Emerald Necklace tour in Cleveland 9/3 (Sunday)

[smorris]

Copied from VCoC, Rovers, POC, Modern Vespa, etc:

There'll be Pride of Cleveland SCers, Cleveland Rovers SCers, Vespa Club of Cleveland SCers, etc. on what looks to be a k/a ride! In his VCC posting Peter Bohan says:

"7:30am - meet up at Coventry Caribou. Gas is available at the corner of Mayfield and Coventry, Caribou is a block away at the corner of Euclid Heights and Coventry. There is plenty of street parking in front of Caribou at this time of day. Grab some coffee, chat and get ready for departure...

8am - leave Coventry, head down Mayfield through Little Italy and University Circle and take Martin Luther King north to North Marginal. Last time I did this I ended up taking the Shoreway for one exit because North Marginal is cut off by the power plant; if this is a problem for anyone I am sure there is another way around. Take North Marginal into downtown, cross over the Detroit-Superior bridge. Detroit to Lake; Lake to the beginning of Valley Parkway at the intersection of Detroit and Slone. Follow Valley Parkway all the way to the Brecksville Reservation, then take Riverview up to catch Tinkers Creek, cut over on Dunham to Gorge Parkway, somehow transition to Hawthorn Parkway on into the South Chagrin Reservation. From here we will head north on Chagrin River Road to the North Chagrin Reservation. This will be my official end of the Emerald Necklace. From here I will loop back and take Wilson Mills/Monticello/Mayfield back to Little Italy for a celebration snack at Presti’s.

I am guessing it will be around 3pm by the time we are back in Little Italy, depending on how we do a lunch stop. My thought is to pack a lunch or stop at a local deli and eat in the park somewhere. I would also like to plan a few rest stops along the way that would allow people to meet up closer to their homes."

So sayeth Peter Bohan! Y'all come!
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More ride info:


"...have had requests for a meet up on the west side of the D/S bridge AND at the north entry into the park. I am thinking that we should be able to accommodate both...we could all pull over at just inside the park at the first large parking lot, (I am guessing around 9:15-ish)meet & greet, hand out maps, then take off for a nice long journey. "

More info as it becomes available.
Steve

[peabody99]

Im in weather permitting. I just need to figure out what time I can join after they cross the bridge, or enter the RR reservation.

[smorris]

This is tomorrow!

See ya,
Steve

[smorris]

Peter says:

The votes are in, and we will hit the road Sunday 09/03.

Here is the schedule:
7:30a Meet at Coventry Caribou (corner of Euclid Heights and Coventry) please have a full tank of gas, grab some coffee, and get ready to go.
8:00a Depart – Mayfield to MLK to N Marginal to Shoreway (this is a short ride at 55mph, but there is a bypass if anyone would prefer) to N Marginal, around Stadium to W3rd to Superior over D/S bridge to Detroit
8:30 West side meet-up in parking lot just west of W25 on Detroit
8:45 Depart – Detroit (Ilona and Mike join in as we drive past W56th) to Lake to Sloane, cross Detroit & enter Metroparks
9:15 Meet up in Rocky River – Scenic Park Marina: first right after entering the park, take next right and follow drive all the way to grey building. Bathroom/coffee/snack break here.
9:45 Depart – follow Valley Parkway
11:00 Arrive at Valley Parkway/Brecksville Road – turn left follow Brecksville to Royalton, turn right – many options here for gas and food purchases. Fill up, stock up, get ready to ride.
11:30 Depart – Chippewa Creek to Riverview Road to Canal to Tinkers Creek to Dunham to Gorge Parkway
12:15 Arrive at Egbert Picnic area – lunch stop, possible scenic overlook and view of Bridal Veil Falls
1:15p Depart
2:45 Arrive at Chagrin River Road/Chardon Road – end of tour, head
back to Coventry via Buttermilk Falls, SOM Center, Monticello, Mayfield

See you in the morning.

[smorris]

(Cross-posted on various boards...)

Peter, thank you so much for putting together a spectacular ride! Despite a little weather, it was a wonderful trip through some areas I'd never been to before. Maybe because of the weather, there wasn't the usual weekend traffic in the Metropark, which was nice.

For me, joining up in Rocky River at the boathouse, then completing the tour to the east side and then riding home west again, was 127 miles, completely encircling Cleveland. Coming back on Clifton the Blue Angles flew directly overhead! That was pretty spectacular!

I've posted photos from various points along the way. These are with the old Elph pocket camera, so they are not too sharp compared to my normal photos.

http://smorris.smugmug.com/gallery/1848515

At best count, there were 13 of us at different times along the way, including the fellow who saw us and turned around to join, and then promptly dumped it in a turn. Good thing he was mostly OK, and there was a doctor in the car right behind him!

It was great to put faces to names for those of you I hadn't met before, and good to again see those I do know. We had people on the ride from Vespa Club of Cleveland, Pride of Cleveland SC, and the ModernBuddy.com and ModernVespa.com forums.

[smorris]

We did it again today!

Well, part of it. I've been wanting to get Deb out on her Metropolitan more than just around the local neighborhoods, Avon Commons, and one trip to Crocker Park.

So early this afternoon we hitched up the scoots and headed north to the lake. After we got to Lake road, we took it east until we got to the Bridge over Rocky River, and then went down into the park. We had a nice lunch in the marina restaurant, and then headed south. Unlije yesterday, the valley was full of traffic, and Deb doesn't go very fast. So we pulled over several times to let streams of cars go by. She's OK until we get to the curves, and then she slows down to a crawl. We stopped for the sights a couple times, stopped at the nature center (our 9 year old had never been there before) and stopped at the falls. Then we hit Bagley and headed west and home. We saw probably 10-12 scooters, all larger maxis.

Round trip was almost four hours, and was exactly 50 miles. Not bad for someone who has ridden a grand total of 150 miles in the 11 months prior to today!

Other than being scared a bit of the traffic and road condition in Rocky River, the traffic backing up behind her, and the curves, she said she had a great time. All it takes is more seat time!

And I'm now at 2526 miles with six days left until my scoot is a year old. Sue will pass me in a month or two!