After several months' hiatus, my girlfriend and I finally stretched our cycling legs again last night and joined in on Roll Bicycles' monthly pub ride. I mean, we've gone on a lot of small rides over the Summer and early Fall, but nothing lengthy since about July. We finally had a free Friday, so last night was a perfect opportunity to get back in the Saddle, with great weather to boot.
The Roll rides usually feature 3 or 4 stops at pubs and breweries throughout the Central Columbus area and run about 20 miles (a great way to learn the territory in my new city, don'tcha know). Knowing that, I decided not to try to kill my girlfriend and instead opted to drive our bikes to the end point. We parked near Hoof Hearted Brewery & Kitchen, and rode from there to the start on the Scioto Mile:
It was about 1.5 miles between the two, much shorter than the 8.5-9 miles it would have been to ride there from home. Interestingly enough, the last pub ride we did met up at the same place. I'm sensing a theme here. Kinda reminds me of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where a ton of Philly bike rides start and/or finish. ANYwho...
We had about 30 in our group when we rolled out around 6:45PM on the Scioto Trail:
We then headed south and began a mini tour through some of the oldest areas in Columbus, first being the German Village:
And then to our first stop, the relatively new Eight & Sand Tavern (not to be confused with Eight & Sand Brewing) in the Hungarian Village:
From there, we headed back north and west to BrewDog's location in Franklinton, another old Columbus neighborhood:
I'm not quite sure why BrewDog chose Columbus as its destination in the US, but they're a pretty neat operation from Scotland that's mostly crowdfunded, and their beer is pretty awesome too.
At this point, we were near halfway. We headed back on the Scioto trail and then picked up the Olentangy Trail, which recently had an encounter with a semi truck (Sorry no pics here but seriously read that article - I still can't believe it actually happened). It was the subject of many a good ribbing throughout the ride, and here's hoping it never happens again.
After a few more miles on trail, we popped up into Clintonville and began climbing some hills. The reward for going uphill is of course that you eventually get to go downhill, which we did by riding the road down Walhalla Ravine. This is the second time I've been on this road since I moved here, and I just read that it's apparently Columbus' most haunted street. I thought it was incredibly fun and not scary whatsoever. I can't wait to go back.
A short stretch later, we arrived at our third stop and one of my favorite Columbus breweries, Lineage:
From there, it was a short ride to the last stop. This stretch of the ride was short in mileage but fun moments were plentiful, as we pedaled past OSU campus housing to some cheers and jeers. My girlfriend said she heard the terms "bikelists" and "cyclers" coined by random students - I'm definitely going to start using those in conversation.
We never did end up at our intended end point because their kitchen had closed, and by that time I'm sure you can imagine we were all starving. My girlfriend and I opted to head up to Seventh Son Brewing just up the street for a quick snack before heading home. Including our extra trip from the car to the starting point, we logged nearly 22 miles. Not too shabby, right?
And of course along the way, we met yet more wonderful cyclists who I'm sure we will see again, provided we can keep coming to these on a regular basis. As long as the schedule works out, I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday evening.
Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!
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