This weekend we headed up to that city by the lake to hear BikeSnobNYC shamelessly promote his new book Bike Snob Abroad. I live about a hundred miles by car from Cleveland so needless to say I just threw the Ti General Purpose Bike on the rack and motored my way north instead of pedaling. I stopped on the way and picked up the Road Queen and her bike.
The way I like to visit any city is to get my car parked as soon as possible and take to the streets on foot or better yet by bicycle. We found a spot a couple blocks from the Market Garden Brewery where Bike Snob was set to appear and with a short spin we arrived on the scene. The weather turned out to be wonderful on Saturday with a sky clear and blue and the blossoming trees soaking up the spring time sun.
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| A few of us rode our bikes to the book signing. |
It was great fun to meet Eben Weiss aka bikesnobnyc. I've been following his blog for a few years now and really I have to give him the credit for inspiring me to start my own blog here on the web. His presentation was quite entertaining and he is just as funny orating as he is writing. The fresh ales served up by the Market Garden Brewery were also top notch and I highly recommend having a taste if you ever find yourself in Cleveland.
At the signing we met a guy named James who rode his home-built long wheel base recumbent. Kudos to him for braving the mean streets on that thing. When I ride in the city I prefer my city bike. James is a computer programmer by day but in his off time he likes to unwind by welding steel tubes and he seems pretty good at it. Check out some of his work on his flickr page:
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After the event we took off on our bikes to explore the city. We planned a route that would lead us northward towards the lake to a couple city parks on the water front. Bikes are a natural way to get around and see the sights.
In no time we cleared the dirty industrial sections of town and after passing through a made for bikes tunnel under some railroad tracks the Great Lake Erie came into view.
Our first stop was Edgewater Park. Continuing west we toured through the suburb of Lakewood and ended up at Lakewood Park.
From this point we found some good views of the Cleveland skyline looking back across the water.
The water temperature at the time of my writing this is 43 degrees F. While the air temperature was in the 60's the breeze coming off the water was quite chilly so as the sun started sinking in the west we decided to head inland and made our way the seven miles or so back to where we left the car.
Hey, good for you, man. I found it really neat to meet the Snob in person a while ago... his blog started me thinking along bloggy lines too. If only I could produce a fraction of the funny stuff he does...
ReplyDeleteHey, in case you were wondering, I have not forgotten about your maple-y prize. I was holding out for grades (extra light, light in smallish bottles) that never came this yeat. A little bottle of medium is going to have to do and will be RCT bound very shortly.
Sweet! (pun intended) Thanks RANTWICK!
DeleteWhen it comes to maple syrup, the darker the better... it's more maple-y that way!
DeleteThanks, RCT!
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a great day.
Hope he makes it our way sometime this year.
Like a knucklehead I posted thanks over at Snob's place instead of here...
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thanks guys! Yeah if you ever have a chance to meet Wildcat don't pass it up. He's a good guy.
ReplyDeleteCleveland's nicer than I imagined from you photos as well. Especially Lakewood Park.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Snobber doodle doo inspires me, too...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your ride with us, RCT!
You didn't happen to mention what you threw at him.
ReplyDeleteThe garden market next door was shoulder to shoulder so we decided to avoid that place. I'm sure we could have found something stinky in there. So we just sat at the bar and made fart noises while Snobbie gave his talk.
DeleteJust saw our host/orgainzer/MC Dave and he recommends listening to the Outspoken Cyclist interview http://outspokencyclist.com/2013/04/show-138-april-13-2013/ especially if you did not understand the "bring your jacket" references.
ReplyDeletehttp://outspokencyclist.com/2013/04/show-138-april-20-2013/
Deletesorry. this is the right week.
Thanks for that link James! That was a great interview with bikesnob.
DeleteIt's good to know Cleveland is bikable, a lot of interesting things to see there. I cycled to Lake Erie when visiting my sister in Amherst years ago. Miss more of your great photos, but very readable and well written post.
ReplyDelete