I got back on my bike for the first time in nearly a month. Despite the downtime, I chose a rather ambitious destination, Exton Square Mall. Located on the western fringes of the Philadelphia suburbs, this was the only one of the six Philadelphia Area Malls for which I have responsibility in my company that I had not ridden (or walked) to. Given the distance, I knew it would be challenge, but my experiences last year taught me it was feasible to do in a day—I closed out the season ridding to Hopewell Furnace, which is further west than Exton Square.
Not following my normal pattern of taking lighter traveled road, I rode directly west along State Road 3, for at least half the distance to Exton. The gambit paid off. The ride wasn't that unpleasant and it allowed me to make to the mall in about three hours. After buying a smoothie at Dairy Queen and walking the mall, I decided to return via a more circuitous route. I headed northeast, utilizing the Chester Valley Trail for few miles, though it was hard to find a completed section. After about fifteen miles, I connected with the Schuykill River trail, a main recreation corridor in Philadelphia, which brought me back to Center City.
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Trip Statistics
Length: 70 miles
Time: 7 hours 18 minutes
Avg/ Speed: 9.6 mph
Avg. Cadence: 53 rpm
Cum. Ascent: 3,049 ft.
Max. Elevation: 604 ft.
About Me
Pogwatigue Perambulations
Pogwatigue: A Pottawatomie word meaning 'running water.' Early settlers chose this word as the original name for my hometown, Niles, Michigan.
Perambulation: roam, stroll, inspection of an area on foot.
My intent for this blog is to catalog my various local, regional, national, and perhaps someday international explorations. Originally, I found the blog a good vehicle to publish Google maps on the internet and all my initial posts have such a map embedded, but I don't limit myself to that genre. Almost all the posts will have a personal, geographic element. For the title, I chose Pogwatigue due to its ties to my roots roots and perambulations as a fancy, alliterative word to describe the content.
Perambulation: roam, stroll, inspection of an area on foot.
My intent for this blog is to catalog my various local, regional, national, and perhaps someday international explorations. Originally, I found the blog a good vehicle to publish Google maps on the internet and all my initial posts have such a map embedded, but I don't limit myself to that genre. Almost all the posts will have a personal, geographic element. For the title, I chose Pogwatigue due to its ties to my roots roots and perambulations as a fancy, alliterative word to describe the content.
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