Pedaling about: Watching home renovations and visiting city market

Business kept me from going to the topping ceremony for Rainbow Air’s new tourism facility.

After a couple meetings, I took a bike ride late morning to check out the Niagara Falls City Market.

On the west side of Portage Road near the Gospel Mission, a number of cars were parked along the curb.

I checked behind me and took the lane to avoid the “door zone”, that space where a suddenly open car door could wreck you.

A two-door sedan pulled behind me and honked.

Inevitably, we met at the redlight by the cemetery.

She yelled something at me.

“Share the road! It’s the law!”

“Get on the sidewalk,” she said.

“Riding on the sidewalk is illegal!”

She turned up Haeberle. I continued to Pine Avenue.

At the market, the usual 8 or so vendors were there.

I grabbed asparagus from Senek Farms and two bialys from Emilie’s diner and headed for home. A bialy is like a bagel without a hole.

I took a loop through the tourist district and then headed up Third Street where an Amish crew from Franklinville was working hard on 3 homes being brought back to life by Merle Smouse. The porches have been rebuilt. The homes are now getting metal roofs.

He is likely a year from having the long-vacant properties back on the tax rolls. Smouse is opinionated and seems a bit stubborn but he continues to invest in the city even as he notes nothing changes.