides Bikes!

Highlights Rode with Brett, Tim, John, Taylor and Carl 126.5 miles (I ended with 128, but I think my speedometer is off) Averaged 15.3mph Time in saddle 08:23:12 Started at Westgate Park Headed southeast through Circleville, then south west to Chillicothe, northwest through New Holland and back to Columbus. Crossed Great Seal ridge, 19% climb with 700+ foot altitude gain Tim rode his first century ever on this ride

Highlights 20+ riders 20 miles ONE flat from a nail at the trailhead Route included 5th Ave, Bexley, Livingston Ave, Greenlawn, Franklinton, Olentangy Trail. Clever Crow Pizza at Circus Bar for pizza and drinks

Strader's Bike Shop    5350 Riverside Dr., Columbus What do gardening and landscaping have to do with biking? Nothing - which is what's surprising about a full-service bicycle shop inside a busy Strader's Garden Center. With no outside entrance, most customers wander into the bike store carrying annuals and perennials - and looking confused. Even the manager, before he began working there in March, needed help finding it. "My mom said, 'There's a bike shop inside this garden center, and you should check it out,'" said Tim Spencer, 30. Steve Strader - whose parents, Jack and Ruth, founded the chain of six garden-center stores - persuaded his father to let him open the shop in 1987 after serving in the Navy. "A lot of people probably don't know it's there, but it's nice and cozy," said Strader, 50. "I like it the way it is." more...

Hey Clevelanders (or anyone that appreciates good beer) Hal & Al’s welcomes of Indigo Imp Brewery to Columbus! Brewmaster Matt Chappel is coming down from Cleveland to not only ride Bike the C-Bus but also help pour beers and answer any questions about his great line up of products. Come to Hal & Al’s Saturday September 4th and purchase a draft of Indigo Imps Jester and keep a limited edition pint glass. Jester is a Pale Ale ferm ented with a blend of Belgian yeast. This copper colored ale is malty with a distinctive spice flavor (no spices added) from the yeast and a smooth malty finish. A.B.V. 5.8%. Proceeds from Jester’s drafts goes to Bike the C-Bus charity Ohio Sickle Cell and Health Association (OSCHA), a statewide community based organization whose mission is to provide education, advocacy and support statewide to individuals and families affected and at-risk for Sickle Cell Disease.  http://www.ohiosicklecell. org/ And if you are participating in Bike the C-Bus, yo

North East Ohio Century   is cycling at its best! Join 600 enthusiastic cyclists on a personal century challengethrough beautiful Amish farmland in one of Ohio’s most picturesque areas. Routes and support?   NEOC has a route for everyone! Pick a 35 mile, 62 mile “metric century” or 100 mile “century” route. All routes are scenic flat to rolling terrain with a few hills-great for your longest ride or your fastest century. Sag wagons will patrol all the routes for assistance throughout the day. Snacks and lunch?   NEOC is famous for its delicious lunches AND homemade cookies at the snack stops. Plenty of fresh fruit, too…you won’t go hungry! Snack stops will be at about 25 and 75 miles and lunch at about 50 miles. Extras?   No long pesky lines! All pre-registered riders will receive a pre-assembled packet containing maps, and shirt, if ordered. Everything to get you out on the road quickly! A NEOC 37 t-shirt is available for just $12 until 8/31/10. Where?   The ride will start at the New

Make the most of every ride with Edge® 800 — the first touchscreen GPS bike computer. Providing navigation and performance monitoring, Edge 800 is ideal for touring, commuting, competitive cycling and mountain biking. It has a built-in basemap and tracks your distance, speed, location and ascent/descent. Use it with an ANT+™ heart rate monitor¹, speed/cadence sensor¹ or compatible power meter² for a finely tuned analysis of your ride. At Your Fingertips We designed this display to be rugged enough to stand up to the elements, yet sensitive enough to respond to the tap of your gloved hand. Switch training pages or pan and zoom the map with just a tap. The bright, sunlight-readable color display is easy to view in all lighting conditions. Just don’t let its good looks fool you — Edge 800 is waterproof to IPX7 standards and can withstand hard knocks and scrapes it might endure in mountain biking environments. The aerodynamic Edge 800 has a carbon fiber look with either blue or white acce

Wheel appeal: cycle cafés are taking over London Jasmine Gardner 05.07.10 Anyone without a bicycle in London will probably be feeling a bit left out this summer — and not because we can't justifiably tour the city wearing  Lycra . While those of us stuck in a more pedestrian world are still visiting the same old haunts — stopping at staid Starbucks  for a coffee, grabbing lunch at Pret A Manger  (failing to move with the two-wheeled times) — cyclists are spinning into a new social scene as cycle cafés open up all over town.   more...

2010 Bike the C-Bus limited edition t-shirt designed by Sami Nummi from  Fulcrum Creatives Available for $18 from our website, www.bikethecbus.com

MSRP:  $549.99 GT's 3-speed Aerostream Sport Cruisers are the perfect blend of style and technology delivered in a ultra-comfortable yet speedy, light weight package. All Aluminum frame, handle bars, stem, post and wheels keep the Streamlines light while the 700x47c rubber provides stability and efficiency. Editor's Note: Nice looking bike for the price! website is here...

We couldn't let our Handmade issue pass by without trying to come up with a beautiful bike - or two. But while a radical re-engineering of the bicycle is a pet obsession for some, we weren't interested in the fundamentals. This project was more about the application of smart ideas, a call-up for genuine craftsmen. Now we're offering these works of art for sale. See more of the 'International' bike 'International' bike, by Kinfolk and Coat , with bag by Nivaldo de Lima Despite the perils of potholes and truckers' blind spots, team Wallpaper* are committed urban cyclists. So committed that we commissioned a bike, two in fact, that could be broken down (using very clever and super-sturdy S&S couplers), packed in a bespoke bag and loaded on a plane, with no excess baggage charge, and taken with us wherever we went. The project pulled in a wide range of craftsmen collaborators from the US, UK and Japan - frame builders, designers, paint specialists, sad

The Social Bicycle System from Ryan Rzepecki on Vimeo .

Highlight: 29 riders, our largest TNR yet! Glen Echo Ravine/Park Taco Nazo Granden Rd (a tamer Walhalla) Dick's Den (bluegrass and Fusion Cafe truck) 22 miles from park to den (other mileage may vary)

Help us give away $100,000!  To highlight our commitment to bike advocacy and the fight against climate change, CLIF BAR is awarding a $25,000 grant to each of three nonprofit organizations helping to lead the charge. We’ve assigned each organization to a 2 Mile Challenge team: Red, Gold and Blue. All you have to do is  register, pick your team and start pedaling your bike  to earn points and move the goodness forward. The winning team will earn its nonprofit an additional $25,000 grant! more here...

Highlights Tim, Brett and myself left at 7:40am Temps were upper 70's with 90% humidity Mayor of Freedonia was at the 52/85 mile route split Brett continued on century route at Utica We decided to modify the 85 mile route because of the heat. Split off the main route to head into St. Louisville Breakfast at Early Birds - great food and service. Took 13 into Newark where we hit the trail. Took Newark-Johnstown trail to Alexandria. Two fawns were hanging out on the trail in the shade as we headed into Granville. Heat was oppressive and we stopped every 10 miles for fluid refills. 74 miles (I broke 3000 miles for the year, fastest to the mark ever). 15.3mph average 2350 feet climbing 13% max grade

We stopped by Blacklick Metro Park for a walk and explored the connector trail heading south. The trail is paved and follows Blacklick Creek under I-70 and Tussing Road where it ends. From there riders will need to take Tussing to Hines Rd and follow the mix of trails and roads down to Three Creeks. MORPC map is here to see the southern routes. I may try this as a ride sometime in the near future.

TRENDSPOTTING  — BY  MELANIE MCINTYRE  ON AUGUST 13, 2010 AT 9:00 AM  Central Ohioans, like many people across the country, have rediscovered bicycling in recent years. Predictably, the trend has kept owners of existing bike shops in demand, but it also has created new opportunities for enterprising entrepreneurs and could even impact companies outside the biking industry, resulting in even greater regional economic growth. Locally, it’s not hard to find “young” bike shop success stories.  Paradise Garage  is moving three doors down from its current location to a space with 2,700 additional square feet,  B1 Bicycles celebrated its third anniversary the last week of July, and  roll:  just opened a third location −in Upper Arlington− in May. continue at  themetropreneur site...

Highlights 20 riders 22 miles 670 Trail to Alum Creek Trail Bexley/Berwick Lustron Home (one of the last with original siding) Alum Creek Trail Williams • Lockbourne • Parsons Hal and Al's for food and drink

I HAD the route mapped out in my mind. I would bike from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, hit the taco trucks along the ball fields of Red Hook, Brooklyn, cruise through Prospect Park over to Brighton Beach for a quick dip, then hypotenuse it back to a bar in Williamsburg to watch the World Cup finals. Out of curiosity, I consulted  Google Maps’s new bike software on my computer, to see if its brainy algorithm would match my battle-tested sense of directions. It did, for the most part, but for a few snags: It sent me the wrong way on Smith Street in Brooklyn, then diverted me away from Prospect Park — the borough’s best piece of biking real estate — and on the way back, like an overprotective concierge, it steered me away from the rough parts of Bedford Stuyvesant (normally I would have just bombed up Bedford Avenue). continue

Wednesday, August 11, 2010   02:53 AM BY  RITA PRICE THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH ERIC ALBRECHT | DISPATCH Michelle Mills of the St. Stephen's Community House leads a bike ride for children on the Alum Creek Trail. Children used loaner bikes from the agency as well as their own. St. Stephen's has about 40 bikes available to lend to residents. ERIC ALBRECHT | DISPATCH Bikes in the loan program have their own license plate signifying they are from St. Stephen's Community House. The program began this summer to promote exercise. The kids don't know about the naysayers, and the grownups who matter didn't listen. Proof that an urban bike-loan program can work just fine pedaled along the Alum Creek Trail yesterday, all sweaty and giggly and determined. "It's not too hot," 9-year-old Shanise Collins said. "It's fun." St. Stephen's Community House started lending bicycles at no charge this summer as a way to promote exercise among children who live

Polo happens Tuesday nights at 9:30pm at Lane and High at the roller hockey court visible from high street on Curl Drive and most Saturdays at 5 at Tuttle Park.

Green Bike Program Information Check-Out:  Bicycles may be borrowed, at no cost, from the front desk of the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center (CRC) on 14 West Lakeview Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. Bikes may be borrowed for a maximum of three (3) days and are available for check-out during CRC’s business hours. When checking-out a bike, you will be given a helmet and the key for the bike’s lock— a helmet must be worn at all times when operating the bicycle  and the lock must always be used when leaving the bike unattended. Check-In:  You may return the bike (with helmet, lock, & keys) during any of CRC’s business hours (posted on the front door), with the exception of Sundays, and you must return the bike within three days of checking it out. Website !

Ride Fee : $25 includes Long Street Tour/Bike the C-Bus T-Shirt, lunch, wristband and food and drink at stops.  There are four Bike the C-Bus Registration options: 1.  Register online and use PayPal to pay the fees.   You may pay by credit card even if you are not a PayPal member. If you register online, you will receive an email confirmation that is your receipt. Please be sure to bring your receipt with you to the event to pick up your t-shirt and sponsor bag. 2.  Download and print the Bike the C-Bus 2010 PDF Entry Form.  Fill out the form and send it in along with your check. Be certain to fill out the form completely, making sure to sign and date it. Note that a parent or guardian must sign for entrants under 18. Mail to: 2010 Long Street Tour c/o LSBA, 823 1/2 East Long Street, Suite 200, and Columbus, Ohio 43203. Make all checks payable to: LSBA, Inc 3.  Day before the ride registration.  Register at the Lincoln Theatre starting at 6:30pm on Friday night. 4.  Day of the ride reg

Date:   Saturday August 14, 2010 Time:   7:00 am - 9:00 am Notes:   23rd Ridge Runner Ramble - Budget Tour Saturday, August 14th New Albany Elementary School, 87 N. High Street, New Albany. Roads will be marked and maps provided. Short route has three hills; longer routes have many more. Ride the ridges on routes of 31/52/85/100 miles. Budget Tour. $2 member, $4 non-member. Joanna Pallos jootbuck AT  aol.com  614-868-6875 Tom and Debbie Davis bikeus700x23 AT  columbus.rr.com  614-296-9981 Mark Curtner mcurtner AT  columbus.rr.com

Ride for Pete's Sake! Ride Date: Saturday, August 14, 2010 (no rain date) Location: Hilliard Heritage Middle School, 5670 Scioto Darby Road, in Hilliard Ohio --- Map >>   http://bit.ly/dvyMxH Check-in Time: 7:15 - 9:00 a.m. Ride: The ride will include marked routes for all ability levels Choice of routes: ride 7, 18, 35, 48, 62, 80, or 100 miles. All routes include stops with food and water. S.A.G. support along the route Prizes: Door Prizes and more! Schedule of Events >>   http://bit.ly/bgRRz9 Goal: Raise funds for Cerebral Palsy research We did this ride last year and it was a really great.  Not only is the cause fantastic -- at the end of the ride last year, we passed by a mom on the back end of a special tandem-type bike with her kid with cerebral palsy in a special seat up front, the amount of support for CP was pretty amazing!!!  On top of all that, they have supported stops along the route and there was also a BBQ going on at the finish!   Als