After ten Columbus stops by e-bike, my birthday dinner needed two things: enough flavor to wake us back up and a dessert large enough to count as an event. We returned to our Franklinton apartment around 3:00 p.m. after completing the full birthday ride. The route had taken us through Scioto Audubon, German Village, downtown, Goodale Park, Ohio State, and back. We rested just long enough to become functional again, then pointed ourselves toward dinner. The evening became a two-stop contrast: modern Asian-American bar food at Cobra, followed by old-school German Village dessert at Schmidt's. Happy hour at Cobra Cobra calls itself an Asian-American neighborhood bar, serving food and drinks in a laid-back, upbeat room at 684 South High Street in the Brewery District. Our first photos inside were taken just after 4:00 p.m., an early dinner that made perfect sense after the ride. We ordered from the happy-hour specials: dumplings, chicken, and dan dan ...

For my Columbus birthday, we did not choose one attraction. We connected ten stops by e-bike and let the city become the celebration. Thursday, August 13, began at our apartment in Franklinton with a route ambitious enough to feel like an event: River & Rich, Scioto Audubon Metro Park, Schiller Park, Brown Bag Deli, the Book Loft, the Ohio Statehouse, Goodale Park, The Oval, Ohio Stadium, and finally home. Ten stops. Two e-bikes. One birthday. By 3:00 p.m., we were back at the apartment after completing every stop. That finish time is the simplest measure of how well the e-bikes worked for this trip. In a few hours, Columbus changed repeatedly around us—riverfront, wetland, brick streets, downtown government buildings, city parks, a university campus, and the Horseshoe—without any single transition swallowing the day. Stop 1: River & Rich Our lodging near 431 West Rich Street was more than a place to sleep. It was the anchor for both of our major C...