Papa Tom

Hey, all.

I'm coming into Cleveland this Saturday with my wife to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We're not expecting a whole lot from the museum, so I want to be sure to have a back-up plan that includes biking.

Can anybody tell me:

1. Is the Lakefront Bike Path worth a casual ride if we just want to enjoy some sunshine and fresh Lake Erie air? (Speed is not our mission. Puttering along behind some tourists would be fine for us this time out.)

2. Starting near the R&R Hall of Fame Museum, which way should we ride if we want to get in about 20 miles, round trip, total?

3. Where should we rent bikes?

Thanks, and sorry for the short notice, but this trip is kind of spur-of-the-moment!

Tom M, from New Yawk.

Blackdays

Rentals:

https://www.spinbikeshop.com/index.ph...s/demo-rentals

Papa Tom

>>>Rentals:

https://www.spinbikeshop.com/index.ph...s/demo-rentals<<<<

There's a start. Is this place near the R&R Hall of Fame?

Can anybody respond to any of the other questions?

Blackdays

I'm not familiar with the Cleveland area. Spin might not be very close to the lake, but it would be my recommendation. They're an excellent shop.

wens

7 mile drive from the rock hall to spin. I'm not familiar with the bike path at all, so I can't help you there.

Speedskater

Copying from my post on a similar thread about yet another thread:

From an other Cleveland thread, I did a search and found this (pfd) map on the near shore route through Cleveland.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...GjkadlsPFdPZSQ

The Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway
https://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us...lakefront.html

Save for about 5 miles in downtown Cleveland, the rest of the route is residential.

Papa Tom

Thanks, folks. Please keep it coming! Any recommendations for which direction to travel from the Hall of Fame?

Speedskater

Lots of possibilities.
The newer "Tow-path" path might be one of them. It does mean first riding South through the industrial river Flats, but on a Saturday auto traffic should be light. The pave part of the path starts at Harvard Rd. then South to Rockside Rd. it continues South as a crushed rock path for a long long way. Or you could ride in the Metro Parks Rocky River valley just West of the Spin shop. Or the residential areas near the lake shore West & East of the city.

tligman

I strongly recommend skipping the section of Lakefront Bike path that goes to Downtown. It's not separate from the poorly paved narrow 2 lane road that goes along the airport and the lake and I didn't enjoy it one bit when I did it. Between the strong headwind off the lake and the bumps in the pavement every 5-7 feet, it was one of the hardest rides I've ever done.... not difficult physically, but I just kept thinking "why the hell am I doing this?"

Century Cycles in Rocky River is about 8 miles away from the RRHFM and about 6 blocks away from the Rocky River Reservation which is the northwestern end of the "Emerald Necklace" of parks. You could get a 20 mile ride there easily, and if you're not careful to turn around it could become 40 or 60 miles before you know it They might only have hybrids for rental, I'm not sure about that part.

If you bring bikes and want to actually start at the RRHFM, I'd head south on 9th, East on Euclid, North on Martin Luther King (Harrison Dillard Bikeway), and then follow the Lakefront Bikeway West along the pretty shoreline until it turns into the aforementioned road or East through a ritzy neighborhood with some decent hills and then turn around and go back when you hit the halfway point (or the border with the not so nice neighborhood).

I'm pretty new to riding and the area, but I'd be glad to offer more answers about any of this.

sonatageek

You can also rent bikes at the Ohio City Bike Coop -- they are not that far from the Rock Hall -- in the industrial flats.

https://ohiocitycycles.org/

Papa Tom

>>>>You can also rent bikes at the Ohio City Bike Coop<<<

I'd love to do that, but it seems a little out of the way from our hotel and the museum. Also, the hours don't work for us.

By the way, all, we arrive Saturday at 11:15am and need to be back at the airport on Sunday by about 5pm.

Love the info you're posting. Please don't stop. Can anybody else comment on the condition and safety of the bikeway around the Hall of Fame Museum?

iforgotmename

The road portion of the bike way is not the in the greatest condition but easily rideable. You can ride the trail up to Martin Luther King Boulevard and follow the Harrison Dillard trail https://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us...HDbikeway.html The surrounding neighborhoods aren't the greatest though. If you ride the trail east it goes to Bratenahl , which is a very nice section of beautiful lakefront homes. I wouldn't go any further than Bratenahl though.
If you are comfortable riding on the roads you can ride from spin and into downtown and easily get your 20 miles if you ride the lakefront trail. The ride would not be very touristy from Lakewood to downtown.
Ohio city is also a neat place to ride, it's just outside of downtown. There is the west side market https://www.westsidemarket.org/about.html The Great Lakes Brewing Co https://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/ and a few other resturants and bars. I am probably giving you way too much info...lol

dewaday

Okay, you asked.

You'd think downtown Cleveland would have some excellent lakeside trails, but you'd be wrong. From E. 9th St. your hemmed in by an airport to the east and a deep water port to the west. Apparently our founding fathers never considered public access to the lakefront, and it's been a huge point of contention ever since.

There's some great cycling in Cleveland, but for what you want, Spin is your closest option and a ride into the Metroparks. The Metroparks Emerald Necklace loops almost entirely around Cleveland and offers some fabulous riding. The Towpath is also a pretty nice ride, but it doesn't really start until about 6 miles south of E.9th and no rentals nearby. It does go for the next 60 some mlles through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park south past Akron Ohio.

This isn't to say there's not great cycling downtown, just that it's all pretty urban and there's no rentals nearby. A Saturday afternoon riding around downtown is a pretty cool thing if you know where to go and what to avoid. There's embarrassingly little traffic downtown on a Saturday, so riding is pretty casual.

All that said, there's some other opportunities that don't include cycling. You can probably figure 3-4+ hours inside the Rock Hall, and from 3-7PM Saturday there's a free Latino heritage music concert on the Hall plaza. The concerts are usually pretty cool. Right next door to the Rock Hall is the Great Lakes Science Center which isn't a bad visit, although somewhat geared towards kids, or kids at heart. Includes an Imax theatre currently showing Hubbel and The Deep Sea.

A 20 minute walk through downtown would get you to the Warehouse District (W. 6th and Superior area) with a decent selection of restaurants and bars. A quick cab ride would get you to Ohio City, home of Great Lakes Brewing Co., decent food and excellent micro-brews. Same area is West Side market with lots of good fresh local foodstuffs and character.

Last but not least, Cleveland Playhouse Square has some fabulous theaters dating from the golden age of Cleveland (no snickering). The State has a multicultural music fest this Saturday that would be very cool if it's your thing. Absolutely fabulous building built in 1921 and recently renovated to original condition. My wife works there, so I gotta push that one.

Cleveland is no New Yawk (some upside to that), but it does have it's charms and cool little places. You can practically walk the entire downtown area in an hour, so everything is close, it won't be too crowded and there's some great spots to just kick back and relax in an urban setting.

Geez that felt like the Convention Bureau, hope it helps.

Papa Tom

>>>Geez that felt like the Convention Bureau, hope it helps<<<<

That was excellent info...EXACTLY what I was looking for! It's starting to look to me like this won't be a great trip to build a bike ride into, unless we somehow manage to squeeze an extra day out of it. That's a bit disappointing, but a bad/mediocre ride would be a real drag on such an awesome late summer weekend.

We will probably take advantage of the other opportunities you mentioned - such as the Latino and international music events - and will definitely make our way to the Warehouse District. If we have time, perhaps we'll take a walk around the Emerald Necklace and scout it out for our next trip.

I guess that's all the info I need. Thanks a lot everybody. I look forward to visiting your city as a TOURIST for the first time - and not as a crime scene investigator!

Have a great weekend, all.

TM

garysol1 

While the Cleveland area does have some really great cycling opportunities they are not going to be convenient for you to get to from your location. I would listen to what dewaday says about rethinking your cycling plans. With that said thanks for the kind words about our shop guys.

Speedskater

The lakefront airport is all land fill. When I was a little kid it was a dump with open fires. The Western part "Whiskey Island" got cut off from downtown (now with limited access) when they re-routed the river over 100 years ago. If the city didn't start as an industrial port, none of us would live here now. Many of those new ideas limit access to the city and would force traffic to other already overcrowded routes.

dewaday

When I was a kid the Cuyahoga River burned due to toxic pollutants, indifference and status quo.

When was the last time you flew into or out of Burke? Anyone you know fly into or out of there?
Bridges.
No one lives in Chicago?

Sorry, but status quo isn't working. Cleveland has no focal point, no single area of social interaction and expansion. Playhouse, University Circle, Flats, Warehouse District, all islands, all ebb and flow in profit and loss because critical mass is never reached and sustained downtown. Cleveland's days as an industrial power house are over. It's time to change.

Ask any recent college grad if they care to stay here. Ask why.

Papa Tom

>>>>Cleveland's days as an industrial power house are over. It's time to change<<<<<

Damn...now I'm not so sure I want to come to Cleveland AT ALL!

wens

There are no jobs. Far more for that reason than any other.

tligman

You should still come to Cleveland, and follow the "fun downtown" advice instead of looking for a ride... i never even really thought of a non-cycling answer but they're right. Just don't MOVE here and none of Cleveland's problems will affect you

dewaday

Don't worry, we'll build you an "Industrial Power House Hall of Fame and Museum" where you can personally experience the glory days of "Big Brother and the Smelting Furnace", "ElectroPlating, Slight Reprise" and "The Electric KoolAid Acid Bath".

That's the effect, it's the cause that should concern people.

Speedskater

And "lakeside trails" would solve any of Cleveland's problems?
As for public access, from Rocky River City, east 13 miles to the Bratenahl line, I count at least 8 parks or public access points to the lake front.

wens

I'm not going to be drawn into an argument, and am hesitant to discuss politics, but the lack of a central social location is not the reason there are no jobs in Cleveland. If there were a significant number of younger people, a place would emerge. A lot of good things can be said about Tremont as a social scene, and it could develop into a social center, but, again, even people who want to stay can't if there are no jobs.

It has more to do with the industries cleveland historically associated itself with leaving and a lack of prescience to replace them, which is in the past and can't be helped, and a lack of a consistent economic plan for the city, in addition to cleveland failing pretty miserably at helping itself.

dewaday

Didn't mean to imply a lack of social scene was cause for the lack of jobs, though we are sort of mixing metaphors along our lakefront.

Your second paragraph sums it up pretty nicely. Although more attention to and focus on overall city amenities may have stemmed some of the corp. relocation of the last 30 years. But as you say that's past. It's the insistence by many to still think in terms of a manufacturing/industrial past, and the refusal to upset and rebuild that past that's among our worst problems. The lakefront is a small symptom of the bigger problem of not leveraging what Cleveland already has in order to improve it's future.

zacster

I'm too late to help Tom, but when I was in Cleveland a few years ago to visit the R&R Hall of Fame on the way to Chicago, I did a morning ride along the waterfront from the Hall out to Case Western. It was an OK ride but I didn't see any other cyclists along the way. If I had a map and knew where to go I might have done it differently, but given how little time I actually had it probably didn't matter.

I'll have to say that the city is otherwise pretty dead. We stayed in a hotel within walking distance and didn't see anybody on the streets other than at the Hall.

Chicago was totally the opposite. The lakefront there is very busy, and mostly accessible. I rode from the Museum of Science and Industry up north to the end of the trail and then back. It was the day of the air show and I had to detour onto the streets around Lincoln Park.

And NYC has one of the best waterfront bikeways now on the west side except that it gets too crowded sometimes.