I am totally Bob Seger. You know, against the wind.

I was so excited this weekend for a beautiful Saturday morning for a long bike ride. I hate when a week or so passes, and I have no spare time to get out. Not unlike all my other trips, this was equally as adventurous. I had two main points of interest: Great Northern Mall (to return something) and the farmer’s market at Crocker Park.

Even living on the west side for a number of years, I still get lost figuring out how to drive from Great Northern to Crocker Park. On the bike? It was worse. I ended up somewhere in North Ridgeville. To say I was pissed when I saw “Lorain County” signs, is an understatement. WTF?

It was a tough ride though. I felt as though I was constantly riding in the direction of the wind. When I finally arrived at Crocker Park, my legs were jell-o-y. Also, I could not find a proper place to tie my bike up here. Is there an actual bike yard/rack? I used a lamppost. At the farmer’s market, I picked up a bushel (and a peck, and a hug around his neck) of hot peppers, a quart (it seems like more) of string beans, a couple of peaches (I wish I could have bought more, but my backpack and back were not having that) and some local honey (I love buttered toast with honey drizzled all over). I also stopped over at Liquid Planet for a pita sandwich. I loved the sandwich, but was disappointed my rice had raisins and nuts in it. Again, WTF? I had no idea what else could be in it, so I didn’t eat it.

Before my legs locked up completely on me, I headed home. It was still another 6 miles. I almost threw up because I was over-exerting myself so badly. By the way, my junior high school cross country coach (Mr. Morgan – yea!) told us whenever we finished a race, if we threw up, we would get a cheeseburger. I’m sure this probably meant that we ran as hard as we could. Funny that I still remember that. And yes, I threw up all the time running cross country. Well, this is how I felt on Saturday. But I did not eat a cheeseburger.

Home – Great Northern: about 6 miles
G. Northern – Bradley Woods Metroparks (yes, this is where-the-fuck I ended up): about 4 miles
Woods – Dover Center/Center Ridge intersection: about 3 miles
D/C intersection – Crocker Park: 3 miles
Crocker Park – Home: about 6 miles
Totally awesome bike ride: about 22 miles. Nice work, Mel!

Everybody make sure to put Walk+Roll Cleveland on their calendars for Sunday. I was really impressed with their work in Lakewood, and I’m happy to volunteer for the MLK shut-down. And also, it should be mentioned in light of recent tragic events, ride safe. Since becoming an avid bike rider, I am definitely more conscious (and patient) of bikers on the road (even though I’m more of a sidewalk biker) while I’m driving. The one thing that does still piss me off when I’m riding is when drivers pull up past the stop line before looking each direction for bikers and pedestrians. I also have to work on this as a driver as well.

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