Thanks to ride leader Alec Fleschner for a fantastic experience and this write-up!

This month’s ride, “Local Food,” was incredible! The weather was hot, but the route wasn’t too hilly, and each stop helped refuel us for the next leg. We had over 45 riders registered, and the route went just a hair over 23 miles. The weather predictions said that rain would be coming, but it held off until after the ride. Beautiful weather!

Starting from Whole Foods in Easton, we traveled to the south side of the airport and over to the Columbus Produce Terminal to meet with Jeff Givens of Sanfilipo Produce. He spoke for a couple of minutes on how the company has been providing produce to Columbus businesses and people since 1899, but he gave us lots of time to check out the Cash & Carry store. He also kindly provided us with bags with grapes and apples. Thank you so much!

After that, we headed north through Gahanna on our way to Coffee Time Bakery and Cafe. Check out Darrell McGrath's video of us riding down Bridgeway Ave:

At Coffee Time, we fueled up on sweet treats and coffee, as well as looking around at their baking supplies, scoping out the candy shop, and just relaxing for a few minutes before we took off. 

Finally, we headed to Nazareth Restaurant & Deli. The owner, Hany Baransi, was considering leaving the business after a man wielding a machete attacked patrons in February of this year, making national news. However, he has remained and recently remodeled. He was kind enough to talk to us about his food and provide us samples of hoummus and baba ghannoug, along with fresh pitas for dipping. 

Our bikes laden with food, we headed back to Whole Foods. Thank you to everyone who rode with us! We hope to see you next month!