Hometown Ride

Earlier this month I flew back to my hometown for few days. By flying, I didn't have my bike with me for the trip and I dearly wanted take a ride while I was home. My brother in St. Joe lent me one of his sparingly-used bikes. It required some air in the tires to get it in working order. It wouldn't operate quite as smoothly as mine own, but most important it was with me and not 750 miles away.

The night before my ride, a strong thunderstorm ripped through the area and left plenty of damage in its wake. All along the ride, I saw signs of this storm's fury.

From my home, I rode downtown, jumped on the riverside trail for a short stretch, headed to the historic train station, and passed my old high school. The weather looked uncertain, but I decided to chance a longer rode and turned toward South Bend. On Hollyhock, I encountered, the worst of the storm's damage, a large tree completely blocking the road. My mom told me later, the paper carried a picture of it.

After detouring around, not over, the tree, I stopped at a property along Juday Creek that has literally been in my family for generations. Currently, it is owned by my aunt. I met the distant relative who lives next door. From there, I rode through a nearby university campus that bustled with workmen cleaning tree carnage and then I stopped for lunch at a Chipolte in a nearby development.

Back on the road, I started to feel the summer heat, but having reached the doorstep of South Bend, I wanted to continue to some old haunts, and explore a few new roads. I zig-zagged toward the former Walnut Grove home of my Grandma Kintz on Cypress Way. Though I hadn't intended to ride so far, I continued on to my Aunt Mary Jo's house in Mishawaka. My uncle was out washing the T-Bird so I complimented him on his nice car. It took him about fifteen seconds to recognize me. I only stayed long enough for short visit and to re-hydrate (my brother's bike didn't have a water bottle holder).

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From their house, I started the return ride. I rode through some of the new parks that Mishawaka build since I left town. For the rest of the ride I pretty much hugged the St. Joseph River, which took me along the East Race Waterway and to Leeper Park, where we used to go to feed the ducks.

I arrived home pretty spent and very thirsty after riding about 43 miles. I didn't have a GPS, odometer, or camera for this ride. I estimated the distance and created the map based on track I drew from memory.

Schuylkill River Cruise

I managed to fit two outings in to one Saturday. Riding home from the Mural Arts ride, I stopped at in information table under the Walnut Street Bridge to inquire if any open seats were available for the afternoon cruise down the Schuylkill River. The manager said he could fit one more on so I rode home, cleaned myself up, and returned to the dock for the 2:00 PM departure.

The Schuylkill River Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that seeks to enhance the river and its banks from Fairmount Park south, organizes these river cruises throughout the summer. The tour started heading upriver as far as the Fairmount Waterworks, an engineering marvel built in the early 1800s to supply the city with clean drinking water. A dam built as part of the waterworks forced us to turn around and head south toward the Delaware River. Passing under the South Street Bridge (current under re-construction), we entered a part of the river I had not seen before. We continued as far south as Bartram's Garden, which I visited by bike earlier this year, before returning to the boat dock.

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The Director of the non-profit narrated the tour. He highlighted a lot of the improvements his group has accomplished, active projects and items on their wish list. As a beneficiary of these efforts, I appreciated the chance to hear about them.

Fairmount Water Works

Skyline from Dupont Crescent

CSX Train
Philadelphia Gas Works in the Background

River Cruise Boat (left)
SRDC Improvements (center)
Art Installation (right)

Mural Arts Bike Ride

Philadelphia has a strong program that coordinates the installation of top-quality murals on blank walls throughout the city. Started in the 80s as an offshoot of anti-graffiti efforts, the Mural Arts Program grew in to a well-recognized community asset. Today, there are over 3,000 murals installed as of result of the program's efforts. They offer tours (walking, bike, and trolley) to the public. When I learned of the bike tour, I knew I had to give it a try. Yesterday, I joined four bicyclist and two guides on a five-mile tour that passed about two-dozen murals (I've linked to pictures of 15 in the map) in or near the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. Stopping a many of them, the guide offered background on the artist, the content and other facts about the murals. In addition to this background information, I found it helpful just to have the murals pointed out to me lest I ride right by unaware. Many times as he started to slowdown at the approach to a mural, I found my head swiveling around to locate it. I appended the official tour with a loop through Fairmount Park to bring the total miles for the ride to eighteen.

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Philadelphia International Cycling Championships

Philadelphia hosts one of the premier cycling races in the country. Riders from all over the world come to compete in a 156-mile road race. The course begins on Ben Franklin Parkway, heads north through Fairmount Park in to Manayunk, climbs 300 feet up a 1/2 segment of Lyceum street know as the "The Wall," and returns to the starting line along a similar route with a few easier climbs thrown in for good measure. The Friday before the race, a colleague mentioned a pre-race event that for a fee allows amateurs to ride the closed course. I researched it on Saturday and decided to give it a try.

I woke up a 6:10 AM, ate a quick breakfast, and rode down to the registration table. The ride started at 7:15 AM. Knowing I'd be among the slower riders, I positioned myself toward the back of the pack. As the ride started I settled in to a quick pace with the wind at my back. I held my own and even passed a few other bikers. Though not a competitive or time race, the presence of other riders sharing the same course and starting at the same time gave me good incentive to push myself to finish as fast as possible.

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I thought the Wall would be my strong point as I'm a much stronger rider than I'm a faster one. I tried to ignore the stream of bikers whizzing by me as I struggled up the incline determined not to join the few walkers. I rode all the way to the top and started to much more enjoyable ride back down the ridge. The best part came at the downhill ride near Wissahickon train station. I've ridden down this hill before; however, this time, without traffic or the stop light at the bottom to worry about, the flight down was a blast.

I finished the ride at 8:15 AM--I'm usually not out of bed at that time on Sunday--having recorded an average speed of 13.5 MPH, which is around 20% better than my average! After resting, I went up to investigate around the staging area for the pro race. I found a shady spot to watch the start of the race.

Having only ridden about 13 miles to this point, I chose to extend my ride by venturing in to South Philly. I don't usually like to ride in town on account of the traffic and stop signs/lights, but this seemed an opportune time to enjoy a random jaunt around around a very interesting part of town. It's really better explored on foot, but I appreciated being able to cover more ground. Even before noon the temperature was already stifling. I finished my ride just before 11:00 AM.

The finish for the pre-race amateur ride.

The Pros

Smokestack with a Roof.
It's actually a shot tower. In the Nineteenth Century, to make bullets, they would boil a pot of lead at the top, poor the lead through a screen, and let it fall in to a pool of water at the bottom.

Tree Street in South Philly
(and yes I noted there are no trees on Tree Street)

Memorial Day Ride

I used the Memorial Day holiday to take a second relatively short bike ride on the long weekend. I started a little before Noon and rode west along the shortest route out of Philadelphia, Baltimore/Whitby Streets, into Delaware County. Once across Cobbs Creek, I started to take random turns but kept to a generally westward track and found myself in Lansdowne, a small suburban community with a nice downtown. Outside of Lansdowne, I did something radical, I turned my GPS map off and started navigating solely by interest and a rudimentary knowledge of the neighborhoods, which resulted in a some backtracking and a few loops.

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After riding serendipitously for an hour and half and thirteen miles, I had nearly reached Springfield Mall, one of the properties in my assigned portfolio. In 2006 when I was just getting back in to biking, I rode to this mall in October. I fondly remember the return ride from this mall to Philadelphia. It was almost 2:00 PM and the temperature was around ninety degrees. I decided I'd gone far enough and started started to ride back toward my apartment. I took a much more direct route back and managed to complete the ride just before 3:00 PM.

Germantown Historic Sites

The Germantown Historical Society coordinates a annual pass program that grants admission to a dozen plus historical sites in and around the the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Most of the sites are open on Saturday afternoon. I figured this program could form the basis for a bike ride. Last Saturday, I set out to visit a few of the site and take pictures of the ones I didn't have time to stop and tour. I ended up touring three historic homes and taking pictures of six more.

My first stop was the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion at Tulpehocken and Greene, a rare example of Victorian architecture and the only such home open for tours in Philadelphia. After buying my passport, I received a personal tour from a volunteer who knew the house's history very well. Next I rode to Cliveden, the estate of Benjamin Chew, a prominent lawyer in colonial Philadelphia. The battle of Germantown, an American loss that preceeded the winter in Valley Forge, was largely fought on the grounds. The red coats used the house as a fort to much success. The facade still bears cannonball pock marks from the battle.

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From Cliveden, I road south along Germantown Avenue. While it's among the least bike friendly roads in Philadelphia, most of the historic sites have address on this route, once a major thoroughfare to and from downtown Philadelphia. I rode passed the Johnson House, part of the underground railroad; Concord School, built in 1775 ; the Germantown Historical Society headquarters; Dreshler-Morris House, where Washington summered during his presidency; and Grumblethorpe. I also passed, but failed to notice ACES Museum and Wyck. Finally, I arrived at my last stop for the day, Stenton, the estate of James Logan, a contemporary of Benjamin Chew, who is best know of the secretary for William Penn.

Statistics
Length: 19.3
Ride Time: 1 hour 49 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours 28 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.6 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 55 RPM