Route51 Commuter Ride, ClohnArt Sighting

10.15.2015 20m

I got started very early, in Mount Oliver at about 0600. Rode through Carrick and Brentwood to arrive at the McDonalds on Banksville Road at Route 51 at about 0620.

By 0730 I'd been jointed by StuS, PaulH and Marko. Our goal was to ride Route51 from Brentwood to the West End Circle, which has been considered as a very bike-unfriendly section of a major stroad. One cyclist had been told by a gendarme that cycling wasn't allowed on Route51. So this was a sort of freedom of navigation exercise.

Funny thing was, the ride went as smooth as could possibly be; it was very pleasant. The road was recently paved. Everybody played really nice. Before I expected it, we were at West End Circle where Paul took this photo:


Then we rode across the West End Bridge. This bridge has a sidewalk, which leads to a three-flights staircase; bike fail so we took the lane. Coming off the bridge and stopped at a red light, a driver in an adjacent Mercedes rolled down the window to assert, that's not right, it's just not right.

I said, Excuse me? What's not right? He explained that us taking the lane and slowing down cars wasn't the right thing to do.

I said, We're both entitled to use that bridge. He said, But I pay for that bridge. I said, hey I pay for that bridge, too. I'm not bothering you about your using it, why are you bothering me? Don't bother me.

And he shrugged and rolled up the electric window. He wasn't mean or vulgar, he just engaged in conversation at a red light. I disagree with him, but he was a gentleman and civilized.

If they want me on the sidewalk, I'll ride on the sidewalk - when the sidewalk transitions to a ramp and not a three-story staircase.

Rode to GTBR. Thence to Big Dog for pourover coffee and to spend an hour. When it turned 11:00 I rode out onto East Carson Street. I happened to see a man gluing a poster up on a storefront and it turned out to be @ClohnArt, which is very cool.



I rolled over to Thick and picked up a small item I'd ordered. On the way back I tried to spot the street number of the place with the poster, but the poster wasn't there anymore. Later a tweet from @ClohnArt explained that the police had stopped and made him take the poster away. It's too bad, it was attractive and brighted up the space. I hope it ends up in a good spot.

Rode back up 18th Street which is always fun, to Mount Oliver.