100 Days of Cycling for Sanity

Think about where you were or what you were doing in your life 100 days ago. Things certainly look a lot different today, don't they?

Your timeline may be a little different than mine. On March 22nd (which is actually 103 days ago as of this writing), Ohio residents were ordered to shelter in place due to Coronavirus implications, and many businesses were forced to make dramatic changes to their operations or temporarily close altogether. Sensing challenging times ahead, I began a streak of riding a bike every day that I've still kept going through this morning.

Why? The simplest explanation is because it keeps me sane in these very insane times. As I posited in the first sentence of this post: sit back and really think about what your life was like 3 and a half months ago. Think about how different it is today. How are you feeling? How have you managed to keep yourself going through all of this?

I'm going to keep this as short and sweet as possible. This year has been a roller coaster, speaking from my own personal experiences. The one thing that I've kept consistent is riding a bike every single day, if only for a 5-10 minute lap around the block to clear my mind or keep my legs moving forward. If you want a (hopefully) productive exercise, try to list all of the things that you've experienced already this year, and be prepared to be impressed with yourself for making it to today.

We owe it to ourselves to celebrate ourselves every so often. On Monday morning, my 100th consecutive day of cycling, I celebrated by biking 20 miles around Lower Manhattan. The family and I will be here for another few days while our daughter recovers from a minor surgical procedure she had on Tuesday (the whole reason we are here, actually - we've celebrated her as well). I plan on keeping this going as long as possible. In the mean time, enjoy some beautiful yet haunting pictures I took to mark my occasion, and remember to celebrate even the smallest of victories:

A Man on Amish-ion

Patience pays off. It's an old cliché that often proves to be true.

Several months ago, Rae and I were looking to sell a piece of furniture that had been left behind in our house by the previous owners. We couldn't find many interested buyers for several months, and almost considered keeping it. Then one day not too long after the COVID-19 pandemic had induced temporary lock downs of many businesses, a manager from the Hotel Millersburg reached out with interest. For obvious reasons, they were pretty short on cash at the time, but he had an intriguing proposal: he would take our furniture in exchange for a two-night stay at their hotel, located in the heart of Ohio Amish Country.

I probably know what you're thinking. Who would want to go visit Amish country? Although I consider myself most comfortable in an urban setting, I'm never afraid to venture outside of my comfort zone. I also grew up about an hour away from Pennsylvania Amish Country, home to such unique town names as Intercourse, Blue Ball, and Bird-In-Hand, among many others. To me, the occasional trip to Amish country is like taking a trip back in time, somewhat literally.

So that's how the two of us found ourselves in Millersburg, OH this past weekend. What is there to do in a small town of only about 3,000? Well for starters, there's a fantastic brewery in the downtown area (makes me think my home town could use one). The town thrives on locally made goods and food, and there are plenty of shopping options available. And of course, there's the 23-mile Holmes County Trail that runs along the creek at the west side of town:

After enjoying a well-made local breakfast and perusing a few shops and a farmer's market in the downtown area, we decided to spend the majority of our Saturday afternoon on the trail. It's typical Rail Trail that makes use of the old Cleveland-Pittsburgh railroad pathway:

As you can see above, it's a segment of the Ohio-to-Erie Trail, which is very much still on my non-existent to-do list (more on that later). I knew we wouldn't have the time to ride the complete trail, but tackling the south section would be very do-able. I wanted to head that way partly to stop at a natural food store that was not too far off the trail so we could pick up some snacks on our way:

I'm not saying they were healthy snacks, but I've made worse decisions. As for the trail itself, it was a pretty nice ride. Not really much scenery to speak of, but the majority of it was shaded under some thick foliage that made conditions rather pleasant, so there's that. There were a few unique signs on the way:

Share the trail, amirite? Anywho, after about 45 minutes of riding or thereabouts, we'd reached our midway point in Killbuck, where we decided to pause for some locally made Amish ice cream:

Like I said above, not necessarily a healthy decision, but it was totally necessary. I mean, you can't fake smiles like this:

I'm not shaving my beard any time soon, by the way.

When we arrived back at the trail head, we stopped to enjoy some more refreshments when two riders pedaled up on this amazing tandem rig:

If you look closely, you can see camping gear and many other supplies indicative of a long bike tour. After speaking with the couple, they were in the process of riding the length of the Ohio-to-Erie trail in support of the Pan Ohio Hope Ride. It's a ride that garners donations for the American Cancer Society. The large ride they were going to take part in has basically been shelved because of the pandemic, but they are doing it anyway because people donated to their team and they felt they owed it to them. I appreciate the effort so much, and it's rekindled my desire to do the whole trail start-to-finish one day.

That said, on our way in and out of Millersburg, we happened to drive down a small portion of the Ohio-to-Erie trail that's on-road, and it did not appear to be safe for cyclists. No shoulder or berm, and sharing the road with a 55-MPH automobile speed limit, among other hazards. It appears I need to do some scouting.

At any rate, we had entertained the hope of doing the northern section of the trail on Sunday, but decided to head back to Columbus instead. I'm not at all disappointed by this, as we thoroughly enjoyed our small exploration of Ohio's Amish Country this weekend. We'll absolutely return some day in the near future.

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I'd like to close this out by throwing out a few random mentions:

• First, happy belated Father's Day to all of the Dads out there, and a very belated happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there (I haven't posted on here in quite a while - appreciate your parents every day just to be safe).
• Second, I wrote a tribute to our dearly departed cat Marvin on my other blog, and if you care to stop in and read his story, I'd really appreciate it. I hope it will inspire you to care lovingly for the animals in our lives and try to help other animals in need of good, loving homes.
• Third and finally, I've now reached 93 consecutive days of riding a bike at least once a day, even if just for a short lap around the block. Amidst all the chaos in our world today and in my own personal life, it's been one of my sources of sanity, and I hope you have been able to find something like that in your own life. Regardless of your opinion of what's been going on lately, I hope you've been taking some time to care for yourself and care for others in the process. The best defense against illness and suffering is living well (and eating healthy!), and that helps us make the world around us a better place.

One week until 100. Can I make it? Sure I can. Happy riding, everyone.

We Can Ride Through This...Together

Traveling can take you places, and not just physically. After more than 2 months of not going anywhere, my life has begun to feel even more bizarre of late: I've now traveled out of state twice in two consecutive weeks. I'm a bit floored by that last sentence.

Before you lecture me for being too cavalier during an ongoing pandemic, let me reassure you that I don't view myself as truly fortunate for having taken these excursions. Both trips were not for pleasure.

That's not to say that I didn't try to find blessings in the midst of these trips, namely in the form of my spirit animal, the bike. Last week, I was in Indianapolis for a few days of work and managed to sneak in a few socially-distanced bike rides. For three days this week, I found myself in New York City and did the same:

This trip was family-related, even though we have no family living in NYC. For those of you who don't know, Faith (our daughter) was born with hemifacial microsomia and has been undergoing reconstructive surgeries for basically her entire life. Her surgeon is based in NYC and we were well overdue for a follow-up consultation, hence why we were there this week. Believe me, we wouldn't have ventured up there without a good reason.

With that, we as a family remain ever grateful for the MyFace Foundation, who provides lodging, travel aid, and other assistance for people like Faith and their families. Without them, trips like this wouldn't be possible at all. I'm happy to report in brief that she's progressing as expected, though we will likely be returning in the near future. Let's hope the global situation improves by then.

I mentioned that this wasn't a pleasure trip, and that's the truth. While we were there, we were required to abide strictly to the CDC guidelines, maintaining social distance and wearing masks in public places. We were also extra diligent about overall cleanliness, which included washing hands extremely often, using sanitizer whenever possible, and washing our clothes every day.

That last line is actually what granted me a little time to ride on our first morning. I was on laundry duty, so while the clothes were in the washer, I bought a CitiBike day pass and took a brief ride around the Kips Bay area:

We were only a couple blocks from the East River Greenway, and that seemed like a good direction to head. Let me tell you, this was one of the most unique rides I've ever taken. This regularly crowded trail was mostly desolate:

On a regular day, even I might find this trail to be a bit much to navigate. On Wednesday morning, it was quite easy. I'm not recommending everyone go out and clog up the trails. What I do agree with is regular outdoor activity while practicing appropriate social distancing. If I had encountered a full house, I would have turned back and headed back to the apartment. When I did head back, I washed up immediately upon return and changed clothes. In fact, I did this just about every time any of us left the apartment. Overkill? Maybe. Better safe than sorry? Of course.

Speaking of, for safety reasons, Rae and Faith agreed not to participate in renting the bike share bikes. Even I find them a bit cumbersome, and even with the lack of traffic on the streets, I'd never want to put either of them in a compromising situation. We still felt it important to get outside for a little bit each day we were there, so we took a few walks when time permitted. On one of these, we decided to pass through Times Square. It looked truly surreal:

We did have a bit of an ulterior motive with that decision in that we were hoping it would help Faith to appreciate just how big this event is in human history. She's been to Times Square during "normal" times, and I think once she saw that all of the famous stores and theatres were closed, it resonated. I know it struck me pretty hard, even though I was expecting it.

I did try to work a little more "formal" education into one of our walks. Since we couldn't go to any real historical exhibits, I decided we should take a short walk to Stuyvesant Square Park to teach some history. Stuyvesant wasn't a great guy, but he was pretty important to the history of New York City back when it was called New Amsterdam. When I told this to Faith, her first response was "Is that why you always sing that song?" (referring to the catchy tune by They Might Be Giants) and she learned a bonus music lesson too. We also got a good chuckle out of the Stuyvesant statue that had been adorned with a mask:

On our last day, I decided I wanted to get up early and take a nice long ride perhaps down to the southern tip of Manhattan. I figured it would be relatively easy from looking at the cycling routes, and also because most of them looked like this one in the Lower East Side on Chrystie Street:

I either overestimated myself or underestimated the map, because about 25 minutes in, I was still about 2 miles from the World Trade Center:

Knowing we had a full day of cleaning up the apartment and travel ahead of us, I decided to head back to the north. It was around 7:30AM by now, and once again, I was amazed by how little traffic I encountered on my way:

It was around this time I started thinking about us heading back to Ohio, to our town that we felt had been so drastically affected by the events of the world today, that I couldn't get out of my own head. I started thinking about how dramatically different New York seemed today as compared to how it appeared when we visited two years ago. I started thinking about how different we were as a family two years ago, when I hadn't even moved to Ohio yet. I started thinking about all that we've built and worked for, and how all of that was able to be permanently altered in what feels like an instant. And then, on the flip side, I started thinking about how a week prior, I was deep in the midwest, drinking a beer outside at a restaurant and feeling somewhat normal. I must have been having a really good bike ride, because I was all over the place, and not in a literal sense. But maybe we all are, and that's OK as long as we help each other to get through this.

On that note, I noticed on this trip that the stereotypical aggressive New Yorker attitude was mostly absent. I noticed a lot of people - I'd say 99.9% - doing everything they can to be safe and help others. People have asked me about my trip since I got back, and I gotta say, it wasn't so bad. I'd like to say it's because of people helping people. So whether you think this thing is serious or not (I usually tend to think the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the extremes), just do the right things. Wear a mask because it's really not that difficult. Wash your damn hands because you should have been doing that in the first place. Eat well and be active in your daily life. It's kindergarten stuff.

Obviously, we have arrived home safely, and I, for one, am much richer because of the travel. I can't lie to you and tell you I'll never take going places for granted again, but I can hope that I'll appreciate it more...and I hope you will too. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, as safely as possible.

Strange Bike in a Strange Land

I've managed to ride a bike at least once a day for 56 consecutive days. I wrote last week that even the shortest of rides can be inspiring, because adventures aren't seeming to find their way into my cycling life very often of late. Occasionally, there are those small rides that also seem like adventures...

As luck would have it, my job threw me a small adventure this week. I was asked to help out at our Indianapolis location for a few days. It was an adventure in that I'd be working and spending time in a city I'd never visited before. It was also an adventure because I haven't traveled in quite some time (not many of us have), and I'd be traveling for work to boot, something I haven't done in years.

On Monday evening, I was running over my packing list to make sure I had everything I needed not only for personal comfort, but also for working outside for 3 days. My girlfriend said half-jokingly "You packed your bike, right?" Well, I may not have taken my usual bike, but of course I did:

I knew I wouldn't have much time for adventuring between our expected busy schedule, but I couldn't NOT take a bike with me. As I mentioned above, I'd never been to Indianapolis, I'd never pedaled in the state of Indiana at all, and I'm trying to keep my daily cycling streak intact. A daily ride doesn't have to be epic, and actually my first ride there was pretty similar to what I do on a daily basis around home. After driving 3 hours and working a full day on Tuesday, I hopped on old Angel up there and took a short 1 mile jaunt to pick up takeout for dinner:

An aside, it's always difficult to find healthy vegetarian food on-the-go, and even more so in this current day and age. I was pretty pumped when I saw they had a wide array of tofu and vegetable dishes on the menu:

Another aside, I got a couple strange looks when I brought my bike in thru the hotel lobby to take it up to my room. Technically, it's part of my luggage, right?

As for why I took Angel and not my everyday bike, the main reason is that she's foldable, which provides additional travel space-saving capability if needed. I'd also feel less regret if something bad were to happen, like theft or vandalism. I hesitate to admit that, but it's true.

Anyway, mission accomplished on day one of my travel. An added bonus? Some restaurant restrictions have started to be lifted in Indiana, and I was able to meet up for some beer with my longtime friend Evan, who moved out there last year:

Of course, it was great to see an old friend and catch up, but I have to admit that it felt so strange to do so in public, face to face. I'd gotten so used to video and phone calls, I almost didn't know how to act.

On the next day, I did indeed ride once again, which was also nothing truly spectacular other than being in a different place than "normal." There was a Trader Joe's only a couple miles from our hotel, so I ventured over there to pick up some snacks for the drive home on Thursday:

Our Indy operations manager took my co-worker and I out for dinner that evening (not pictured), which was also pretty awesome. I will stress that if you don't feel comfortable going out in public, don't do it, but we did and it felt really good to be able to.

Lastly, I took a couple laps around the parking lot at the end of the day on Thursday. Nothing earth-shattering, but my personal streak is still very much alive because of it:

I'm not sure if there will be another work-related trip in the near future, but I'd love to go back some time. I saw lots of mixed use paths and rail trails that cry out for exploration, including the 26-mile Monon Trail that my boss mentioned several times. I'm sure when that adventure is meant to find me, it will. For now, I'm glad that I had a chance to do a couple of the things that make me happy while also enjoying a brief taste of a new place. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and that adventures find you, no matter how small.

Keep Yourself Alive

When I was in college, I worked Summers in a grocery store. There was an old man who would come in around the same time every morning, and he'd always buy the same things: 2 slices of fresh cheese, 4 slices of lunchmeat, and a loose kaiser roll. I used to look forward to seeing him regularly, and I'm pretty sure he used to look forward to seeing us. In hindsight, I think working the smallest amount of extra activity or human interaction into his life might have been keeping him alive.

Why am I telling you this? Because more than a week after 30 Days of Biking has ended, I've managed to keep my daily biking streak alive (49 consecutive days, according to Strava). Even with no real challenge associated with the activity, it feels good to say "I rode my bike today," and it's been helping me keep some semblance of sanity in this decidedly insane time. Or you could say, it's keeping me alive.

I know there are a lot of you out there who are starting to go a little crazy with this whole situation we're experiencing right now. It is seemingly dragging on forever even though it's only been about 2 months since major closures started taking effect. Still, I'm right there with you. I miss so many things that I (we) took for granted. Going out to eat. Going to sporting events. Going to events in general. Visiting family. And the list goes on. Keeping a semblance of order and routine is important, and even if it's repetitive, doing something productive is good for the mind, body, and soul.

I've been re-visiting a lot of the same businesses over the last couple months, and once again, if I can work it into a bike ride, it feels like I'm doing more for myself than just supporting the local economy.

I've noticed an interesting trend happening in the last week or so as I've been frequenting the same places repeatedly: the minimal staff that are working have started looking forward to seeing me just as much as I look forward to seeing them.

I have a history of this in my family, actually. My grandfather lived to be 93 and rode a bike to get his mail every day until about 6 months before his death. He lived in a development and their mailboxes were all in one location, which was about a half mile from their house. He didn't have to do this, but he made a point to do it. I think making his daily routine active contributed to his longevity. Old man, I'm a lot like you.

Some days are better than others. I'm putting all of this out there in hopes that you'll be reminded of things you can do to feel good during this time, beyond the obvious washing hands and exercising caution and so on. I'm speaking more about not letting your spirit languish. I'm not a ball of sunshine most days, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of finding something positive (riding a bike is my example, of course). The most difficult thing a lot of us are fighting right now is our own depression, and I believe we can get through this. So have a good weekend, and keep yourself alive.

30 for 30 and 5 for 5

When I last checked in here yesterday morning, I had yet to actually ride on day 30 of 30 Days of Biking. As I unexpectedly had the day off yesterday due to the potential for inclement weather, I made time in the morning for a quick ride in between rain showers:

With that short ride, I completed the challenge for my fifth year in a row. I look forward to the challenge each year, because every year offers something a little different. This year was more different than most, for obvious reasons...

In what I can only describe as a microcosm of how this year's experience felt on the whole, yesterday was very annoying. We were called out of work, only to see zero rain showers after about 9AM. With all due respect and gratefulness to having a job in this difficult situation, it was frustrating to know that I'll now have to spend my Saturday at the office. I know, beyond my control, but it still doesn't sit right with me.

I'm not going to blow a whole bunch of sunshine up your butt, even though I'm usually of the "focus on the positive" mantra: I didn't really enjoy this year's edition of 30 Days of Biking. As I'm sure most of you can understand, cycling is a thing that I love, but it can only excite me so much without the ability to truly share it with people I care about. It was difficult to get the family motivated to be involved because we couldn't really "go anywhere," and group rides were not a thing. This is also my first 30DoB that hasn't taken me out of my state or even out of my county. That in and of itself is bizarre enough to make me wonder how I actually got motivated to ride a bike every day for a whole month.

But therein lies the rub. I did it, and for 5 consecutive years, so that is pretty cool. And who knows? Maybe I inspired someone else out there to get on a bike. I don't have many standout memories from this past month like I usually do, but I decided to check up on a couple of my goals that I set for myself at the beginning anyways.

• Final mileage total: 323.7 (there is no mileage goal, I just like to see how far I traveled)
• Time spent on a bike: 32 Hours, 22 Minutes (also not a goal, but interesting to see)
• Commutes via Bicycle: 16
• Commutes via Car: 5
• Local Businesses Supported (on bicycle):

1. Grove City Brewing
2. Jolly Pirate Donuts
3. Hop Yard 62
4. Transcend Coffee + Roastery
5. Sideswipe Brewing
6. Boston Stoker Coffee
7. Land Grant Brewing
8. Third Way Cafe
9. Nowhere in Particular Brewing
10. Kenny Road Market
11. Local Cantina
12. Jeni's Ice Cream
13. Mona's Eats & Treats

When I look at it in those figures, it was actually a pretty good month. In a full circle coincidence, I stopped by Grove City Brewing again yesterday, the same place I stopped by on day one:

And of course, I have my health, my family, and my ability to ride a bike to be thankful for every day. Annoyances will never make me lose sight of that. We will get through this, and the ride will continue for hopefully long afterward. Thanks for riding along with me this month and always. Stay safe, stay healthy, and I'll see you on my bike.