Oakley to Childrens Hospital

[YscMinn]

Hello all. I am in the process of relocating to Cincinnati from
Minnesota, where I've lived for many years. I accepted a position at
the Childrens Hospital, currently staying in the Oakley - Hyde Park
area of town. I'd like to connect with other bike commuters who head
this direction (could include UC), to learn about best safe routes
(safe both in terms of traffic, and safe in terms cycling after dark
through different neighborhoods). I'd like to connect with bike
commuters generally.

Thanks!

Yiscah Bracha

[Kishore]

Hello Yiscah...

The route that you want to take is probably the easiest ever. :-)
Just get on to Madison Road in HP/Oakley and go all the way to
Children's hospital on Burnett Avenue. You will be going through
Obryonville and East Walnut hills with some great houses on the way.
Madison Road becomes MLK Road after it crosses Victory Parkway and
most of the section of the road that you will be travelling on
(Madison/MLK) is a designated bike route anyway. Lots of bicycle
commuters use Madison road.

I live in the Oakley/HP area and take Madison Road till Victory
Parkway, where I veer off and go down the hill on Gilbert to
downtown.

Oakley/HP to Children's Hospital (Burnett Avenue) is about 4.5 miles
one way on Madison Road/MLK Road. Pretty much a flat commute with no
major hills, though it would be easier going back home for you,
because of a slight downhill all the way back.

-Kishore

[Yiscah Bracha]

Thanks Kishore.  I've driven the route you suggest and have been concerned about the level of traffic on the streets, especially to the west of Victory Parkway.  There are signs posting it as a bike route, but no striped bike lanes.  Do you know of any quieter streets than run more or less parallel to MLK/Madison?  I don't mind going a bit out of the way to gain some distance from the cars.

~ yiscah ~

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[Larry Parker]

Madison is NOT bad -- there are two lanes in each direction, cars have room to go around you. I often prefer that set up to quieter streets where the cars have to squeeze by.  Personally, I think bike lanes are dangerous ghettos for bikers, from my experience. Take the lane, be visible and predictable.  MLK is kind of open and windy. I rode it but never liked it - ugly, unlike Madison.  However, if you make a little jog to the left off of Madison onto Gilbert, you can then take a right onto Oak or University that will take you over near the campus and hospitals. I have ridden through a lot of these neighborhoods and never had a problem. I had a friend that worked a block off of Victory Pkwy. He actually bought a gun to keep in his car!  He was amazed that I would even think of riding a bike through there. My wife and I just shake our heads when he starts in.  I have never, NEVER, had anything happen, other than a wave or a laugh. There are bikes around the area a LOT. My buddy and I used to commute to classes through there, and that was back when eco-racial tensions were much higher than they are now!  I would not want to be riding through these areas later in the evening, just because there are bars and all they bring with them, from driving to just less savory characters, but early in the morning through early evening are fine, I think.

 

Another viable option, if you don't mind a little looping, and hills, is to cut north on Victory and left on . .. I think it is Forest, the first left after Gilbert. Goes up near the ZOO.  Less traffic, and you can pick which street to make your left onto from Reading to Vine and all in between.  Left on Vine brings you up to the backside of one of the hospitals . . . VA?  not sure, now.

 

Taft used to be okay, but the ramp from I-71 made it VERY bad .   I would go the University Avenue route. And you can always get good food at Mecklenburg Gardens.  YUM!

 

Larry Parker, who commuted to UC in the . . let's just say last century.

[Jim and Linda Coppock]

Yiscah.  Welcome to Cincinnati!

My commute is generally Observatory-Madison-Woodburn-Taft-Victory to downtown, but I mix it up depending on traffic, time-o-day, water main work (will mess up Madison all this summer).  Every gas main in Cincinnati is being replaced - another 6 years of that ahead still.  I talk to bike commuters all the time, including a doc (Nick?) at Children's who lives on my street and my wife who works at University Hospital.  Talked to one on the bus yesterday (who bikes the Pyrnees for fun) - he said honking went down after the sharrows went in last year on Madison.  By the way, try the bus racks sometime too.  If you get a flat and are running late, you might need Routes 11 and 24.

 

Some of the strongest riders will duck onto sidestreets when they can or maybe only during rush hour.  Common ones - Edwards-Grandin and Obryon-Fairfax-Woodburn.   I've never talked to anyone that uses the ped bridge over Dana at the high school.  East Hill-Pogue-Fairfax.  These have become cut-thru's to avoid watermain work.  Some of the traffic signals on these side streets are a pain. There is a scenic shortcut off Edwards-Grandin that uses Rookwood Lane-Drive-Circle.

 

Across I-71, there aren't many choices.  King has 16' curb lanes from Victory to Reading (except at Gilbert).  Larry's comments on Lincoln-University are spot on. My wife got cat-calls once and made it home in record time.  Oak St is a quieter alternative to McMillan/Taft but not as direct.  There is a ped bridge over I-71 at Jonathon with mediocre sidewalk connections on the west side - never seen anyone on that. Try them all!

 

The Cincinnati Bike Route Guide is marked up by adult cyclists.  Paper, on-line. Helpful.

http://www.oki.org/mapsdata/index.html

 

Jim Coppock

[Frank]

Welcome to the queen city! As far as physical safety, unfortunately
one of the high crime areas is in town is the Avondale neighborhood
which lies between CCHMC and Oakley. Reading Road is especially bad.
That said I do bike there in the day time (usually not on Reading) and
my son attends school at North Avondale Montessori. After the
Cincinnati Enquirer ran a story about the area's crime, councilman
Cecil Thomas came to a PTA meeting to reassure us of our safety. Since
Thomas lives in the neighborhood he should know. But the following
month the school custodian was assaulted while walking to work at
noon. Go figure. Check the crime map http://spotcrime.com/oh/cincinnati

-Frank

[Yiscah Bracha]

Hi everyone, and thanks for your tips.  This afternoon I took a couple of hours to explore the possibilities - seems like a critical decision is where to cross Highway 71.  Once you've made that decision, how you get to and from the crossing point follows.

Can't say I've figured it out, but it was instructive, and helped me get the feel of this part of town. 

Before I did this jaunt, I was thinking that I would offer (somewhat smugly, I confess) tips on cold-weather cycling (from Minnesota and all), but after the jaunt, I realized that being in a place with lots of hills changes the way you must dress!  I humbly returned after two hours in the saddle with tingly fingers and toes.

Looking forward to connecting in the future.

~yiscah~ 

[Larry Parker]

Yipper!  I think our rolling city terrain is one of the factors that let's the Dayton Cycling Club continue to whip us in the Commuter Mileage Challenge year after year after year after year after . . ..     

 

It is just a whole lot easier to commute, summer or winter, in a relatively flat cit. A whole lot easier.

 

 

Larry

----- Original Message -----

From: Yiscah Bracha

To: bike...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 6:28 PM

Subject: Re: [Cincy Bike Commuters] Re: Oakley to Childrens Hospital

[Gary Wright]

Yiscah - 

I'd love to hear any suggestions you have about on-street facilities for bikes that you think would work on your route based on what's being done in Minnesota.  

You're traveling along one of the major commuter corridors and to the 2nd largest employment center in the city.  We are working with the City now on a new Bike Plan, and we all recognize that this is a critically important route.  

Besides, though it's great to hear all the ways people have of navigating , it really should not require native guides ala Lewis and Clark to identify the basic direct route to go these few miles  across town :). 

-Gary

Gary Wright

www.QueenCityBike.org

513-675-2143

[Yiscah Bracha]

Gary, I would be happy to do this.  Better yet, I would be happy to put you in touch with some of the organizations in Minnesota that have been working for years on transportation issues, to facilitate the shift away from exclusive dependence on automobiles.  There is, for example, a fairly high profile organization  called Transit for Livable Communities (http://www.tlcminnesota.org/index.php); I could introduce you or whomever to some of the key players.  Let me know.

I have also been thinking about organizing commuters at the destination sites (UC, the hospitals) to approach those who manage the facilities at these sites about ways they could support bicycle commuting.  There are almost no bike racks.  No showers.  Etc etc.  When I received the "welcome to CCHCM" email, I was startled to see that one of the very first items they address in orientation was assigned parking, and parking spots, and parking rules, etc.  It startled me because of the automatic assumption that the only way to arrive at the hospital was by car.  Now that I'm physically here, I realize that it's pretty difficult to arrive using some method OTHER than a car.  But it doesn't necessarily need to be this way, and supporting alternatives for people who could or would commute using other means frees up scarce resources for those who don't have alternatives to their cars.  Think of the difference in expense between installing bike racks and building a new parking garage!  The University of Minnesota has actually done a fantastic job of this in my opinion, and it could be replicated elsewhere.  They have bike racks outside of the doors of every single building on campus, and many of these racks hold scores if not hundreds of bicycles.  (The transportation services office at the U of M estimate that something like 70,000 people converge on the campus every day and then disperse at the end of the day; the campus - although sprawling - still is in the heart of the Twin Cities metro area.)

BTW, in the short time I've been in Cincinnati, I've seen ways in which it improves on the Twin Cities in terms of walkability, at least in the area where I'm staying now. 

I'm looking forward to contributing however I can.  Minnesota currently has a fantastic bicycling infrastructure, but it wasn't always that way.  It took the efforts of people like you to make it happen, but it does happen, eventually.

[Daniel Mocsny]

Yiscah Bracha wrote:
> I'm looking forward to contributing however I can. Minnesota currently has
> a fantastic bicycling infrastructure, but it wasn't always that way. It
> took the efforts of people like you to make it happen, but it does happen,
> eventually.

This is the region that took about 15 or 20 years to build four
miles of bike path from Milford to Newtown. That's slower
than a glacier, but faster than plate tectonics.

It will be interesting to see if I am still alive to ride a bike
when the Little Miami Scenic Trail makes it to Lunken Airport.

Today's kids might live to see it get all the way downtown.

It is true that nothing happens until someone makes it happen.
But not many people are willing to dedicate years of their
lives to putting in a few miles of path.

Of course plenty of our opponents are putting in years of their
lives to keep America enslaved to OPEC. It all comes down to
who wants it more.

--
--- Daniel J. Mocsny

[Scott Ebbing]

I tend to think it all has to do with money.. Who has more? Just my
opinion..

>It all comes down to
>who wants it more.

--
--- Daniel J. Mocsny

--

[Yiscah Bracha]

Regarding money, here is a story you may like. As part of the interview process for the position I accepted at CCHMC, a high-end Realtor who had lived in Cincinnati all her life gave me a tour one afternoon. Of course I asked about bike commuting trails. She said, "We don't have anything like that, but we'd better start getting it because everyone asks about it."

This is from a Realtor who caters to high end clients, relocating from other parts of the country or the world, and whose personal web page boasts millions in sales each year.

On Feb 2, 2010 9:08 PM, "Scott Ebbing" <deca...@gmail.com> wrote:

I tend to think it all has to do with money..  Who has more?  Just my
opinion..

>It all comes down to
>who wants it more.

--
--- Daniel J. Mocsny

--

You received this message...

[Daniel Mocsny]

Yiscah Bracha wrote:
> Regarding money, here is a story you may like. As part of the interview
> process for the position I accepted at CCHMC, a high-end Realtor who had
> lived in Cincinnati all her life gave me a tour one afternoon. Of course I
> asked about bike commuting trails. She said, "We don't have anything like
> that, but we'd better start getting it because everyone asks about it."
>
> This is from a Realtor who caters to high end clients, relocating from other
> parts of the country or the world, and whose personal web page boasts
> millions in sales each year.

If the REALTOR� is still making money, her high end clients
must be willing to buy houses in Cincinnati without the bike
trails. Which further suggests this verbally expressed desire is
not yet translating into significant economic pressure.

This town's priorities are on display after every snowfall. The
roads are clear within hours, whereas many sidewalks remain
nearly impassable until the weather warms again.

Some property owners plow the snow off their parking lots
and dump it on the sidewalks for pedestrians to climb over.

This will all change after the oil crunch arrives, which might
be as soon as 2013-2015.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/feb/10/oil-crunch-peril

[Larry Parker]

Last year I got motivated by the some snow, the YouTube Minnesotans and
www.IceBike.com so bought a pair of studded MTB tires for a MTB that was
just hanging in my garage. After mounting them, and other commuter
paraphernalia I waited for the next snow, so I could pedal to work like a
crazy Badger or something. When the snow came it dawned on me . . I am a
school teacher . . . I don't have to go to work when it snows! doh!

This year we finally got some more snow. My brother was in town tonight, at
my sister's, so I decided to slide over there and spend the evening, and
finally get to try out my studded tires! What a blast. My wife lost it
when I rolled out of the garage into the deep powder and came to a rather
sudden stop, but I walked it down the drive, mounted it in the street and
left her shaking her head as I headed for Oakley, 2 miles away.

What a lot of WORK, slipping and sliding in the loose stuff, but where it
was packed or plowed, I made pretty good time. Then I would hit some loose
powder and slide all over. I had to put a foot down several times. I found I
was WAY over dressed, a lot more work coupled with a LOT less wind chill
than riding the road bike on a comparably cold day on dry roads. I also
learned, or was learning, to keep my weight back over that rear tire. Kind
of like the pick ups with the cinderblocks in back, I guess.

Anyway, I averaged about 5mph, what with all the stopping and fishtailing.
A great trip, and a good work out! If you have a MTB, get out and try it,
studded tires aren't reallly necessary right now, there is not a lot of ice,
just packed snow.

still laughing, two hours later.

Larry Parker

[Jim Craven]

I'm not into mountain biking, but I did want something that could go in the
snow,
so I bought a cheap mountain bike at a yard sale for $10. I like the
simplicity of
my single speed freewheel road bike, but could never understand the
attraction
of fixies. Then I came across articles about fixed gear mountain bikes, so I
converted my mtn bike to a fixie ($27 for a track cog). I figured
I wasn't going to be going that far or that fast in the snow, so why not?

I don't commute to work since changing jobs (Milford HS is near the
intersection
of two bike unfriendly roads), but the mtn bike gets me to Krogers, the
coffee shop,
and other nearby places. The fixed gear aspect lets me slow down even when
the brakes (that I left on) ice up.

I agree with Larry - it is a lot of work, you do have to keep your weight
over
the back wheel, and it is a lot of fun.

Jim Craven

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