New York City

One year ago today, I biked from Philadelphia to New York City. Earlier this year, I created a Google Map of the ride directly in Google Maps. It was my first attempt to create an online map from GPS data. I was never particularly happy with the result, especially because Google Maps truncated the track. Since then, I have become much more adroit at creating and editing maps using multiple tools. This post is a recreation of that map. Except for the picture thumbnails, it works a lot better. I still haven't found an easy method to embed photos with thumbnails in maps. With the photos for this trip already available, I decided against recreating them in smaller size suited for the small map. It works OK in the full-screen mode.

-----Original Introduction-----

On August 23rd, 2008, I rode my bike from my apartment in Philadelphia and New York City. I first conceived this idea after reading about a similar trek on the Internet. A local bike club hosts an annual ride each September, but my speed is not fast enough to participate. Using directions obtained from this club's website, I endeavored to make the ride solo.

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Statistics
Length: 137.1 miles
Total Time: 16 hours 16 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.2 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 56 RPM
Cumulative Ascent: 7600 ft.
Max. Elevation: 502 ft.

Willow Grove (Almost)

The weather was too humid and I was too busy last weekend for long bike ride, but I didn't want to take the weekend of entirely. I left Sunday mid-morning with the plan to ride twenty miles out and then turn around. Twenty miles brought me just a few miles short of Willow Grove Park, a mall we own north of Philadelphia. I almost kept going, but decided against it. Though I returned on a route almost parallel to out-route, the return was about a mile shorter.

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Statistics
Length: 39.6 miles
Ride Time: 3 hours 26 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 38 minutes
Avg. Speed: 11.3 MPH
Max. Speed: 28.7 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 57 RPM
Cumulative Ascent: 1050 ft.
Max. Elevation: 465 ft.

Great Dismal Swamp

I brought my bike along for a weekend getaway to North Carolina's Outer Banks, but didn't pull it from the trunk to ride until midday Sunday. Absurd traffic south of Washington D.C. foiled my plan for an evening ride on Friday. At just under ten miles, my ride through the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was the shortest of the year. Moreover, it was probably the straightest and flattest ride of my life.

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A four-and-a-half mile two-track road parallels one of the drainage ditches, Washington Ditch, that criss-cross the swamp. It starts at the western edge of the refuge and ends on the north shore of Lake Drummond the center. With a name like Great Dismal Swamp, I expected a landscape similar to the Everglades, but I saw a thick, murky forest that didn't comport with my notion of a swamp. It didn't in part because at the height of summer, the swamp's water level is much lower than in Spring.

Riding out, I passed two hikers heading the same direction and four bikers returning from the lake. The distance was perfect for biking, but I think it is too far for hiking. For one thing, as unusual as the swamp is, after a while that effect wanes, especially on a straight, flat road. It took me around an hour to reach the lake and return. It would take four or five times as long to hike it, and through the humidity and heat it would not be a pleasant hike. While planning the trip, I had aimed to ride some additional trails. After my hour long ride I feel saw just enough, though it would be interesting to visit in the spring, when it takes on a more typical swamp appearance.

For all the sameness of the trail, Lake Drummond offers a welcome deviation. The far shore of the sky blue lake almost reached the horizon. A nice breeze blew off the lake. I stood at the end of the boardwalk wishing for a canoe so I could go farther. It was just as well I couldn't as I had a long drive back to Philadelphia that I needed to finish by day's end. On the return, I pushed myself to ride faster that normal, and reached my car with enough time to hike a nearby boardwalk trail through the swamp.


Statistics
Length: 9.0 miles
Ride Time: 52 minutes
Total Time: 1 hours 7 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.5 MPH
Max. Speed: 15.7 MPH


The picture is representative of what I saw for nine miles. Sometimes there was more shade and at one point a log lay across the road, but those are about the only variations worth mentioning.












End of the road.















Swamp?

Trenton

After a long, tiring ride to Maryland last weekend, I decided to to take a different direction this weekend. Quite literally. Instead of heading southwest, I rode northeast to Trenton. For most practical purposes, there are only two bridges across the Delaware River, which separates Philadelphia from New Jersey, that allow bikes: The Ben Franklin and the Tacony-Palmyra. But if I ride further north, there are others. The next available bridge upstream from Tacony-Palmyra is in Trenton. I set-out to make loop using these two bridges, separated by roughly 25 miles of river.

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I started the ride at 9:00 AM along the now familiar roads northeast of Philadelphia, past deserted buildings, vacant lots, and an oil refinery. My first challenge was getting on the pedestrian ramp for Tancony-Palmyra Bridge, but with a little extra riding I made it. I always thought the bridge would be a good vantage for a morning picture of the Philadelphia skyline, but I was on the wrong side and the sky was too hazy for a good shot.

About twenty-five miles out I stopped in Burlington for my first extended rest. The historic town has a nice waterfront with a good view across to Bristol, PA. I'm used to seeing the Delaware as an industrial, 'working' river so I was a bit of surprise to see this scenic stretch of it.

I had never heard of Roebling, New Jersey. I almost rode right past it. But the last two blocks of dense rowhouses were so out-of place in this part of the state, it sparked my curiosity. When I saw the grounds of the old factory, I thought it might be an old company town. A hunch that became a certainty as I investigated further. After the ride, I researched the name, and sure enough the Roebeling Company built the 750-home town for workers at the the new Lower Delaware millworks in 1905.

Having made it to Trenton, I knew I was more than half-way done. I stopped to rest in a downtown park and then sought out the state capitol building before weaving my way back to Pennsylvania over the "Trenton Makes, World Takes" Bridge.

The ride back to Philadelphia was surprisingly direct. I found a one road that took me almost straight-in and it was a surprisingly lightly traveled one. I really started to feel tired as I made my way down this road. Determined not to stop again until I cross the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I might have overtaxed myself a little. At the first gas station passed the Turnpike, a Sunoco, I stopped for some cold drinks. The very friendly gas station attendant invited me to stay and enjoy the A.C. I gladly accepted. He told me how he preferred cold to hot weather since he grew up in New Hampshire. When I said I went to school it Ann Arbor, he told me Bob Seger grew up there, which I didn't now. Turns out he was a big Bob Seger Fan.

Leaving the station, I realized I was on a more southerly course than I thought, but that worked out for the best, since it kept the climbs to a minimum. Once back in Philadelphia, I noticed some gathering clouds, but they didn't pose an immediate threat. A little further down the road I even stopped for a much needed breather before completing the ride. Unlike the previous week, I caught no second wind. I limped back to Rittenhouse Square on fumes, convinced that the wind blew against me which ever direction I rode.

Elevation Profile






Statistics
Length: 86.9 miles
Ride Time: 7 hours 39 minutes
Total Time: 9 hours 25 minutes
Avg. Speed: 11.3 MPH
Max. Speed: 26.5 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 56 RPM
Cumulative Ascent: 2050 ft.
Max. Elevation: 144 ft.




With the river in foreground, I thought the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge would be a good place to take a picture of the Philadelphia Skyline. It didn't turnout as good as I hoped. It might have been better from the other side of the bridge, but I had no desire to play Frogger getting over there.








In any established town in the Northeast, this architecture wouldn't be out of place, but this cluster of homes just appeared after riding through typical suburban fare. When I saw the nearby millwork, I connected the name to the possibility it was a company town and investigated further.







The building next the fire company is the town auditorium. The historical marker said it was one of the first buildings in the country with central air conditioning.










The New Jersey State Capitol. Home to some of the worst public policy in the country.