The Forbidden City

I don't have a bucket list, but I do have a list of things I want to do (in my head, not in the literal sense). I crossed one off today, as I finally biked Forbidden Drive, after over a year and half of living in this city:

The south trail head at Lincoln Drive

A lot of people use this trail daily, maybe thousands, but most of them will drive to the trail heads and then proceed to bike. I decided to bike to the trail from my house, so by the time I got there, I was already about 8 miles and 45 minutes deep. Seemed like a good time to pause to see what I was in for:

No signs of bear crossings...

Not too shabby. It was actually kind of encouraging to see the "8 Miles from Fairmount" and etc. milestones as I got further from Center City. Of course, I was having so much fun that I didn't stop to take a picture of any of them...but anyway, the ride was amazing. As expected, lots of terrain changes, a few tight squeezes and some close calls, but a great experience. There's nothing like trail riding. I love city biking and all, but there's nothing that compares to clean, woodsy air and a cool breeze. Reminded me of biking back home.

When I reached the northwest end of the trail, I took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere out on Andorra Road. I eventually picked up Ridge Avenue and took that back towards the Schuylkill River Trail. I appreciated the overall downhill terrain. Hah...

Side note: that's also about when I started to notice that I knocked my rear axle out again - the one I just replaced two weeks ago - so I guess I have some work to do before Saturday...

Another side note: I did today's ride wearing nothing but swimming trunks and my shoes. Gotta prepare, right? Just kidding. But not really.

When I got back to Kelly Drive, I waxed nostalgic for a couple seconds as I approached East Falls. Most people don't know that it's where I actually lived very briefly before I found a home here, as I house-sat for my friends Dave and Biz and crashed in their guest room more than a handful of times (still love those guys - it's been far too long).

Anywho, I had a couple places I would frequent in East Falls, but not the neat little place that I saw on my left, which I eventually found out is called In Riva. The railings were covered with old bikes! In an impromptu move, I decided to stop in. A place with a sign that reads "Bikes Welcome" sounded like a place I wanted to be:

If you don't have a bike, get the f*** out!

It also seemed like a great place to reward myself, a halfway house of sorts:

Actually, yes. Beer always has been there for me.

After devouring some bangin' bruschetta (gotta get those carbs, right?), I was back on my way home, which includes a small section of one of the other items on my "to do" list, the East Coast Greenway:

No, really. I want to bike the whole thing. One of these years.

All told, 31ish miles on a Sunday was well worth it. Who needs days off?