Fear and Trembling: Geography

Three schizophrenics all in a row

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:57:08 GMT

I had every intention of biking out to Iroquois Park to meet my family for a picnic, but a flat tire changed my plans today. Before I get to the details, I promised the owner of The Bike Depot that I would write him up in my blog after he got me back on the road today. The Bike Depot is a new bike shop just off 1st street in Downtown Louisville that has maintenance service, new and used bikes for sale, and a bike courier service. This shop is a bare-bones, no nonsense shop that gives you good prices instead of frills. They carry lines of bikes that give the rider the most for their money (Like Marin) and are advocates for the bicycle community on Louisville. I was in the other day looking for a bike for Tracy and the guy in the shop, Russ, answered my questions directly and honestly without trying to push me toward some high priced bike. If you are in Louisville, this is the place for repair and sales.

Anyway, I found out my tire was flat this morning and took the bike to Schwinn shop down the road and had the tube replaced but the pie-eyed kid doing the work did not look for the reason for the flat in the first place. By the time I figured out that the tire was leaking I was south of the University of Louisville on the way to Iroquois Park. I bought street map and hoofed it 10 blocks north to the University of Louisville to catch a bus home. The TARC system has bike racks on their buses, so I caught a north bound bus to downtown with the hopes of getting an eastbound to Frankfort. I passed through some great brownstone neighborhoods that reminded me of an upscale Wrigleyville. When I got uptown I found a bus stop for the eastbound buses but I could not makes heads or tales of the schedule (I did not recognize the stops) so I asked for the help of three fellow Louisvillians sitting at the stop.

"Does the LaGrange bus go by Frankfort Ave?"

"LaGrange? That's the bus to the Prison, you going the the prison? You ever been in Prison? Why you goin' to the Prison?"

The other two people chimed in...

"Prison? Why you going to the prison?"

"Prison? I've been to the prison. The prison is in LaGrange. Prison, Prison, Prison, Prison....

It was then I realized I was probably talking to the wrong people for directions and that these three people were obviously waiting to take a bus back to the home. It was then that I looked down the street and saw the the glorious sight of The Bike Depot. I walked the bike down the block and Russ had me back on the road within minutes. He found the wire that was causing my flat in about 2 seconds of having the tire off and I can't believe the kid from this morning missed it. After I got back on the road I realized that I was painfully close to home when I got lost the other day. I got home about 3:30 after wandering around Louisville for the last 4 hours. Tracy and the kids continued on with the picnic without me.

Getting to know Louisville from the ground.

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:47:10 GMT

Yesterday's bike trek took me from Seminary Village in East Louisville, all along the Ohio River to the far Northwest end of Louisville. For the most part, there is a dedicated bike trail that runs from Cherokee park all the way to Shawnee park. This trail is an incredibly diverse path that takes you through dense woods, high and low end neighborhoods, rail yards, docks, the canal, the waterfront, industrial areas, a golf course, and even runs you past Louisville slugger field. The path is well maintained and it let me concentrate on the unfolding terrain instead of keeping my bike from crashing. The whole time I was riding, I was wishing that I had a camera and a GPS device to record my trip.

Like most metropolitan areas, I suppose, there was wide swings of socioeconomic and racial make up as I rode along. In the span of just an hour of riding I encountered upper class white families on picnics, Hispanic kids playing in the water feature that runs from downtown into the Ohio, homeless men cooking on a fire near the riverside rail lines, construction workers working on the I-64 west, poor white kids running a beat up scooter on the bike trail, young black males in thumping cars, well dressed black women waiting for buses to take them to work, urban professionals that work downtown, and college kids having beers on Baxter street in the late afternoon.

I decide to go straight through the downtown on the way back but I took some bad advice and ended up on Bardstown Road heading southeast away from my apartment. Bardstown road is not exactly bike friendly and I ducked into the Wendy's and called for a rescue from my wife. After about 30 miles of riding that day my legs were aching (the local bike riders talk about how flat Louisville is, HA! they have not seen where I came from). The route I was riding was taking me further from home and despite my lack of Louisville road system knowledge, I could tell that I was not going in the right direction to get home. Tracy mercifully came and picked me and the bike up in the Explorer so I could get the pizza ready for guest that were coming to dinner (We have some new friends across the street!)

Any profound commentary about my trip through Louisville? I guess not. It is what it is and I am glad that I got a chance to see the world from underneath I-64 instead of from on top of it moving 70 miles and hour.

Louisville is a great place to bike

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:50:42 GMT

In preparation for my next weigh-in, I have been taking longer and longer bike rides around Louisville. Every trip I take gets longer and longer as I expand my knowledge of Louisville geography. I found a dedicated bike path that takes me down to the river from Cherokee park (a large park a few minutes away from my apartment). I did not get all the way down to the river because it was getting dark, but next time I am going to try and make it all the way to Shawnee park, which is on the west edge of Louisville (I am on the eastside). Louisville, according to what the locals are saying, is putting a lot of efforts into increasing their bike friendly pathways. I can tell you that the scenery is much more interesting than getting blown around on Route 45 between Tolono and Champaign. On my journey I found a street just off downtown that is filled with houses that look like they could be inhabited by the Addams family. It was obviously a street of "old money" at one time.

I was having a conversation with my friend Kevin about geography and we both agreed that it is fun getting to know the lay of the land of a new town. We also agreed that it would take at least a year to learn the major landmarks, streets, attractions, services, shopping and most importantly, the people of Louisville. Kevin moved to Seattle several years back and had to do the same thing. My next project is to figure out the TARC system (the buses). The bus route goes across the river to Clarksville (where I work) so I am going to do some figuring if getting a $35.00 monthly pass is worth the money. It is 21 mile round trip to work and if I work 3 shifts a week it would cost me about $36.00 in gas alone (@3.00 a gallon) so it might very well be worth it when wear on my car is figured in and any other additional trips my family might take on the bus. I can also study Greek on the bus and my nerves will be spared the horror of driving over the Ohio twice a day. The deciding factor is how long a trip will take and whether or not I can get home at 11:00 PM from a late night shift on a weekend.

How many miles can I shave off my driving in a year by using my bike, the bus system, walking and being located so close to shopping and services? It is an interesting question. Vehicle cost are a huge part of a poor person's budget and I think that when you are trying to cut cost, you go for the largest percentages for maximum effect. I need to find some per mile cost for my particular vehicles to make accurate estimates. If I can cut 2/3 off my vehicle cost it would be a significant savings. Now getting my wife on board my little plan is an other story all together. She will come around eventually and I can always wait for one of my cars to break down and leave it dead for a while. It might take such extreme measures.