Adding to the army

[Larry Parker]

Since School started in September:

1)  My assistant Cross Country coach (24yr old), who got a day job downtown, has started cycle commuting from Norwood, and started riding with our runners when they are doing "road work."   He rode a lot as a youngster in PA, but has been carless for awhile, and realized the bus just wasn't cutting it if he wanted to work AND get to practice on time.  He picked out a bike at Fast Wheels (new ownership recently) and I have helped him equip it and himself with a few of my extra parts and supplies. He has probably put in more trips and miles than me since he started, but my commute is way shorter and I am way older!

 

2)   My neighbor across the street used to ride quite a bit, decades ago and before he moved here. He was injured and off work for awhile this fall so he found an older bike and fixed it up to be a commuter - lights, fenders and higher handlebars. He says "at his age" sitting up is much nicer for commuting. He also says if he can get comfortable riding again he might just take his "fast Cannondale" out for fun rides on weekends.  He is not as old as I am, but old enough that his youngest is a HS senior.

 

3)  Today, one of my students, a HS senior, rode an old "10 speed" to school. I didn't get to talk to him about it much today, but I will.

 

I can't take all the credit for this by any means, at least two of them had cycled a lot in the past, but I think I helped, a little, revive that "inner cyclist" just by being out there on the road and talking about it. Then I passed two other loaded bikes on my way home today, that's in only 4 miles of riding. Seeing others, and being seen, is great encouragement. Being an outsider can be fun, but it would sure be nice to see an army of commuters everyday.

 

Gives me hope that someday Amsterdam, Copenhagen and their kin won't seem quite so special!

 

Larry Parker

 

 

[Larry Parker]

A former student of mine (who was also one of my best Track and XC runners), is now the Gen. Manager of a restaurant downtown. I got a text from her today about getting bikes for her delivery people to use, since cars are not very effective in that area.  I think she would like to get something fairly cheap to test the idea out first, I am wondering if anybody has something they think might be useable that they are willing to part with.   Obviously size is an issue, and I will talk to her about all that in the next few days. Also, it would work best to get cyclist that become deliverers, rather than try to make cyclists out of delivery people, then they would have their own bike, hopefully.

 

 

I told (texted) her that the best thing would probably be a single speed freewheel, with racks & bags, or baskets.  Not fixie, a freewheel.  Not too many hills down there, no need for blazing speed.

 

I am open to any advice worth passing on to her.

 

Or names I can pass on if some cyclist needs some work, and would like to help get this going.  I would do it, but I am still a couple of years shy of retirement!

 

Do you know of any restaurants doing this now?   I don't work down there, so don't see the lunch time activity.

 

Thanks for any info you supply.

 

Larry Parker

[Mr C]

    Larry, a very good (and can be cheap) way to carry cargo with a bike is to get a used Burley (or similar) child trailer. Not only can these carry a lot, but they don't load down the bike tires, and also 'look like' something cars should give a wide berth. Of course, they work with pretty much any bike too, so maybe the business would only need one or two of them. They can be sourced cheaply on Craigslist and/or a wanted ad on the local bike lines.

 

    My wife uses one to haul our dog safely to and from trail running at a local park.

 

    Cheers,

            Fraser C.

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[tmsegar]

I think Coffee Emporium makes deliveries on a bike. I would contact them for advice. Fraser had some good suggestions too about the child carrier. --- On Fri, 2/22/13, Mr C <mrfixie...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Carrie Cochran]

Hello... I'm a photojournalist (and cyclist) on staff at the Enquirer. We are doing a story on the state of bicycle friendliness in the city -- we're talking more about cycling as transportation (less about recreation), and how the city has or has not been helpful to commuters.

One thing we're looking at is how we compare to other cities in the region. Indianapolis has done some really cool things.

If there are any commuters out there who would like to participate, please, please email me. I need to talk today (preferably) or tomorrow. 

I've been trying to get the paper to do something like this for a while, so I'm glad that we finally are! Our writer on this story is Julie Zimmerman -- also a cyclist and commuter. She'd love to talk. 

ccoc...@enquirer.com

Thanks in advance! Hope to talk soon!

Carrie Cochran

Visual Journalist

Enquirer Media

Cincinnati.com

Twitter: @carriecochran

Instagram.com/carriecochran

www.facebook.com/Carrie.Cochran.Photo

[Yiscah Bracha]

Hi Carrie. I'd be happy to speak with you. I live downtown and work at the Children's Hospital - no good route up the hill. I've been in Cincy 3+ years, but before that, lived for many years in Minneapolis/St. Paul. In the TCities, I biked everywhere, as did many other people I knew. Shocked when I came here at the weak state of bike-for-transportation infrastructure. Lots of terrific advocates but also lots of obstacles. Happy to do my part to overcome the obstacles.

Yiscah Bracha

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[Richard Hunt]

Carrie,

    Hey - sounds like a good idea to get behind.  Not being overly anxious to draw attention to moi-self, that reticence is outweighed by wanting to get more folks to shift from four wheels to two.  So if anyone out there would read it and think: "Hey, if that simple-minded bloke can do it, well, so can I" that's reason enough to add my name to the list.

  My commute isn't all that far - 11 miles round-trip, but it does sound much more Spartan when saying it goes from one state to another.  More daunting are the hills coming home, but I've always believed better then than on the way in; end of the day, ready for a shower anyway, a good decompression squeeze to ride the residue stress.  With the hills in my favor in the morning, it can be as fast as 22 minutes...and I suspect that some motorists in this neighborhood can't claim that sort of door-to-door commute time (which is how it was always phrased in NYC - the door-to-door time.  I did commute there for a dozen years, as Boston for a couple as well - thankfully, Cincinnati's the best of the three for daily commuting).  

   Last, your roguish brother-in-law gave me your and Andrew's new address...which I promptly lost to the paper avalanche that I call my office.  If you could shoot that to me, I could get this envelope I've been staring at for a week into the USPS which means it'll be one less piece of paper here.  

Thanks, and have a great time with this piece.

Richard

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