Work Continues on Fall Creek Greenway Trail

Updated June 29 (see below):

Trail users on the northeast side of town have long bemoaned the condition of the paved trail in the Fall Creek Greenway, which is supposed to (eventually) stretch from near downtown all the way to Geist Reservoir. At present, the trail starts somewhere around Fall Creek and Illinois and continues to the west entrance of Fort Harrison State Park in Lawrence Township, some ten miles interrupted by a death-trap crossing at 38th Street.

Good News, Bad News on Westfield Bridge

Updated: 

Some time around Memorial Day, Westfield opened the bridge to traffic. Two things to know:

• There's a road (access to restaurants?) that crosses the south approach. I'll just say that it's "inconvenient" amd leave it at that. Southbound riders be aware.
• The surface is not particularly smooth.

Artist's conception, Westfield's Monon bridge

A Monon Bridge over 38th Street... Finally

Mayor Hogsett's bike

Indy's been promising for years to build a bridge over 38th Street for people using the Monon Trail. The trail crossing at the southwest corner of the State Fairgrounds has long been considered a "deathtrap," as cyclists, joggers, and walkers were forced to cross six lanes of traffic on one of the north side's most heavily traveled cross-town throughways. Construction began in March, 2020, on  a $5.5 million¹, seventeen-foot-tall pedestrian bridge, which — if progress on Westfield's bridge over SH 32 is any indication — should be finished some time in 2021. Or maybe 2022.

Not bad for a feature that's been promised since 2015, eh?

Indy Upgrades Illinois Street Bike Lane

Downtown Indy's new Illinois Street bike lane

I hadn't biked into downtown Indianapolis for a while, so when I turned the corner from Michigan onto northbound Illinois, I was astounded to see that the bike lane stripe at the right-hand side of the road had been scraped off, even though the "Bike Lane" signs were still up. It took a block or two before I noticed the bright green lane on the far side. Yep, Indy has (finally) moved into the '90s when it comes to bike lanes.

Your Bike Mechanic's Best Buddy

Park Tool AWS-1 Allen Head Tri Wrench

Park Tool AWS-1

There are some tools cyclists take along on a ride and some they do not. Smart cyclists carry a multitool (the bicycling equivalent of a Swiss Army knife) with standard hex wrench sizes and screwdriver blades, and maybe a chain tool – or maybe not. Multitools, even though they have saved more than person’s bacon on the road, are actually lousy tools for working. They’re designed to be compact and lightweight, not ergonomic and convenient. When it comes time for putting the bike on the shop stand for routine maintenance or repairs, that’s when you break out the tools that are meant for the shop: tools like the Park Tool AWS-1 Y-shaped hex wrench.

Hamilton County Opens New Section of Monon

What's arguably Indy's favorite multipurpose trail can now take cyclists (and hardy runners) almost all the way across Hamilton County as well as between Mass Ave and SoBro. On Wednesday,  county officials cut the ribbon on a newly-paved section some three miles long, giving users access to an off-street trail that now reaches all the way to the outskirts of Sheridan, nearly at the Hamilton-Boone County line.

It's a Cap! It's a Headband! It's a Balaclava! It's... It's a Buff!

Buff UV Protection Headband

Me and my buff

A gazillion years ago when I worked in surgery, one of the OR techs made himself a new "hat" every day from a length of orthopedic stocking. Never figured out how he did that - until I got a Buff UV Headband in the colorful Osaka print.

"What's a Buff?" you ask. Well maybe a better question would be, "What isn't a Buff?" It looks like a simple cloth tube maybe twenty inches long and five inches in diameter; but it's so much more. The lightweight Coolmax® Extreme fabric with its wild print can be twisted and scrunched into a headband, neckerchief, cap, foulard, do rag, pirate hat, hat liner, face mask, balaclava, hood... a version of just about any kind of soft headgear you've ever seen or heard of. And since it's made with Coolmax, it wicks away moisture to keep your head cool in hot weather and dry in damp weather. The knit on the UV Buff is tight enough to block 95% of UV rays, yet it's so stretchy it fits almost any head in almost any orientation. It's also treated with Polygiene® active odor control if you don't like your headgear getting stinky.