![]() ![]() It could be another five or six years before the completion of the final five miles of the trail, from Harvard Avenue to the Canal Basin in the Flats. ![]() Now I wonder if it will happen before I turn 65. I longed for the day the Towpath would be finished and become an unbroken route into downtown Cleveland. I had to navigate steady traffic, merge ramps, construction and the suddenly opening doors of parked cars. The ride became more treacherous the closer I got to downtown. My Schwinn skidded out from under me, sending me to work bloodied, wet and bruised. One morning, someone decided to power-flush the soot off the street just as I sped by. I usually picked up East 49th Street, dipping down through the steel mills, easing across the railroad tracks. My bliss ended at Harvard Avenue, where the trail stops and the mean streets of Cleveland begin. The ride under the Valley View Bridge was spectacular. The scenery changed at Rockside Road, but the next six miles, north on Canal Road, blended gracefully with commercial and industrial developments. The first 11 miles were exhilarating - the sun slowly exalting above the trees, bullfrogs croaking, cranes preparing for flight. Once or twice a week, I unloaded my bike at a trailhead in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and began the 22-mile trek to my office downtown. I started biking into Cleveland from Summit County on the Towpath in 2002, soon after I turned 50. Business Hall of Fame and Community Leader of the Year Awards. ![]()
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