Skippack

I took advantage of the extra day this holiday weekend to complete my first century of the year. It is by far the earliest in the year that I have ever ridden 100+ miles. Each of my last few ride extended a little longer than the last so I felt up to the challenge.

I started at 10:00 AM, a little later than I should have, but with 10+ hours in the day, I wasn't too concern. I thought I selected a pretty good route: out of town through Wissahickon Gorge, across Montgomery county, though Skippack, down into the Perkiomen Valley at Green Lane and then back along a relatively easy combination of the Pekiomen & Schulkill Trails. As it happened, the route was about 7 miles too short and I had to loop around Fairmount Park and take a few extra turns on the final stretch to get over 100 miles. Even then, I made an extra loop around Rittenhouse Square for good measure.

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I had never been to Skippack. A co-worker who used to live there described it as a quaint town. I stopped there for a slice of pizza. After Skippack, the ride became very rural. I can still be surprised how far from the bustle of the city my bike can take me. That was especially evident along an exceptionally picturesque section of Old Skippack Road.

I had always wondered about the college in collegeville, Ursinus, so for the first time in maybe a half dozen trips through the town, I departed from the trail to investigate the small campus.

I learned that I was going to be short a few miles, at the junction of the Schuylkill and Perkiomen trails. I had ridden 68 miles and the trail maker indicated it was another 22 miles to Philadelphia. I was less worried about having enough energy than enough time to surpass 100. I rode pretty aggressively for the next twelve miles before stopping for much-needed 10 minute rest near the Spring Mill train station, just over 80 miles in to the ride. It was hard to get back in to a rhythm after than break. I got my second wind along the dirt path leading into Manayunk, which gave me the energy I needed to complete the ride with the extra curlicues necessary attain century status.


Trip Statistics
Length: 100.5 miles
Ride Time: 9 hours 31 minutes
Total Time: 11 hours 5 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.5 MPH
Max. Speed: 33.5 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 54 RPM
Total Ascent: 3,150 ft.
Max Elev.: 460 ft.

Elevation Profile

Old Skippack Road Farm

Perkiomen Creek

Perkiomen Trail

Ursinus College

Strawberry Mansion Bridge

Five Counties

I should probably start by acknowledging that the weather this week was the complete inverse of the prior week. After five weekdays of iffy weather, Saturday provide ideal weather for biking. The forecast did call for 25% of a late afternoon thunderstorm, but that wasn't going to keep me in.

Last week, I rode to as far as Bucks County, the most distant of the five counties that make up the Philly region in Pennsylvania, which got me considering if it might be feasible to string together a route that would touch on all five. Three would be a cinch; four's a challenge; five would be a real accomplishment.

Starting naturally in Philadelphia County, I rode through Fairmount Park toward the Mainline. Crossing City Avenue I entered--for the first of four times--Montgomery County. Zig-zagging through Lower Merion Township, I quickly reached County Line Road, a name I would see a couple more times on my ride, which marks the border with Delaware County. My route-finding skills lacked a little in guiding me through Delco, as it's locally known, but after a few extra hills, I eventually found the Radnor Trail, which took me all the way to the Chester County's doorstep. By 1:00 PM, about 2.5 hours after departing, I had conquered four out of five and yet the ride was barely a quarter over.

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The hard slog to Bucks County started pleasantly enough in Valley Forge. After crossing the Schuylkill River along an improvised portion on the US-422 Expressway bridge, I made my way relatively directly across the width of Montgomery County. Fairview Village (elev. 470) surprised me with distant view of Center City's tallest skyscrapers. Entering North Wales, I thought I was much close to county number five, that I really was. With my energy was waning, I eventually reached another County Line road. Triumphantly entering Bucks County, I took the first right and promptly re-entered Montgomery. All I had to do was ride another 27 miles--roughly one-third of trip--back to my apartment. I did so mostly along the same route as the week before, Limekiln Pike. I even stopped for a much needed rest and refueling at Maple Glen Pizza. I hate repetition in my rides, so once I got close enough to the city to feel assured of success I made couple slight deviations.


County Map


Trip Statistics
Length: 77.1 miles
Ride Time: 7 hours 41 minutes
Total Time: 9 hours
Avg. Speed: 10.0 MPH
Max. Speed: 31.6 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 53 RPM
Total Ascent: 3850 ft.
Max Elev.: 556 ft.

Elevation Profile

Ithan Creek Falls (Delaware County)

Grand Parade - Valley Forge (Chester County*)

Pasture (Montgomery County)

County Line Road (Bucks County)

Center City Skyline (Philadelphia County)

*Technically, this picture is mostly Montgomery County. The county line runs across Valley Forge in the distance in this picture.

Maple Glen Pizza

Monday = Beautiful
Tuesday = Beautiful
Wednesday = Beautiful
Thursday = Beautiful
Friday = Beautiful
Saturday = Overcast with rain showers in the afternoon.

Oh Well. It would take more than that to stop me from embarking a long ride. It had been three weeks since my last ride and I hadn't yet completed one this year longer than 50 miles. I was ready to put some miles on the bike so I headed out late morning prepared to get wet. The route was really pretty simple. Four roads (Frankford Ave., Bustleton Ave., Street Rd., Limekiln Pike) accounted for a good 70-80% of the ride. Lots of traffic on most of these thoroughfares.

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I didn't intend to stop at Maple Glen Pizza when I set out in the morning. Luke Perl recommended this pizza restaurant to me a long time ago, but I never before tried it. The last time I rode by it was Easter. Riding south on Limekiln today, I remembered the recommendation and I was ready for a rest and hungry for some fuel. The weather appeared to be holding so I stopped and it was as good as he said. Very thin crispy crust with plenty of cheese and toppings. I had a slice of Buffalo Chicken and BBQ Chicken. It's a shame it isn't closer.

Back on the road, it sprinkled a little, but nothing of much concern. A little while later, I got caught in a full shower. It's not pleasant, but I've been caught in the rain before and survived. I put my camera in a ziplock bag and rode on. About twenty minutes later it let up. I would have been doused whether I stopped for lunch or not. I got caught in a second shower at the very end of my ride, but by that point I was so close to my apartment I didn't really care.

Trip Statistics
Length: 57.4 miles
Ride Time: 5 hours 16 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 1 minute
Avg. Speed: 11.0 MPH
Max. Speed: 25.9 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 56 RPM
Total Ascent: 2950 ft.
Max Elev.: 414 ft.

Elevation Profile

Street Road

Maple Glen Pizza

Dad Vail Regatta

Best Man

Last weekend, I had the honor to serve as the Best Man for Andy Lanoix, a good friend since my undergraduate days at Michigan, at his wedding to Maureen O'Connor. It was a first for me and I think that I discharged my responsibilities fairly well. The wedding was in Cambridge, in and around Harvard's campus.

I drove up a day early to check out the mall we own along with some competition in New Bedford. Thursday night, I took Andy to dinner at a restaurant he chose near his condo south of Boston. Then we went to see Rio at a nearby theater. It wasn't the fanciest or rowdiest bachelor party, but seemed to be what he wanted. Friday, we drove in to Boston together and had a late lunch before the wedding rehearsal at Saint Paul's. The rehearsal dinner was at Radcliffe Gymnasium. After a light-hearted slideshow prepared by Andy's dad, I read my prepared remarks, which were well-received.

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The wedding wasn't until 3:00 PM in the afternoon on Saturday--about the latest Catholic wedding I've attended--which was nice because it allowed plenty of time to get ready, take pictures, etc. A thunderstorm rolled in about the time we started taking group shots, but the bride was happy because they had already taken some couple shots outside. The ceremony went perfectly. The reception was at the posh Harvard Faculty Club.

On Sunday, I drove back to New Bedford to visit the Whaling Historic Park. I've driven by it several times, but never had enough time to stop. I spent about three hours, mostly walking around the town that was once the center of the international whaling industry. I picked up lunch and topping of the gas tank before leaving town at about 1:30. I only stopped once on the entire drive back and arrived in Philadelphia just after 7:00 PM.

Statistics
Total Miles: 864 miles
Total Counties: 22
New Counties: 0
Fuel: 24.6 gallons
MPG: 35.1
Cost: $746.58

Cape Cod Canal

After the Main Event

At the Reception

New Bedford Fishing Fleet

Johnny Cake Hill

Rotch-Duff-Jones House

Failure to Launch

With the pending retirement of the Space Shuttle, I took my shot last weekend at seeing one of the final launches. With all my chips on the table, sadly, NASA scrubbed the launch in the eleventh hour due to a mechanical problem. To say I'm disappointed would be a gross understatement, but I knew from the onset that shuttle launches were finicky events. I tried to control the risk: waiting until the government passed a budget before buying a plane ticket, allowing extra time--that I ended up needing--to fly down and only snagging a causeway ticket when the weather forecast was sufficiently optimistic. Presently, the earliest this shuttle will launch is May 10th. There is another mission scheduled for June. It's doubtful I'll attempt to see either, but am glad I made an honest effort to see spectacle when I did.

The trip started inauspiciously. At 4:45 AM Thursday morning, I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing. It was Delta Airlines informing me that my 7:45 AM flight to Atlanta was canceled and that they booked me to fly the next morning on an itinerary that clearly would not have arrived in Florida in time for the launch. I hightailed it to the airport and got rebooked on a flight to Miami. My bad luck persisted as storms held me in Philadelphia long enough to miss a connection. I ended up flying from Cincinnati, not to Miami, but Fort Lauderdale.

Finding myself unexpectedly in south Florida, I looked up my great-aunt Margaret, 94 years young, who lives nearby. I spent an hour and a half visiting her and her son who stopped by about the same time. To get to Orlando, I chose a scenic route that skirted the northeast shore of Lake Okeechobee, which was draped in a powerful thunderstorm, a storm I would encounter further along in my drive.

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Friday was devoted almost entirely to the shuttle launch. I had to be at the rendezvous point for the bus to Kennedy Space Center at 5:30 AM. We arrived at the visitor center about two hours later and were given about as much time to explore the ground and exhibits before returning to the bus for the drive to the causeway, six miles south of the launch pad and purportedly the best spot open for a commoner to view a launch. With 90 tour buses positioning to leave the parking lot at the same time the scene was as chaotic as you might expect. Shortly after being freed of that madness, another passenger on the bus received a message on his phone and relay the bad news.

Back in Orlando by early afternoon, I drove to the mall PREIT owns there, Orlando Fashion Square, and met with the manager. From Orlando, I headed back to Cape Canaveral. If I couldn't see the launch, I at least wanted to see the shuttle on the launch pad. I stopped three times & got distant views of the shuttle. I ended the day at the Deatrick family's Melbourne home. They bought me dinner and let me stay the night which was very convenient to the airport.


Statistics
Total Miles: 2,944 miles
• Air: 2,548
• Car: 351
• Bus: 95
Total Counties: 7
New Counties: 6
Fuel: 9.6 gallons
MPG: 36.5
Cost: $883.51

Lake Okeechobee

Swamp Sunset

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center

Bus Chaos

Space Shuttle Endeavor