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After 4 days of eating crap and not exercising, I decided that I would jump back onto the bandwagon with a long bike ride today. This was especially important because I can't ride to work tomorrow; the Cleveland Orchestra's Fourth of July concert at Tower City is tomorrow evening and we won't be leaving the downtown area until WAY after dark. So I took off in the direction of what was an 18.5-mile route the last time I rode, but decided I wanted to shoot for 20. I'd looked at the maps back a couple weeks ago, and had seen that taking Lewis Road from near the bottom of Cedar Point Road would lead me to the top of the park, where the falls are, and that would add a couple miles to the route.
At least that's how I remembered it.
I got onto Lewis and in just a short distance it began to climb quite steeply, regaining all the altitude I had lost riding down into the park. Well, an extra climb wasn't going to kill me, so up I went. And then the ride was a beautiful country road. After a short time I picked up the river on my left and figured I must be getting to the park soon. Sure enough, another half mile and I came upon a covered bridge in a park. I rode across, looking for the bike trail, and saw the sign.
Olmsted Falls.
Not only was I not at the right falls, I wasn't even in the right watershed.
I backtracked a little ways, then struck out along Lewis Road again, figuring it had to lead to a main road soon. Sure enough, I found a main road and a sweet-looking little old lady on a bicycle. I asked her directions and she told me that I needed to ride "down past the shopping mall" and then I would see the entrance to the park on my left a little after that.
There was no shopping mall in sight, and the directions she gave me sounded like the exact opposite of where I should be going. She asked if I was thirsty and needed some water. I responded that, no, I had a water bottle and was fine. She smiled and waved farewell.
"Oh," she said, "and there's a mulberry bush just a little ways down from here and the berries are ripe. You should stop and have a few."
I rode about a mile seeing nothing, and after playing a murderous little old lady in a Call of Cthulu game Saturday night, I found my paranoia level climbing. Eat berries? I don't think so. Another mile on, though, there was a shopping center, and sure enough just after that I found the entrance to the park. I was at the top of the park and could have stopped for a lovely view of the falls, but I had been gone so long that I didn't want to stop.
And there, right at the top, was Nobottom Road. The missing link in my plan, the left turn I should have made off of Lewis. I even saw it and remembered it being on the map, but didn't remember that I was supposed to take it. Had I turned on it, I would have been about right in my distance estimation.
Instead, I biked 27 miles. In 90 degree heat. Half an hour after I got back my pulse was still 104.
I won't feel bad about not biking into work tomorrow.
At least that's how I remembered it.
I got onto Lewis and in just a short distance it began to climb quite steeply, regaining all the altitude I had lost riding down into the park. Well, an extra climb wasn't going to kill me, so up I went. And then the ride was a beautiful country road. After a short time I picked up the river on my left and figured I must be getting to the park soon. Sure enough, another half mile and I came upon a covered bridge in a park. I rode across, looking for the bike trail, and saw the sign.
Olmsted Falls.
Not only was I not at the right falls, I wasn't even in the right watershed.
I backtracked a little ways, then struck out along Lewis Road again, figuring it had to lead to a main road soon. Sure enough, I found a main road and a sweet-looking little old lady on a bicycle. I asked her directions and she told me that I needed to ride "down past the shopping mall" and then I would see the entrance to the park on my left a little after that.
There was no shopping mall in sight, and the directions she gave me sounded like the exact opposite of where I should be going. She asked if I was thirsty and needed some water. I responded that, no, I had a water bottle and was fine. She smiled and waved farewell.
"Oh," she said, "and there's a mulberry bush just a little ways down from here and the berries are ripe. You should stop and have a few."
I rode about a mile seeing nothing, and after playing a murderous little old lady in a Call of Cthulu game Saturday night, I found my paranoia level climbing. Eat berries? I don't think so. Another mile on, though, there was a shopping center, and sure enough just after that I found the entrance to the park. I was at the top of the park and could have stopped for a lovely view of the falls, but I had been gone so long that I didn't want to stop.
And there, right at the top, was Nobottom Road. The missing link in my plan, the left turn I should have made off of Lewis. I even saw it and remembered it being on the map, but didn't remember that I was supposed to take it. Had I turned on it, I would have been about right in my distance estimation.
Instead, I biked 27 miles. In 90 degree heat. Half an hour after I got back my pulse was still 104.
I won't feel bad about not biking into work tomorrow.
