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ForumBikeWriter – August 2010
Click here for the PDF versionAugust 12, 2010
The Prez Sez – August 2010
John Chester
August is a full month here at the Cincinnati Cycle Club.
Saturday August 14 will be the ACACAC Ride, sponsored by Andi Daum. Andi has taken our classic budget ride (the BCBCBCBC) and kept all the fun stuff, but brought it up to the standards of our other National Rides. Andi has added multiple rest stops, but kept the most important part of the ride – the Amish Bakeries and the Pie Van!
Sunday August 22 will be our annual club picnic. The C6 Cluster will host at Winton Woods. They will have both urban and rural routes to choose from. I have grown to love urban riding, and look forward to the route that I hope goes downtown and back.
Our August board meeting will be at a new location: Izaak Walton League in Loveland. We will be discussing a method of creating a system to map and list all the incidents with dogs that we have. We have had a number of dog incidents of late and we hope to create a method to address this. We are hoping that club members will help us with this. We will be asking for any information you have regarding dog incidents – location, date, time, dog descriptions. At this writing, we are just in the formative stages. We need your help.
We have also been discussing a new ride: BIKE 2 BASEBALL. The Reds do not currently offer a secure spot to store your bike. The City of Cincinnati has installed a series of bike racks on parking meters. We hope to encourage The Reds to provide bicycle parking like has been done by the Giants, Nationals, Cardinals, among others. Wish us luck. If we can set up a ride to a day game, I hope we can go by the former location of Crosley Field. If we can’t get this set up for 2010, then it is a goal for 2011.
Lastly, the next time you see me on my bike, I hope to have lots of stories to tell about my trip across Iowa with 15,000 of my closest friends. I rode RAGBRAI in 1995. Bubba and Mike Sullivan both said I did it wrong. So, I have put myself in their hands. Antarctica Jeff is going to be our VOICE OF REASON. My plan is to have a piece of pie and a beer in every town from mile 30 on each day. Should make for some interesting stories.
Remember: Get on your bike, go for a ride – it’s fun.
–JC
Pan Ohio Hope Ride 2010 Journal
John Orben
The Pan Ohio is a charity ride from Cleveland to Cincinnati. The 2010 ride began on July 29th and ended on August 1st. On August 28th the Cincinnati Riders met the at the Cincinnati ACS, (American Cancer Society) Hope Lodge on Reading Road. A bus hauled us and a Penske truck hauled our bikes to the “dorms” at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. On the evening of Wednesday the 28th, there was a dinner and kick-of party at the Cleveland Hope Lodge.
Day 1, Cleveland to Wooster, 77 miles:
The weather turned to the cooler side overnight. I couldn’t have been happier about that having ridden in temperatures near 100 degrees the previous weekend. Chris Cakes, the famous pancake slingers, started off the day bouncing pancakes off of cyclists plates. I missed three, before I caught three in a row. This turned out to be the beginning of a limitless supply of drinks and food for the next 4 days.
I got my bike off of the rail in the athletics field at “Case”. The bikes were stored for us in the storage area at the field. There was a bike shop van waiting to pump our tires and fix virtually any conceivable mechanical problem. I geared up and shot some photos as I waited for the start.
The police seemed to be in abundance for the start of the ride. I didn’t expect them to shut down the city for the start of the ride. We had a police escort complete with blaring sirens, and people cheering as we rolled out of the city. 300 plus riders virtually all wearing the same colors. It was extremely cool!
Once out of the city we rolled through miles of park. I’m not certain of the park’s names. I believe it would have been the Cuyahoga Valley National park. The riders were pretty densely packed and you really had to keep you eyes on the bike in front of you, so I missed any park signs through this section of the route.
The rest stops were plentiful. 4 per day about 20 miles apart. I made sure to eat well through the first day because I knew we would have to pass through a range of hills on Day 2.
Day 1 ended at the College of Wooster. I lucked out and managed to get skipped over for a room assignment due to some confusion. As luck would have it, I was assigned my own private room, I started hoping for mix ups the next two nights as well.
The evening closed with your choice of beverages in the student lounge, and a decent selection of food in the cafeteria. I skipped the live band after dinner and was asleep by 9:30.
Day 2, Wooster to Otterbein (Northeast Columbus), 98 miles:
My alarm started going off at 5 am. I grabbed breakfast when the cafeteria opened. Riders started rolling out around 7 am. I waited around and a friend showed shortly after 7am. I recall some moderate terrain on the morning ride, the temperature was nice in the upper 60’s, and there was light fog.
There are many Amish Families in this part if Ohio. As a large group of riders approached the Holmes County Trail, we were joined by a horse and buggy for a while. The group passed a wagon drawn by a pony a little later. The Holmes County Trail is easy riding and very scenic. At the Hipp Station rest stop, Amish Pastries and Peanut Butter Sandwiches are plentiful. I had an apple tort and loaded up with Gatorade for the up coming and much talked about Jackson Hill!
At Killibuck, the route seems to start gradually upward. The gears keep dropping until you get to Jackson Hill. I could see a line of riders, off and walking on the hill. My mind was already made up by that point. There was no way I would get off of the bike and walk. At one point, I looked down and saw 4 mph on my odometer, as I eased past the walkers. For sometime after that point the route rolled an occasionally I had to get out of the saddle to crest a hill. After rest stop, with cheering supporters, the route goes on to a 5 mile downhill cruise. After lunch in Danville, we took the Kokosing Gap Trail for an easy roll into Mt. Vernon.
After Mt. Vernon the ride carried on through the countryside, with a mix of rolling and moderate hills. In the town of Sunbury, cyclists had to be very observant of the laws! Continuing on toward Columbus, the route followed some interesting bike trails, which have more of the feel of riding on the sidewalk than bike trails. Gradually, we wound our way into Otterbein, after check-in, I found the crowded local pub handing out pitchers of beer to Pan Ohio riders. After a couple of “cold ones” I headed back to the campus with food on my mind. Dinner was a hard choice, but I wisely picked Parmesan Chicken, excellent stir fried veggies, and red potatoes.
Day 3, Otterbein to Wittenburg (Springfield), 67 miles:
Well, since this is an easy day, I set the alarm for later, 5:30 am. I took my time getting ready and eating breakfast. I went through the routine of stowing my bags at the drop off, to be hauled by truck over to Springfield. I got my bike off of the storage area and was soon on the road to second breakfast at the Dutch Kitchen.
The first rest stop at “DNV”, a corporate building, had rows of giant corn cob sculptures in front of the building. Moving on in a park we rode past a sculpture of 15 foot tall dancing rabbits. Most of the roads near the Dutch Kitchen are heavily marked bike routes. This area west of Columbus is flat. The wind is always giving a push back though. Breakfast at the Dutch Kitchen was very good, this was a planned lunch stop but even rolling out late, we arrived too early for lunch. Continuing on we stopped at Lake Choctaw, then on to Buck Lake.
We arrived early at Wittenberg as well, stowed the bikes, and checked into the dorms. I was surprised to find a very nice bar at the Wittenburg Student Center, I ordered a cold beer, while waiting for my wife to meet me for dinner. The awards ceremony was held on day 3 to expedite the end of the ride on Sunday. Dinner was steak or salmon, and very nicely prepared as well. I should have shaved.
Day 4, Springfield to Cincinnati, 82 miles:
Again I was up at 5:30 am, and on the road around 7 am. Most of this route would be familiar territory. After a short ride through Springfield, we were on the Little Miami Trail moving south quickly. Words of caution warned the group the night before, of how busy the trail could get. I rode all 4 days with a new friend, a fellow Cincinnatian, who knew the trail well so we quickly rolled off the miles into Xenia. Opting for the more challenging route from Xenia to Morrow we took back roads marked with familiar “CF” arrows.
From Morrow we once again rode south on the Little Miami Trail. One gentleman asked me “where’s the fire?” I answered with “Pan Ohio”. A group of us carefully rolled into Loveland, and soon got back on the trail with our bottles topped off for the ride into Indian Hill. The route followed parts of Loveland – Madeira, Kemper, Plainfield, Montgomery. Side streets finally took us to Victory Parkway, (which seemed appropriate), and into the Sports Center at XU. 2 groups would finally ride to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge on Reading.
The first group rode in Sunday August 1, with an ambulance escort at 2:30 pm, which I was proudly a member of. The second group was escorted in at 3:30 pm.
Overall, the Pan Ohio Hope Ride is no doubt the best supported ride I have ever been on. While rides such as RAGBRAI are proud to be big, the Pan Ohio has cautiously grown by only hundreds. With 360 people in 2010, $400,000 were raised to help cancer patients receive treatment.
Unlike RAGBRAI, your registration includes gear transportation, food and drinks (there may be some costs for cash bars), small bike repairs and air (though you may have to pay for new tires, etc.). Personally, most of my distance rides are unsupported solo day trips. It is nice to be able to take a vacation on your bike, and have someone else do all of the planning. For 4 great days all I had to do was get on my bike and go!
Is It All About Perspective?
Jim Lindner
Do you get strange looks when you discuss your bicycling habit? Do friends and family tell you it is OK to ride a bike, but the idea of riding to work or riding on public streets is too much, or too dangerous. Some will even say that if you think you should have the same rights as cars on the road you have a problem. Either the CCC is supporting bad habits or a major portion of society is out of balance.
Let’s review some facts:
A body in rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion, unless the body is compelled to change its state
Okay, this is Newton’s Second Law, but it tends to apply to the human body as well as any other physical body. People in the US have gotten addicted to cheap gas and comfortable seats. Unless one is in some way already active the concept of self-locomotion is a foreign idea. Thus the quesion is asked,” Why don’t you drive to work like everyone else?” Sometimes I wonder if the term Comfort Bike was invented to lure people off the couch who are beginning to look like they live there.
Cars are a safe, efficient means of transportation
Really now. Who sold you on this? Due to inefficiencies such as friction, heat loss, and other factors, thermal engines’ efficiencies are typically much less than 100%. For example, a typical gasoline automobile engine operates at around 25% efficiency.
Bicycles rarely cause fatalities, they don’t have the speed or mass to efficiently kill. Cars have been determined to be so unsafe that laws were passed to require drivers to be licensed and the cars registered. A similar example is the controlled use of dynamite, due to the danger. The public roads were unrestricted prior to cars. Bikes, horses and pedestrians were allowed the liberty to roam freely on them. Cars were determined to be so dangerous that licensing drivers was accepted as a necessary restriction of constitutional rights.
I found a statistic that 90% of bicycling fatalities were caused by impact with cars while 0% of car fatalities were caused by impact with bicycles.
The most dangerous place that we take our children is on our nation’s highways. Every day, about six children under the age of 15 are killed and another 797 are injured in motor vehicle crashes. Last year, more than 8,100 children in that age group were involved in fatal crashes.
I can get to work much faster by car than I could by bike
Some people have found that a bike can be quicker when traffic is congested. Do you include the time it takes to pay for your trip to work? Do you subtract from your commute time, the time it would take to drive to the gym and work out? Do you consider the time it takes to earn the money to pay for the car, gas, insurance, registration, repairs, traffic tickets, and environmental cleanup? Yes, we will all pay for the oil spills in higher taxes or gas bills. I figure that when I ride my bike it saves me enough money to count it as actually saving me time. This equation likely only works for the shorter trips, so I try to make the shorter trips (less than 10 miles) by bike.
Bikes slow down traffic
I have to start a response to this with: “Bikes are Traffic”. When driving a car, a large part of a short trip is looking for parking. Bikes don’t take much parking space. Yes, a single bike may take a few seconds for each car to pass and multiple bikes could take even more time. If enough people give up their cars for bikes, there is a reduction of congestion. One example is that more bikes would be able to pass through a stop light cycle than cars, due to their size. I like to wear an OKI shirt that says “One Less Car”. If my bike breaks down I don’t block traffic. Of course I feel silly passing (sometimes in the grass beside the road) when traffic is stopped for a broken down or out of gas car. I have even offered to help push the car off the road. The first few drivers may thank me, but by the end of the line the drivers think I was what held up traffic. They can be really angry.
Cars are American –They are part of the American way of life
Really now. Do we want to discuss this? Yes, cars are an American status symbol. The big three are no longer what they once were; only Ford is not indebted to the government. Some say that we have military in the Middle East only to support our need for oil. Who is more American, the driver of a car that is sending monies overseas on a regular basis to support an oil habit, or the driver of a bicycle?
You have to have a car
Yep, I have one and use it frequently. I use it more than I need to. It is very convenient. Maybe we should look at why it is so convenient. Lots of monies and tax dollars are spent to keep that car convenient. New roads, road maintenance, and improvements often are made to allow for greater convenience. If it was more convenient I think I would rather own a horse. Horses have more personality than a car. I have been known to leave my car at work during the week in case I need it, or conversely, maybe because I don’t need it. I understand some people who have given up a car find cars are not hard to rent when needed. Public transportation is available within easy biking distance in Cincinnati and all of the buses have a bike rack.
Cars are a Status Symbol
If you ride a bike, cars become less of a status symbol. Some people assume that if you ride a bike you don’t have a car. I was very put off a number of years ago when I was looking for a new car. I did not want to trade in my old car, so I would ride a bike to the new car lots. I was afforded the time to look around on my own. It seems that few salesmen wanted to check on me because it was obvious I wasn’t trading up to a more expensive vehicle, hence, not a big commission.
It is fun is to put a bike in your car when you bring it in for service. I like to use a shop near home or work when possible. When I ride my bike over at lunch to check on the progress and see if I would be riding my bike home the service people tended to think I need the car fixed.
Keep a good perspective
Some people advise me as they pass to, “Get a Car”, others may say, “Ride on the Sidewalk”. When it rains I have gotten offers of a ride from passing vehicles. I try to react with a smile and wave as if any comment is from a close friend. It is a fun experiment with perception. I sometimes wonder who is stranger, the character waving cheerfully on the bike and enjoying his ride or the person in a rolling box, on a cell phone, and oblivious to the world outside. I like to think I am not oblivious to the world, but I do remember more of my bike rides than the long I-75 commutes I made a few years ago. It is a good day when you can navigate to work comfortably on your bike, or just get outside and ride for fun.
Cluster News
C6 Cluster – Glenn Talaska
CCC Picnic:
The annual All CCC Picnic will be held Sunday August 22 at the Red Bird Roost Picnic Area at Winton Woods Park (Park Map at http://www.greatparks.org/aboutus/pdfs/ww_map.pdf). Look for “L” in the Harper Meadows area off Lakeridge Road, just east of Winton Road).
Rides will start at 9AM and will include a 40 mile City Park Ride, a 40 mile City to Country Ride, a 20 mile Cruise to College Hill for coffee and back and a kids ride around the Winton Woods bike trail for 2, 3 and 4 wheelers. Ride Leaders, Maps, Cue sheets will be available for all rides except the kids ride which will be led by Jim and Adelaide Lindner (age 6). This means that kids and grandkids are encouraged to attend.
The grills fire up at noon. This year we will have some special attractions. Live music by Larry Bloomfield’s Debra J Trio, Frisbee Golf, Bocce, card games, board games and kids games. Consider it a good chance to hang out with the people you ride with for a few hours. Main course will be provided along with some munchies and drinks. Please bring a side dish to share. Bicycle Commuters need not bring a side dish. Alcohol IS allowed in the picnic area but will NOT be provided by the CCCCCC or the CCC. We have the picnic area until dark so we can stay almost as long as we like.
C6 August/September News:
Its been a busy, productive and eventful summer. A heavy race and travel season cut down the number of CHCC rides this year, but the ride started back up August 1st. Chris Scott (a.k.a. Commuter Chris) is now a wrench at Jim’s Bike Shop. GT was lucky enough to work in a quick trip to Ax 3 Domaines during business in Barcelona so to catch some of the fun at Stage 14 of the Tour de France. What a Pageant! Several hours of floats including Chickens, Cows, Sausages, and all kinds of cheap swag (we did snag a few of the prized polka dot bike caps!!!).
Barcelona was a very hopping city. The streets were busy all hours of the day and night with thousands of people walking and riding bikes and shopping. A very vibrant, bike friendly city. I didn’t ride there too much (needed a week off), but on the day we went to France to see the tour, there were two other bike races that we came across in town.
I also had the good fortune to visit two bike friendly American Cities, Albuquerque and Denver. Again, the investment that the local leadership made in cycling infrastructure is paying off in spades as cyclists are commuting, shopping locally and reducing the carbon emissions of the cities. Denver has a bad traffic problem and I was making much better time on the bike trails that were installed near the freeways than the cars on the freeways. This fact was not lost upon hundreds of John Semmel and Ex-Prez cyclists who were using the very well laid out trail systems to their advantage.
I rode a couple of hundred miles in Denver on a rented 10 speed, using it to attend my meetings at the convention center and various hotels, to go to dinners and on a couple of recreational rides into the mountains. I rode through town to the enormous Curs plant in Golden and then up to the top of Lookout mountain before doing the long downhill back to 5400’. There were three times as many cyclists as cars on Lookout mountain road and I went to the top twice, just for the hell of it.
On the way back the difference between Cincinnati and Denver drivers became apparent when I took a little extra time looking at the map at a red light, noticed it and scurried out of the way like I would here, apologizing to the driver. He said “don’t worry about it, enjoy yourself”. I felt for a pulse.
The Monday night ride is going great guns with 20-30 people every week. It has been adopted by some famous east side riders and features 3 speed groups usually. Geoff Thielmeyer of Team Cycling and one of our LCIs is the overall ride leader and he continues to do a great
job of more or less controlling the greyhounds in the fast group. Armstrongs lead the medium and slow groups. The ride leaves from the Hartwell Kroger’s.
Lloyd Shadley has been leading the “If Its Wednesday, This Must Be Phlegm” Hill Ride each week. There is no better way to get ready for hills than to do them regularly, Its true “they don’t get any easier, you just go faster”, but there is no one better to lead this ride than Lloyd. Like every good climber, he understands the work that people have to do to become good at climbing and he is great about riding with you and giving helpful tips.
C6 has also added a Glendale to Winton Woods Wednesday loop that John Orben leads. I haven’t done this ride yet, but it leaves from the lot behind the Glendale Police station (safe, secure parking) at 6:30. This ride averages about 14 mph and John notes that No One Rides Alone, which is a general C6 policy on all our rides. (You may get dropped by a fast group on the Monday night ride, but slower groups are using the same route and sweeping).
Little Miami Cluster: Kevin Armstrong and Irvin Lewin
We had a great turnout for the Caesar’s Creek ride and picnic. Over 90 riders were offered a great rolling course through the countryside followed by a veritable feast of tasty foods. This joint ride with the JDRF riders was a great opportunity for training and learning more about their organization and the rides they have nationally every year. Many thanks to Irvin and his painting crew for a well marked route.
We have a great all club ride coming up on September 25th, the return of the Four County Ride. This ride starts in Batavia and goes through Clermont, Brown, Clinton and Warren counties. There will be two route options of 64 and 38 offered. Both take you pretty rural areas, one
covered bridge and great roads. This ride is a very popular ride and always brings out a good crowd so all riders will have someone their pace to ride with. Check the ride line for ride details and directions to the starting point. Cue sheets will be available.
Remember to come out to our regular weekly rides the Pizza Ride on Tuesdays and the Breakfast Ride on Saturday. Take time to thank your rider leaders for their time and efforts and consider becoming a ride leader yourself. We constantly need people to step up and help out.
Anyone can become a ride leader if they want it takes all types of riders and speeds. The more volunteers the more we can do!
Irvin Lewin: (513) 235-2182
Kevin Armstrong: (513) 520-0055
In My Back Yard:
News of an activist nature happening where we ride.
Don Burrell
Rumble Strips
This has been a hot topic lately. The State of Ohio has recently undertaken a program to expand its use of rumble strips from freeways (where bikes are prohibited) to rural arterial roads where we often cycle.
Some explanation: Rumble strips are depressions in the roadway intended to create a vibration and noise to motorists who drift out of the travel lane due to inattention or drowsiness. They are usually placed at the outside edge of the travel lane to keep motorist from driving off the road. They are also being placed along the street centerline to help motorists avoid crossing into the path of oncoming traffic. While the shoulder rumbles can directly be in the path of cyclists, the centerline rumbles are also of concern as they may deter motorists from crossing the centerlines to pass cyclists and striking them or crowding them off the road.
Rumble strips are usually one of two types milled or rolled. The milled rumbles are ground into the pavement in a “u” shape ¼ to ½ inch deep and 2 to 3 inches wide. The rolled in rumbles are embossed into fresh asphalt paving by a cylinder with rods on it as the material is compressed. They are widely used on Kentucky roads and are narrow and not as deep. The milled rumbles will shake a bike and could cause a loss of control. The rolled rumbles cause a vibration, but are more easily handled. Ohio is now proposing what they call rumble “stripes” which are milled rumbles placed along the road edge line.
In the July BikeWriter, Chuck Smith, President of the Ohio Bicycle Federation (OBF), more fully explained the issues and concerns to the cycling community, and I refer you back to his article rather than repeat it. The important points are that rumbles, when used, should be in rural areas, on roads with at least a 4 foot shoulder and speed greater than 45 mph. There should be periodic gaps in the rumbles for cyclists to cross between the travel lane and shoulder. The Ohio Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) has attempted to comply with the accepted guidelines of the Federal Highway Administration. They have also claimed to have excluded bike routes in Ohio, namely the nine cross state bike routes published by the Columbus Outdoor Pursuits. While this is a start, it won’t include most roads used regularly by cyclists. OBF is encouraging ride leaders of bicycle clubs to forward maps of the regular rides, and especially the invitational events attracting non-club members (tourism economic impact) to more completely document roads regularly used by bicyclists.
ODOT’s current plans are for adding rumble stripes to 1,650 miles of rural roads around the state. These state and federal highways meet certain criteria although past crash records were not considered. Also, I have learned from ODOT staff that the success of this phase will determine whether or not that the project is extended.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, our office, OKI, recently received an application for federal funding to repave Dudley Pike in Kenton County. This proposal includes plans for rumble strips along both sides and the centerline for a road with only 11 ft lanes. This contradicts several of the federal guidelines for rumble strips: Dudley Pike is an urban, not rural street; it has no shoulders at all; and the speed limit is less than 45 mph (35 mph). While the rumbles applied are likely to be the less obtrusive rolled ones, and, with only 11 ft lanes, cyclists must control the lane. The centerline rumbles will be a hazard to cyclists if motorists attempt to stay in the lane while passing.
While this practice conflicts with federal guidelines in several respects, I have learned that Kentucky’s policies on rumble strips recommends them for all rural two lane roads, and does permit the use of rumble strips with as little as a 1 ft shoulder and no more than 2 ft is recommended. Further there are no calls for breaks in the rumbles for crossing between the shoulder and travel lane, nor for driveways. The 45 mph guideline, however, is maintained. The Kentucky policies do recommend rolled rumbles rather than milled. Therefore, cyclists are forced to ride in the travel lane.
Having just published a new Kentucky Bike Route Guide (now available for free), it is interesting to note that the issue of rumble strips did not come up with our review committee. My own experience, and I specifically rode over to Dudley Pike last weekend, is that the rolled shoulder rumble strips are tolerable. Any other opinions out there?
Commuter Challenge Updates:
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