We're on a trail to nowhere...

Well, we were (past tense) on a trail to nowhere. But now we're finally on a trail to somewhere, and what I did yesterday proves it.

As the Peace Bike and I took a tour of the east side of Cincinnati, the very first thing we did was contravene an Allowed Cloud. Allowed Cloud defiance was all the rage last year, but even then, I wouldn't have done what I did yesterday. But along comes 2009, and I went right ahead without hesitation.

Cincinnati has a trail to nowhere: It runs northeast from downtown and simply ends at a roped-off industrial ruins. But yesterday I noticed that US 52 doesn't have the best cycling amenities, even after the multimillion-dollar reconstruction. So I asked myself what could possibly go wrong if I continued biking on the trail past the barrier:



Was I legally wrong? It would take all the legal knowhow of Clarence Darrow, Griffin Bell, and Abraham Lincoln to figure that out. Even if it was private property, it was certainly abandoned. If you abandon perfectly good items by leaving them out on the curb for the trash collector to take, do you have any business complaining if someone bops along and takes them?

I benefited from what I did yesterday - and society benefited as well. If I didn't take the initiative, who would? Real property has become concentrated so heavily in the hands of a few that it's an oligopoly. These days, you're on the property of a large business if you take a step in almost any direction, and the problem has to be exposed because it's unsustainable.

Now we know how emboldened I might have become if the '88 election had turned out better.

While I was biking through the forbidden zone behind the Allowed Cloud, I thought I was busted when I saw an official-looking white truck milling about up ahead. But all it did was turn off onto US 52.

As icing on the cake, I went through the roped-off area again on the way home. Quickest route, so why not?