This is the Commute That IS

Last year I wrote about my bike commute from my Old Louisville home to Layne Elementary in Valley Station. I received many touching comments about that post, ranging from "yikes!" to "get a f**ing job! LOSER!!" to "an inspiring melodrama sure to be a hit with grandparents and teenagers alike".  Very gratifying stuff.  So gratifying, that I just have to share my latest commute with the digiterati, even though it's with me only in the past (I'll be at a different school next year). 

The school year is almost over, and so is the sweetest lil' commute I've ever had.  I've been at a different school, Cochran "in the city", this year.  It's real close to U of L, between the fire station and "24 hour Plate Lunch" on Gaulbert.  Fortunately, I've been able to bike to work almost every day this year.  Despite rain, snow, hail, blizzards, tornados, and wind storms, none of the severe weather events from the past decade kept me from bike commuting over the past school year. 

Firstly, check out my ride.

To the untrained eye it may look like just another girly bike, but this is a 40+ year old Belknap Bluegrass (remember Belknap Hardware?  HQ here in Louisville?  Closed in the early 80s? This is one of their bikes, though built by a different company, possibly Raleigh).  Here's what I like best about it:

- 3 speed internal gear (everything old is new again, Nexus fans)
- front basket (very convenient)
- chain guard (wear khakis with confidence!)
- green (everything old is new again)
- fenders (stop the splat)

This is the perfect tool for the job.  While this bike wouldn't cut it on my epic Layne Elementary commute, it is just the thing for my less-than-epic 4 block ride to work.  Sweet, sweet slowness, cruising down the street.  Very nice, indeed (do you hear the soulful soundtrack?  sounds like a Barry White song?  listen a little harder).

As the kids down on the corner don't say anymore, this is how I roll:

Down the street,

                                         Around the corner,

                                                                       and past Central Park on 6th Street.



This church at 6th and Magnolia is now a home.  I once went to a birthday party here.
There was dancing in the pews.



                         Belgravia Court.

I can see the fire engines come and go from my classroom window.

Ahhh, the sun shines on Cochran Elementary and BOOM I am at work! 

Door-to-door takes about 5 minutes.  Sometimes it takes longer because of a long light at Hill Street. 

It all feels so, well, so civilized.  Peaceful.  Unhurried.  Very nice.  It was like a dream, especially since I have woken to harsh reality that the Leviathan that is our school system wants me to teach somewhere else (I just wish I knew where). 

This Was The Commute That Was, Part IVb

Is it possible? Can a bike be ridden from the far western reaches of Louisville Metro to the city center . . . without getting on Dixie??

According to the city bike dept (yes, we do have one) my best option is to ride to the Louisville Loop near Farnsley-Moreman, take the bike path down to Chickasaw Park, and then head east to home. I did this ride a few times. It is very lovely and after TWO HOURS I was finally home. Once I was stuck for 45 MINUTES when a train stopped. Could there be a better, shorter, way?

I tried riding the sidewalk along Dixie and nearly passed out from the exhaust, and from fear.

I tried riding Dixie's Wide Wide Shoulder to St. Andrews Church Rd and heading home that way. St. Andy has no shoulder, lots of traffic, and a corresponding high level of fear. Uh-uh.

Finally I had a revelation: is this a road? why not ride down this little road? what's at the end of that road? WHOA . . . IT WORKS!!

Here, then, is the secret of the Golden Route Home, the Mostest, Epic-est, Bestest Bike Commute Ever.

First, I leave the workplace with a smile on my face and my helmet firmly planted on my head (hint for newbies - don't push the helmet back off your forehead; you risk forehead injury and serious dorkitude). I sleekly glide through the surrounding neighborhood, heading for Genius Insight #1, Pages Lane.

This may not look like a good choice, but don't be fooled. I've pulled over into a driveway to let these kind people and their death-machines pass me by.

See how much room they give me? And no one honks or yells at me to get off the road.

I ride until I can pull over, they don't kill me. It's not perfect, but it works.

I think this might be a gate up to Waverly Sanitorium. I'd kind of like to check it out, but only with someone taller than me.

So far my ride has been fairly pedestrian, so to speak, but now things get fun. I lift the metal rope and plow ahead.

I spy 4 or 5 deer, but only get this shot of two of them.

Look! I get to ride through giant puddles with no idea of what lies underneath!

Okay, I made that up. I've ridden this in Dry Times and I know there are lots of rocks and broken concrete down there. It's rideable.

This ride also has Mystery.

Who lives here? Or is it just a garage? Why are there always several busses parked out front? Will I be shot by a Valley Station Stereotype?

I just ride harder.

Turn up the gravel road and . . . where am I?

AhHAA!

Christian Academy SW!

St. Andy's with NO DIXIE!!

God must be smiling on me . . . .

We all have things we don't want to do, but must do. In all oil a fly may lurk. Every jar of Vaseline may get sand in it. Even my Golden Route has a smudge.

St. Andy's is that smudge. No way around it, over it, or even under it. I steel myself to ride through it, fast.

Go go go go go go go go go go go . . . . yeehaw! A sidewalk!!

Now, a word about cycling on sidewalks. First, you need to know that if you are over 11 years old (or is it 12?) it is illegal to ride your bike on sidewalks. I eschew the sidewalk 95% of the time. They are bumpy, dangerous to cyclists (think driveways, entrances to parking lots, and the like), and dangerous to pedestrians. Bicycles belong on the road.

HOWEVER, I make some exceptions. I will happily break the law when:

1) the road has no shoulder, is only two lanes, and is too heavily travelled to be safe; and 2) there are no pedestrians (which is usually the case here in Louisville. We just don't walk places.) This stretch of St. Andy's has lots of traffic, no shoulder, and there is a sidewalk that almost never has a pedestrian on it. When I did encounter two walkers I swung wide through the grass and said "Hello" before I passed ( to politely warn them).

Trolls used to live on this bridge and grabbed at me everytime I crossed it. Someone trimmed the shrubbery and now the trolls seem to have moved on. Maybe they are in a storm drain at Dixie and Lower Hunters Trace.

Soon I am past Doss and onto the secret sidewalk. This blissful little pathway soon peters out and I'm left to wrestle with a few hundred yards of more St. Andy, mostly by riding through parking lots.

A right turn onto Palatka, and then a left down a mysterious street.

Soon, it becomes apparent that "No Outlet" has no meaning to me!

I'm trail-riding in Iroquois Park - Bwuahhahahahaha!!

I exit near the stables and head up the no-cars-allowed hills. As you can see, daylight is fading. That's why I carry a headlight and taillight. I put both on the blinky to-be-seen setting, as the city has plenty of streetlights to light my way.

I zoom down Southern Parkway . . .

("Zoom," by the way, is highly relative term. I am confident my zooming is zoomier than some others, yet I also humbly acknowledge that most people who regularly cycle would put my zooming to shame. Just as in childhood, I remain a solidly mediocre, but determined, athlete.)

On 4th Street I pass my benefactor, Catholic Charities. Without them bringing so many refugees to Louisville I wouldn't have a job, or so many tasty dinner options.

Also on 4th Street is the mosque where many of my students and their families go to pray. People of many different nationalities pray here.

This is the old Masterson's Restaurant site. Soon there will be apartments for U of L students and, more importantly, FOOD.

Heine Bros., Papalino's Pizza, and Comfy Cow Ice Cream - the trifecta of Incredibly Good Local Eats - are all going to be here.

It's so nice to know I can replace all of the calories I burn cycling while staying close to home.

I turn off 4th Street, past Cochran Elementary, and through St. James Court. I am so lucky to live in this neighborhood.

And then I'm home! It took me just over an hour and I got to ride roads, trails, through a beautiful park, and through giant puddles on a not-road.

Unlike when I drive home ( in half the time) I am alert, refreshed, happy, and already have my workout done. All of those things make the extra commuting time completely worth it.

And I didn't burn any gasoline.

And I got to be in the woods, at least for a little bit.

And I earned a guilt-free beer.

And I get to feel self-righteous.