A Rainbow of Emotions

Last night was the night of the monthly Roll: Bicycles Pub Ride around Columbus, an event I always get pretty excited to attend. I didn't anticipate that my girlfriend and I would be met with a somewhat sad event during the course of the evening, but that's why we ride, because you never know what's going to happen.

Let's start with the good. For starters, I was pretty stoked that I received a new cycling jersey in the mail yesterday afternoon, just in time for the ride:

This jersey encompasses much of the nerdiness in my life. I ordered it from Uni Watch, which is a blog dedicated to sports uniform minutiae. I've been following it since I was in college (probably since about 2003, which is pretty crazy to think about, right?). The manager of the blog rides a bike every day, so creating a cycling jersey to support the site seems natural.

I give credit to Adelph Wear for doing a great job with the customization of these. The design is based off the (in)famous Astros Tequila Sunrise baseball jerseys of the 70's and 80's, and rendered in Uni Watch colors gradient. The site slogan "For People Who Get It" is printed inside the collar. The rear features a four pocket design including one zipper pocket:

The jerseys also included two personalization options. One, the Uni Watch 20th anniversary "patch" on the right sleeve:

Two, a custom number and NOB (name on back). I chose to go with a NickNOB (nickname on back):

Pretty great stuff! So, after I was done gushing over my latest purchase, we headed out and popped our bikes on the bus to head to downtown. We decided to get a quick bite and a beverage before the ride began. Due to our dilly-dallying, we just barely made it to the roll out, so I don't have any before pics. Trust me when I say the turnout was strong, as the evening was quite gorgeous for riding:

After a short 5+ mile jaunt down the Scioto Trail, we arrived at our first stop, the BRAND NEW Columbus Brewing Company tap room:

It should be noted that CBC is not a new brewery. In fact, they are the oldest craft brewery in Columbus, and they once operated a restaurant closer to downtown (that actually closed just after I moved here). This is their first taproom expansion, though, and it's pretty nice:

There's also a small outdoor area. My girlfriend appeared to have enjoyed it:

If you're in the area and do decide to venture here, it is worth noting that the road leading up to the brewery is not the most bike-friendly, especially at night, so travel in numbers if at all possible (like we did).

Conversely, we had started out the evening intending to branch off at some point, as the last few stops on the route were places we have visited multiple times recently. We decided to do so after the first stop above, and headed back to the Scioto Trail to continue our adventure closer to downtown.

That was, until we stumbled upon a stray kitten on the trail attempting to cross a bridge over the river. We are ardent cat lovers, and we didn't want to leave the little guy (or girl) behind, so we spent nearly 45 minutes trying to convince it to come over to us.

After several failed attempts that were thwarted by general kitten shy-ness and other passing riders scaring it away, we succeeded! I had a hell of a time trying to keep it calm as I held it to my chest and gently petted its fur, but eventually I was able to place the black fuzzball in my bike bag. I closed up everything but a hole large enough for its head to poke out. I had no idea where we were going to take it just yet, but closer to the city seemed like a good idea.

Well, at least I can say we tried. Less than a mile down the trail, I felt a bump but I didn't think I rode over one. I asked my girlfriend if she could see the kitten in my bag. When she said no, we stopped immediately. We looked back, and sure enough the little critter had jumped out, but was still walking towards us.

We tried again to lure it back to us, but this time it crawled under a fence and disappeared into the woods beyond, which appeared to have a steep downhill slope. We then heard a scared kitten cry, and although it didn't sound like it was in any real danger, we knew that we couldn't do any more, and moved on. In all of this midst, we became overcome with an inexplicable sadness, and that's when I realized I'd never even paused to take any pictures.

We did eventually continue our adventure by making one final stop at Elevator Brewing in downtown Columbus. At this point, we sorely needed a beer to lift our spirits. Also, food:

Thankfully, the remainder of the evening was far less eventful. Hopefully the cat is OK, and hopefully next month's ride doesn't feature such a wide range of emotions. That said, it's partially our fault for veering off the planned route. Maybe we'll stick to the plan next time? Nah. What would the fun be in that?