Jump to content

The Watering Hole


Recommended Posts


I forgot to mention another former mall, Grand Village Mall, located in Grandville, that closed in the late 1990s. Today, the majority of the building contains Mars Hill Bible Church. The original layout of the shopping center is still intact, with one of the former anchor stores used as a sanctuary and the store fronts used for Sunday school, child care, and offices. The building also contains Playworld, as well as the Visser Family branch of the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So I bike home every Saturday Night from work decked out in several lights, a reflective vest, etc. and some nitwit still manages to plow into me at about 30+mph. Driving an SUV no surprise. Probably digging around in their glove box for a big mac. And what's more, they stop after they hear a noise, then drive off. Thankfully I apparently had the agility to leap over my handlebars (after I had already swerved towards the curb after realising the guy behind me wasn't one of the jerks who like to wait until the last second to pass a bicyclist) and landed on my cushion on the side of the road. I'm fine aside from some large bruises, but my bicycle is completely undriveable now.

Fun thing is I have to work tomorrow, and now have to walk 4 miles to work and back. I just called in but my manager gave me a "you're calling in because you have a bruise?" remark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I bike home every Saturday Night from work decked out in several lights, a reflective vest, etc. and some nitwit still manages to plow into me at about 30+mph. Driving an SUV no surprise. Probably digging around in their glove box for a big mac. And what's more, they stop after they hear a noise, then drive off. Thankfully I apparently had the agility to leap over my handlebars (after I had already swerved towards the curb after realising the guy behind me wasn't one of the jerks who like to wait until the last second to pass a bicyclist) and landed on my cushion on the side of the road. I'm fine aside from some large bruises, but my bicycle is completely undriveable now.

Fun thing is I have to work tomorrow, and now have to walk 4 miles to work and back. I just called in but my manager gave me a "you're calling in because you have a bruise?" remark.

You do realize that person committed a felony by leaving the scene of an accident, right? Although I don't know how you could possibly catch them unless you had a better description of the vehicle. I don't know if there would be any sense in filing a police report or not. Generally though, if someone runs into with a car, you need to call the police and file a report.

You have the worst luck in your bicycling, because I haven't had nearly as many problems as you seem to and I ride all over the place. What road were you riding on? Glad you are mostly unhurt.

On the plus side, you can get yourself a new bicycle on April 19th at the police bicycle auction on Market. Or if you're over 6'1" or 6'2" (I can't remember from our brief meeting at Founder's), I have a beater mtn. bike I'm going to replacing at the police auction that I'd let go for $5 or $10. PM me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was riding on 36th in Wyoming because the way Wyoming streets are designed, it forces all traffic onto major roads. Any other streets are a maze of cul-de-sacs with no one street penetrating all the way through. Very auto-centric, designed to control where cars go. Granted it is multi-lane and I usually have no problems on 36th.

The bicycle may be repairable. I haven't checked it over completely yet, but the only damage I can see is a horribly disfigured rear tire, a widened back support for mentioned rear tire, a mis-aligned brake for the rear tire, and a broken left mirror. I'm going to do some extra checking over of it and see what repairs will cost me.

Some witnesses in the area called the cops, but the driver sped away when they saw me get up and begin walking in their direction.. and the witnesses only heard it happen, so my only description is an SUV or van. The Wyoming police responded very quickly and offered to transport me the rest of the way home, the officer was very generous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone have advice for buying a bike at the Bike Auction? I went last year, and it was pretty intimidating! I was so unsure of which bikes were good, what constituted a decent price, etc. that I froze up and couldn't buy anything! Of course, the tip may be "buy something elsewhere!" since I'm not a bike expert, but I have to believe a layperson can buy a bike at one of these!

If it matters, I'm looking for one women's bike (5ft5in) and one man's bike (6ft1in) that can be ridden in the city but also on trails. I'm not in the market for anything fancy, but need them to last for a few years.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone have advice for buying a bike at the Bike Auction? I went last year, and it was pretty intimidating! I was so unsure of which bikes were good, what constituted a decent price, etc. that I froze up and couldn't buy anything! Of course, the tip may be "buy something elsewhere!" since I'm not a bike expert, but I have to believe a layperson can buy a bike at one of these!

If it matters, I'm looking for one women's bike (5ft5in) and one man's bike (6ft1in) that can be ridden in the city but also on trails. I'm not in the market for anything fancy, but need them to last for a few years.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Just find me; I will be wearing a sweater with bicycles on it, and big yellow bicycle earrings. Happy to help out with the assessment process, as I get the thrill of bicycle shopping & buying without having to think about adding more hooks in the rafters. (There will be other bicycle clubbies present, some not as obvious.)

Bring a notebook and pen, and start at about lot #50. (Earlier numbers have more bids. By lot #100 some bidders have won their prize. By #200 the bidding war is more like thumb-wrestling. IMHO there's too much bidding competition for anything in the first few dozen. The auction goes quickly, so it won't take too much of your morning to get to the triple digits.)

Write down the lot numbers that you're interested in. Do not look twice at a Huffy, Murray, or other department store brand. Skip the Elves & More bikes (there are always a couple of those in the auction).

Look for frame size first, then overall condition. Look for bent frames (skip) or forks (ditto). A bike in otherwise good condition, but missing a few parts, is a better option than an intact ride that's wearing evidence of zebra mussels. It's pretty easy to get a replacement wheel or pedals or seatpost/seat.

Once you have your list, watch the auction, and see what the earlier numbers go for. While it might be a learning curve (combined with the thrill of the noisy auction and all the hot evidence in the electronics area), it's not a steep one.

PM me about a couple of niece bikes that might serve your first purpose. (I'm the family pedal pusher -- surely this comes as a big surprise to all reading this -- and there are extras at Chez Veloise.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just find me; I will be wearing a sweater with bicycles on it, and big yellow bicycle earrings. Happy to help out with the assessment process, as I get the thrill of bicycle shopping & buying without having to think about adding more hooks in the rafters. (There will be other bicycle clubbies present, some not as obvious.)

Bring a notebook and pen, and start at about lot #50. (Earlier numbers have more bids. By lot #100 some bidders have won their prize. By #200 the bidding war is more like thumb-wrestling. IMHO there's too much bidding competition for anything in the first few dozen. The auction goes quickly, so it won't take too much of your morning to get to the triple digits.)

Write down the lot numbers that you're interested in. Do not look twice at a Huffy, Murray, or other department store brand. Skip the Elves & More bikes (there are always a couple of those in the auction).

Look for frame size first, then overall condition. Look for bent frames (skip) or forks (ditto). A bike in otherwise good condition, but missing a few parts, is a better option than an intact ride that's wearing evidence of zebra mussels. It's pretty easy to get a replacement wheel or pedals or seatpost/seat.

Once you have your list, watch the auction, and see what the earlier numbers go for. While it might be a learning curve (combined with the thrill of the noisy auction and all the hot evidence in the electronics area), it's not a steep one.

PM me about a couple of niece bikes that might serve your first purpose. (I'm the family pedal pusher -- surely this comes as a big surprise to all reading this -- and there are extras at Chez Veloise.)

Maybe can go to the auction together this year it would be fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My sister prefers Rivertwown for several reasons. For one, she works there. Second, it's safer. (She's told me she doesn't ever want to work security at Woodland because there's always something going on whereas at Rivertwon the extent of her duties is some paperwork, helping workers out of locked stores, and knocking on steamy car windows at night.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My sister prefers Rivertwown for several reasons. For one, she works there. Second, it's safer. (She's told me she doesn't ever want to work security at Woodland because there's always something going on whereas at Rivertwon the extent of her duties is some paperwork, helping workers out of locked stores, and knocking on steamy car windows at night.)

Amy and I generally prefer Woodland because it's closer to us, it has cheap movies (this is really the only reason we've gone there in the last year, except for a couple of visits to Penney's and Sears), and the anchor stores like Sears and JC Penney are much larger and have a greater selection than at Rivertown. Generally, we only go to Rivertown when we're already in Grandville to see her parents, and we mostly just shop at Kohl's.

Edited by fotoman311
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amy and I generally prefer Woodland because it's closer to us, it has cheap movies (this is really the only reason we've gone there in the last year, except for a couple of visits to Penney's and Sears), and the anchor stores like Sears and JC Penney are much larger and have a greater selection than at Rivertown. Generally, we only go to Rivertown when we're already in Grandville to see her parents, and we mostly just shop at Kohl's.

The cheap seats are great. I have a hard time paying full price for a ticket when you can go there a little while after the premiere for $3 bucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cheap seats are great. I have a hard time paying full price for a ticket when you can go there a little while after the premiere for $3 bucks.

We got the popcorn bucket with coupons they offered in the winter for $40. We then went to 7 or 8 movies there and were able to get admission, free refills of our popcorn bucket and a large soda using our coupons for about $10-12 per visit. So if you divide the $40 by the 8 movies, it was a date night with movie, popcorn and drink for a pretty reasonable price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not finding a thread on thrift shops or the 29th Street corridor, I'm putting this year.

The Mel Trotter thrift, at the Beltline and 29th, has closed up. Building is completely vacant.

I believe they are moving to a new location at 28th and Madison. I haven't been by there lately so I'm not sure if that building is done and opened or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have two free vouchers to see the last Actors Theater production of the season, Kiss of the Spiderwoman. They came with our season tickets. The show is at Spectrum Theater on Fountain on the GRCC campus.

http://www.actorstheatregrandrapids.com/

It's playing May 15-24th. Vouchers can be redeemed for any performance, you just have to call the box office.

To claim them, please email me at fotoman311 (AT) yahoo.com.

I will edit this message as soon as I can after they have been spoken for.

Edited by fotoman311
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.