Cleveland's my gym: Lake Rd

Summer is bike-ride season for me. Lucky, Cleveland has awesome places to ride on. I love riding though the Cleveland Metroparks, and through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park; they have awesome bike trails, there are restrooms available, and you see gorgeous scenery. However, I am a destination-driven rider. I want to go places. I want to see places. I want to experience places. So for every time I’ve rode on a Metropark trail, I’ve rode  to “somewhere” at least 5 or 6 times.

Rocky River, OH. June 2014

Sometimes the Metroparks can be “the destination”. I love (LOVE) riding my bike to Huntington Beach. I ride there a few times a year from the East Side, but my favorite part of this ride is the stretch between Rocky River and Bay Village. This 5-mile segment takes the average rider (me) under 30 minutes to complete. It's a relatively easy terrain to ride on because it’s mostly flat, and it only has a few small "hills" along the way (the hardest one being around Bradstreet’s Landing Park).  There are no bike lanes on Lake Rd, but since it’s common to have riders on this stretch of the road, the drivers are generally mindful of (and sometimes kind to) cyclists.

Bay Village, OH. June 2014

Along the way you’ll see beautiful homes and lakefront parks. At the Rocky River end you’ll find some boutique stores, a local “farmer’s” market, and a few restaurants. A short 5-mininute ride (under a mile) southwest towards Detroit and Old Detroit roads will take you to many more cool stores, coffee shops and restaurants, and it'll give you a more “Downtown” Rocky River experience. At the Huntington Beach end, well there’s the beach. This beautiful beach in Bay Village is one of the nicest beaches in the Cleveland Area. It's clean and manicured, there's no trash around, and people are always having fun and at their best behavior; kudos to Cleveland Metroparks! While there, you can have a picnic, you can go sun-bathing, or you can go for a swim. If you are up for a hike, you have Huntington’s Reservation literally across the street. Throughout the summer there are multiple events both at the beach and at the reservation. My usual routine though, involves getting some good ice cream at Mitchell’s Ice Cream (at the beach), and then I get back to my ride. But that’s just me.

Huntington Beach. June 2014

 

There’s plenty of free parking both at Huntington Beach and at Huntington Reservation. Bike-parking is available as well (at the beach). There are clean bathrooms at the beach, and additional bathrooms and changing areas on the reservation. There's a pedestrian tunnel that connects the two parks so you can easily go between the two. It's probably best to walk your bike through the tunnel, to prevent any accidents with the pedestrians. Once again, there are no bike lanes on Lake Rd so ride with caution, avoid distractions, and respect the traffic laws. Have fun!

Huntington Beach. June 2014

Huntington Reservation. June 2014

Huntington Beach. June 2014

Huntington Beach. June 2014

Guanábana and mango smoothie

 

I’ve been on and off social media, and the internet in general, for a week now. It wasn’t on purpose, though. I’m still not one of those people who go through life shunning Facebook only to come crawling back to it 3 weeks later. I’ve just been busy with other “offline” events well worth of my complete and undivided attention.

Fun. I went to a friend’s house-warming party where we celebrated his first home with good food (and plenty of drinks). He and his partner were great hosts, and they were kind enough not to kick me out of the party for pigging out on their coconut bread pudding! The next day, I attended my buddy’s beautiful wedding. I was impressed by all the love and all the happiness displayed throughout the whole evening by the family and the guests alike. Since it was a large wedding I didn’t have a chance to spend much time with my friend and his beautiful bride, but I’m sure they know I’m ecstatic for their happiness (and because they fed me and gave me awesome drinks all evening). Cheers!  Sad. I went to dinner with my besties to say goodbye to my friend who’s moving out of state. We will miss her so much! But I’m not going to lie; I enjoyed saying hello to that $1 burger I had while we were at it. Someone found a new deal!  Disruptive. We have contractors doing work on the house (and they are very good at starting at 8 am), so we kind of have to work around them in the morning, and my day goes off-track from there on. At this phase there’s destruction and dirt everywhere. Hopefully it will be over soon.

It’s summer too! That keeps me away from spending too much time with my devices. As you can tell based on my new blog-series “Cleveland’s my gym”, I’ve been spending time outdoors. Yep, despite the impression given by the previous paragraph, I’ve done healthy things too. I’m not just pigging out! I’ve been walking, running and commuting by bike. I’ve even managed to go on one of my favorite bike routes, a 45-mile ride along Lake Erie! Sadly, the highlight of this ride is an ice-cream stop half-way, and this time I couldn’t get my frozen treat!!! Stupid ATM system was down.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter; I make ice creams often. Smoothies though, are my favorite cold treats. Besides being luscious, smoothies can be a great tool for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you abstain from using non-natural juices and/or excess sugar, smoothies can be a great way to consume many nutrients at a low calorie cost. The high volume of the smoothies makes you feel full, and if you use fruits and dairy, you can stay feeling full for a while, courtesy of the fiber and the protein (and fat if you use non-skim milk) in them. They’re quite easy to make, they’re ready in no time, and you can actually take your smoothies with you on the go.

I don’t think I’ve shared a smoothie recipe so far. It’s surprising since I’ve been making smoothies for years, and I have more than one blender to make them. Hell, when I moved to the States the first thing I bought was a blender. I owned a blender well before I had plates, Tupperware, or a microwave. So this first smoothie recipe I’ll share feature two of the ingredients I grew up eating from my own backyard: guanábana (a.k.a. soursop) and mango. Guanábana can be somewhat sour and tangy (much like yogurt) and mango can be sweet and a touch acidic. These tropical fruits can be found frozen in many supermarkets, which is great because when using frozen fruits I can avoid using ice (I don’t use any on this recipe). Less ice means my flavors won’t be watered down I won’t have to add too much sugar. This smoothie is just 184 calories per serving, and it really celebrate the warm weather we are having. Oh, and it brings a little bit of Puerto Rico to my kitchen.

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (makes 2 servings):

184 calories, 34 g carbs, 3 g fat, 8 g protein

1 ¼ cup milk, 2% milkfat

½ cup non-fat yogurt

1 tablespoon honey

7 ounces frozen guanábana

7 ounces frozen mango

Optional: If using a glass blender-cup, chill it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Add all the ingredients and blend until combined and smooth. Drink immediately.

Alternatively, you can save your smoothie in an insulated bottle or tumbler and keep it in your fridge or freezer. The time you can maintain the smoothie’s texture will depend on your bottle.

Cleveland's my gym: Bratenahl

Although I absolutely love riding my bike, hikes - and especially urban walks - hold a very special place in my heart. I’m lucky; Greater Cleveland has many areas that are beautiful, have tons of character and are inviting to the urban hiker who is hungry for the stories told by both nature and man-built structures.  For these purposes, it’s difficult to think of a place that tops Bratenahl, OH. Like it’s the case with many other foreign-born Clevelanders, it took me a few years to even know this beautiful little village existed even though I lived just 4 short-miles away from it. That changed the day I bought this neat “guide” book Cleveland on foot, by Patience Cameron Hoskins, where she describes 50 walks and hikes around the Greater Cleveland area. I laced up my hiking shoes, I grabbed my book, and Bratenahl was the first walk I took.

Bratenahl is one of the oldest Cleveland suburbs. It’s bordered by Cleveland on its south, east and west borders, and by Lake Erie to the north. The former lakefront farmland quickly evolved into one of Cleveland’s first suburbs, and has housed some of the most influential (and affluent) Clevelanders throughout its history. As a result, Bratenahl has some of the most beautiful, palatial homes in our region, a testament to its wealth. The village itself is small; it’s about 1 square mile, and Lakeshore Boulevard is its main artery. As you go down Lakeshore, you see the grand old mansions with perfectly manicured landscapes, beautiful “normal” houses that are quite adorable, and some wooded areas that add to the charm of the village (and where I saw a fox for the first time). You can actually see stunning views of the lake through many of the properties, and if you are there just before dusk you can see breathtaking sights of these gorgeous homes bathing in the twilight. The sounds too can be surreal, so you may not want to wear headphones while you are there. A bird sanctuary, Bratenahl is graced with the intertwining songs of birds that graciously (for the most part) serve as a soundtrack to your urban walk. The village is so quiet that all you hear are those birds and the traffic from I90, which instead of disturbing, serves as a reminder of the city that lives literally across the street.

The best way to get to Bratenahl is to get off I90 at Exit 177 (MLK). If you are coming from the south (University Circle), just go down MLK all the way to the lake. You can park at the Cleveland Lakefront Park (or Gordon Park), and then walk East on Lakeshore Boulevard as far as you are comfortable. If you just follow Lakeshore all the way to the end of Bratenahl (E.140^th) the walk will be about 3 miles long, so a round trip will add up to about 6 miles, and it will take you about 2 hours to complete. The terrain is moderately easy to walk on; it’s mostly flat, with some small “hills” along the way. If you want to get more out of your visit, get a copy of Hoskins’ book for a description of the most notable houses (and their owners), some of them off-Lakeshore. There are restrooms at the park, but make sure to bring your own snacks and water, because there’s nowhere to buy them along the way.

I took a few pictures where you can see views of the road itself. The houses are what you want to see, but I felt somewhat creepy taking pictures of people’s homes to publish them online, so I didn’t. Trust me, it’s beautiful down there. Go and check it out.