Mixed Use Merriment

I mentioned in my last entry that moving has been a big change to say the least. That includes not only where I ride but how I ride as well. I've vacated the tight, bustling streets of Center City Philadelphia for a more expansive, suburban cycling environment in the outskirts of Columbus (most days, that is). I'm less frequently dodging parked cars and more often dodging pedestrians these days, as this area is largely populated with mixed use paths like this one just down the road from our house:

They're a blessing and a curse at times. As any trail rider will tell you, it's sometimes frustrating and dangerous competing with pedestrians and runners for space on a shared trail (like the SRT back home), especially if they don't understand the "stay to the right" etiquette. It's great not having to compete with cars for road space, though. On the whole, the danger drops nearly to zero except when crossing intersections, where you're at the mercy of cars treating cyclists as pedestrians in the crosswalks.

Of course, there are mixed use trails here that are completely cut off from automobile traffic, like the one I've found myself on quite a bit lately, the Olentangy Trail:

I took a personal day on Sunday. That is, my first real day alone on a bike since I've moved. I had a loose plan in place, but I basically wanted to just ride and see what happened. It worked. I actually took a wrong turn on the trail as I was heading to an intended waypoint, and ended up following it to its northern end:

My intended destination was the Highbanks Metro Park, a park that itself has several miles of multi-use trail. It took a little bit more road riding to get there than I first thought would be necessary, but I did make it:

After a brief break, I took the trail around the park. I will definitely have to come back to try one of the many hikes I saw on my way (I would have done it that day but I was ill-prepared for a hike). Beautiful scenery and lots of hills! My favorite kind of ride.

By the time I got back to the road, I was already about 15 miles into the ride and ready to start heading home. First, I needed an oasis. A microbrewery always fits in nicely to a loose plan, especially when it includes a 2-mile sidetrack:

That was at Ill Mannered Brewing all the way up in Powell. It was well worth the detour. Dig their logo too in addition to the beer. I packed up my bike and started to head home, when I happened upon a new brewery on the way, Random Precision (if that doesn't sum up my cycling adventures perfectly, I don't know what does):

A random stop I'm glad I made. They brew more towards the sour side, which I only really enjoy during Summer. It just so happened to be a beautiful 80-degree day. As it turns out, it's literally 10 minutes from my house. The more you know...

In any case, by this time I was pretty sweaty and tired, but I did make it home in great shape:

Had to get that Eagles plug in there. All told, I ended up just shy of 30 miles on the ride. Not too shabby for some random exploration, no?

I'm torn as to what I'm going to do next. I found out through the propaganda I picked up at the park that there's a tour of one of the parks this Saturday...on bike. Seems like a perfect fit. Hope I wake up in time!