I continue my carless adventures.

 

With the bike...exploring further afield.  Rode out to Forest Field Park and now realize i can cycle out here, tie up to a tree, and go hiking in Yeck Park and Sugarcreek Reserve and hike home...

 

....also tooled around St Leonard.  St Leonard was something I never did take pix of when I was doing those Dayton & suburbs pix threads...but its this big goofy-modernist take on a monastary , but now converted into a nursing home/seniors housing complex.  They have a lake & forest that backs up on Yeck Park and I bushwacked there once during the winter...

 

...this time I CYCLED there!  They have paved walks around the lake and through their forest...sort of fun yet odd riding my bike through this big forest on a paved sidewalk.....

 

As I was tooling around I think I saw their security spotting me...but we waved at each other.  I realized that Im pretty gray myself nowadays!  A potential customer!

 

Well...that was a bit much, so timing was right, so I took bus 23 from Clyo & Centerville Station back to my apartment (beating that uphill pedalling into the old part of Centerville...Centerville sits on a high point so its up..or down...).  Nice to work with bus and bike like this...realize I could probably do this in Trotwood, too...take the bike to Trotwood and then cycle out to Brookville...

 

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Also did some bus/hiking things.  This was an experiment.  Took bus 17, which runs right by my place...all the way up to Vandalia, got off at one of the last stops, then walked down to the Taylorsville Reseve and bike path.  This was nice, hiking the bottoms and along the Great Miami River....realized I could go further afied and maybe do the rugged country east of the River, or ...and this would be very aggressive...walk all the way to Tipp City (or take my bike there).  Still, nice to have this option.

 

After the walk, there was opportunity to stop at a local donut shop and have coffee and donuts to wait for the bus, or to this outdoor bbq smoker in a parking lot near Bunkers tavern.  So, great way to finish off what I think would be a 7 or 8 mile hike.  Then bus it back home...single seat ride to and from some nice hiking country....

 

Also, thinking of doing this in Trotwood....bus 14 from Centerville goes right to Trotwood, and I could get out and then hike Sycamore State Park along Wolf Creek...nice place and very empty...sort of a forgotten gem of a spot....

 

 

Doing this bus-bike thing one can appreciate the possibilities here in Dayton for pushing a different take on suburban Quality of Life..not just city stuff.....or for city people to bus out into the suburbs and do hikes and rides....the possibilities are here!

Had the Bike for about a month now...and yes it is coming in handy as a time-saver errand bike!

 

Used it to run some sweaters to the dry cleaner, to the PO a number of times now, to Wal-Mar and Drug Mart and the Indian markets for food and sundries, to the Centerville library and to the Miami Twp library.  Realized the other day I could probably even go to Boosalis Bakery for morning croisscants (Boosalis is a French bakery...imported ovens and french-trained bakers)...which was always too far a walk for me.

 

Tomorrow is Urban Bikes at Urban Nights, sort of "critical mass" (without the attitude) group ride, with police escort.  I will take the bike to work (on the bus) and then take it downtown to join this group.

 

So starting to integrate the bike into my daily life....

 

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Walking continues to be the hobby/exercise, though.  The bike is really enhancing this as well.

 

The other day I took the bike out to Forest Field park (about 4.5 miles away), locked it, and then took a nice long hike in Yeck Park...all this in evening , doable after work!  This is excellent!

 

 

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AND...using RTA for longer distance hiking...Bus 14 through old part of Centerville (about 30 minute walk form me) ALSO goes to the old part of Trotwood.  And from Trotwood only about 25 minutes to the woods and fields of Sycamore State Park...25 minutes on small town sidewalks and nearly empty country road walking.  So I have a place that I rarley went to becoming a very real possibility for hiking.

The Trotwood trip was sort of ironic since I was waiting at the old Deopt for the bus back and noticed people using their cars and SUVs to carry their bikes to the rail-trail that crosses there. 

 

I realized I could just ride up the bus stop in Centerville, but the bike on bus 14 with me, and ride the bus to Trotwood with my bike and then go rail-trail riding!    Dont need a car at all to use the bike paths here!

 

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I did take my bike out on the bike paths along the rivers north of town on Derby Day (decided I didnt really want to go Derby drinking that afternoon)....went farther than I thougt I would..as far north as Wegerzyn Gardens and that "Edorado" river rat community

Glad you've "evolved" your position on two-wheel transit. ;-)

 

A huge part of the magic of bike riding is definitely combining it with mass transit. All of a sudden, the bus is not so restrictive, and biking can "cover" much larger distances than without the motor aid. You see how, with an improved transit network, it would be possible to go pretty much anywhere in the metro in a reasonable amount of time without a car.

I worked with a guy who rides 15 miles to and from work every day, unless it's sleeting or snowing.  So, he shamed me into riding to work (10 miles) a couple times.  The trick for me was to take side streets and avoid as much traffic as possible.  I could do it (45ish minutes), save approx a mile on a busy street.  That bit is pretty hair raising for me, and it's a big reason why I don't ride more often.  To drive to work takes 20 minutes.  I can rationalize riding as a time saver, as I go to the gym most every day anyway.

 

Looks like approx 6ish miles for you to get to the bike path in West Carrollton, and other than getting across 675 and a bit on Alex-Bell to get across 75 (a quick Google map street view look says there's sidewalks there), you could do that whole run on side streets.  At that point, you're six miles from downtown, with a flat run and no streets to cross.  I think you could probably get downtown faster via bike than the hour it takes on the 17 from South Hub.  And you save $2 each way.  The better question is whether you have a shower at work.

 

 

Im about 15 -10 minutes  from that south bus hub, biking time, so I could just ride to the hub, catch the bus to Miamisburg, and catch the bike path from Miamisburg.

 

I dont really need to bike to work as the bus works fine.  Its pretty cool being able to use the bus and bike in combination, or the bus + hiking as a recreation thing.

 

I am doing that quite a bit now..biking out to Yeck Park (via Forest Field Park) out east of St Leonard, doing some hiking (which can be extended out to include hiking the Sugarcreek Reserve trails), and then riding back to catch bus 23 at Clyo Road, to ride back home, if Im too tired. 

 

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Second attempt at Sycamore State Park this weekend: hiked the full 8 miles, and made it back to catch bus 14 in Trotwood and home by 1 PM.  Sweet!

One of the things I like about buses compared to driving is that it allows me to complete a loop starting and ending at home taking more than one bus route. For example, I can ride downtown, walk 10 blocks, and get on a different bus to go home.

 

By contrast, the typical car driver drives to a parking space, and then returns to that space to drive home. Most drivers don't walk very far from the parking space.

^ That's something that annoys me pretty badly about auto dependency. You go somewhere, but you always have to wind up back at the car no matter where it is. If you could just say "K.I.T.T., I need you buddy" and have the car show up to where you are, the automobile could provide more of the freedom of which it is always boasting. But it can't.

And then there is a matter of forgetting where the damned thing is parked. :)

I used to think a lot of this recreational cycling was silly.  That people would strap their bikes onto their vehicles and then drive somewhere to bike.

 

Well, I beat that (and am saving on a bike rack).  The other weekend I took the bike into the old part of Centerville, got on Bus 14, put the bike in the rack in front and...

 

...rode to the old part of Trotwood, got off the bus, and was right at the rail-trail that heads northwest to Verona, on the county line. 

 

So I did my recreational rail-trail thing...road as far as Brookville and then got a soda, took a break, and cycled back to Trotwood to catch the bus back.

 

This was sweet.  I can do bike path riding without needing a car!

 

Also did some long distance hiking...took the bus 17 from my apt, all the way up to Vandalia, then hiked....three times now...the Great Miami Valley, along the bike path...Tadmor,  Taylorsville Reserve, and now hiked into Miami County to Charleston Falls preserve.  Next will be to the village of West Charleston...doing German-style long distance hikes to country villages. 

 

Of course, could ALSO put the bike on the bus to Vandalia, and then cylce down to connect to the bike path and ride up to Tipp City (and even Troy, but not in shape for that).

 

Vandalia is a good spot for recreational hiking/riding as they have a good pedestrian path/sidewalk/bikepath connection over the freeway, the old part of town is walkable, AND there is a good local donut shop, ice cream place, etc, for a before- or after-hike/ride bite to eat/drink.

 

Very civilzed.  All this can be done without use of the car.  Nice. 

 

 

I was starting to slack off  a bit on the carless part but gas is pushing $4/gallon again....

very easy to get lazy and find execuses for driving...

 

The bus is working great, still.  Been using it a lot but also using it to do long walks.  Bus to Belmont and then walking all the way back in to town, but stopping off to buy beer, pretzels, stuff at the market, etc.....this is to get exercise and not give up on walking.  The temptation is to use the bike ALL THE TIME but I want to remain loyal to my pedestrian past prior to the bike.

 

Longer Distance Cycling

 

Been to Yellow Springs twice by bike, twice. 

 

Tipp City twice. 

 

Xenia once. 

 

Verona (on the Preble County line) once.

 

Waynesville once. 

 

All these times except Waynesville I used RTA to get to the trail head and then cycled to and from the destination.  The longest ride was a round trip to Yellow Springs and John Bryan park...with a return trip all the way downtown...  55 miles (including the ride home from the Dayton Mall bus hub). 

 

....this was suprsing.  Didnt think I could do Yellow Springs, but this means going to the Street Fair is now do-able by bike and I dont have to hassle with the parking and traffic.

 

Another goal is to do Troy.  Since I know I can ride that long ride from Tipp City into downtown Dayton, I figure I can ride up to Troy, have lunch in Troy, and then cycle back downtown.

 

Also thinking of extensions from Verona.  AS part of the Verona trip I rode up into Darke County and there are some country villages I could use as destinations, or cut across the northern part of Montgomery County via Phillipsburg and catch the bus back @ Englewood.

 

Waynesville is the revelation.  I rode there via country/suburban roads, which is different than bike path riding.  But riding to Waynesville connects me up with the rail-trail that eventually goes up to Xenia and then Yellow Springs, or back into Dayton.  Figure if I get fit enough I can make a loop and catch RTA back from the East hub or downtown...

 

Waynesville also permits me to work in some hiking at Cesars Trace/Hisey Park...4 -5 miles of hiking trails right off the bike path.

 

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But this is all recreational stuff.  The bike is a masssive time saver when it comes to running errands, especially grocery shopping and getting to the library to use the net or get books...since I can get up to the Centerville library as well as the Miami Twp library via a reasonable bike ride.

 

But the best deal, from a quality-of-life POV,  is that it permits me to continue to do hiking after work.  I can still get some daylight after the long bus ride to do some hikes since I can cycle to the hiking trails in Grant Park and Yeck Park, at least for the time being.  Eventually it will get too dark for this, but for now the time-saving of cycling brings the "Wald und Wiesen" closer in time.  I have the bike pre-positioned when I get home...walking stick already strapped to the bike via bungee cords....

 

 

 

 

The reason for the

I should also say, with the waning light, I am going to start to ride during twilight, sort of out of necessity.  I did do one nightime ride, mostly on sidewalks, but not too comfortable with this.  I do have a front and rear light on the bike now, but not convicned this is really safe (in terms of my poor night-vision, poor street lighting in suburbia, and the headlight / front basket conflict...I have a front basket for the bike now)... Presumably I can get a more powerfull front light, but still leery about this....

^ I just bought a new bike headlight. In fact, I bought two of them, at $40 each. The new LED lights are much, much better than the old ones. I used to have a 15W incandencent bulb light that had a rechargeable lead-acid battery that weighed over a pound. The battery finally quit working, so I bought two new lights. They take the little AA size batteries.

 

At night, following cars usually turn their bright lights on when they see my tail light. This is reassuring, because I'm fairly certain that they saw me. A white helmet and white clothes help as well.

Oh man, those old incandescent lights that ran off the little generator sucked. I got one when I was a kid and immediately said, "That's it?????" when I started using it.

Did some investigative bus riding this weekend. 

 

Was planning on taking the bus to go hiking at Carriage Hill Reserve, which is on the northwest side of Huber Heights (the NW edge of the built up part of the metro area.).  This is sort of a farm museum combined with nature preserve, whcih I rarley get to (been there only twice in my 24 years in Dayton).

 

Turns out its not realistic to hike there from the bus due to the arrangement of bus stops and trafficy roads.  Yet I CAN take the bike there.  Looking at the map I see that not only can I take the bike to Carriage Hill to go hiking but ALSO can take the bike out into Miami County and even go cross-country on backroads to catch a return bus at Vandalia or take the bike trail along the Great Miami River back into downtown Dayton.

 

Another world of possibilities and extended range has opened, using the bike in conjunction with the bus. 

 

Big bike plans coming up is next month: 

 

1.  Festival Weekend in Mid October:  Yellow Springs Street Fair and the Waynesville Sourkraut festical.  Usually congested, trafficy, impossibe-to-find-parking scenes. 

 

But guess what....I can avoid all that by just taking my bike!  I can ride over to Waynesville from my place in Centerville, and use RTA + bike to get to Yellow Springs.  Different days for each festival (Saturday in YS and Sunday in Waynesville), but still do-able.

 

2.  MAYBE renting a bike in Pittsburgh on my way back to Dayton and going cycling in Pittsburg a bit.  Also plan on stopping at this place:  OTB Bicycle Cafe....a bar/restaurant with a cycling theme.

 

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Been using the bus more now for later night thngs....during the week to catch various open mike nights in the city, and also to go to UD to get books from their library, and will be using the bus to go to some screenings from the LGBT Film Festival this upcoming weekend. 

 

So far I can still use the bus to get some bike riding done after work, or mix of riding/hiking.  I can get about an hour or so of cycling in after work if I want to.

 

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Sort of wish Dayton had a zipcar thing.  There ARE times where Id like to rent a car for just a night or maybe just a few hours.  Tho Avis is pretty cheep with their daily rental at $35 or so. 

 

 

What is with this bike thing?  Yes, I understand the benefits, but its not for me just yet.

Another world of possibilities and extended range has opened, using the bike in conjunction with the bus.

 

Glad you followed through on the "yet" part! ;-)

Heh, yes....I think I'm probably too old for this, but so far its been interesting.  I think with the weather getting colder and it getting darker I am going to be walking more, though. 

 

Last afternoon was my last longer after-work ride, since I notice it is sunset by the time I get back home.

 

One thing I am going to have to get is some sort of reflective vest or better lights for the bike....the vest pretty sure I want to get... just in case I have to run errands when its darker.

 

Yesterday after work a lady pulled over and told me she had a hard time seeing me (this was during late afternoon country road riding...except these "country roads" are getting busier with exurban/suburban traffic)...not sunset yet, just a lower later afternoon sun....so I figured I would have been visible at that time  (say around 6:30 PM).

 

After she told me that I put on the front and rear lights in blinker mode, just in case.