Nuts to Today

Strange day today...

A ton happened today, and I'm leaving a bunch out. For starters, I had to patch two flats before I even started my route. I'm getting to be a pro at this stuff. So that's one thing.

As a cyclist, I always know that there's a chance I could get drilled by a car or other obstacle and be injured by no fault of my own. 99.9% of the time, I forget about that fact completely. Just FYI, I wasn't injured today...but my friend was.

I had to stop by our bike depot this morning, so I saw him when I clocked in. He went out on the road, and I went to the other plant (see above) where I normally work. In a strange "small world" moment, hours later, when I returned to drop off the dirties, my laundry team manager told me she saw him on the bus with an ice pack while she was on her way to our plant. Apparently he had trouble just walking. Yikes...get well soon, pal.

About an hour later, I was in Northern Liberties on my way back from my last pickup of the day when I happened upon a group of students wearing blue shirts. From living in the area last year, I recognized them immediately as Bodine High School students. They were always kind of annoying, and today was no exception.

So back to that fact I stated above...some joker got the idea that it would be cool to attempt to impress his friends by jumping out in front of me and quickly jumping back. When I swerved, he was lucky I went the OPPOSITE direction. I almost wish I would have hit the little shit. He did slap on the side of the laundry bins as I continued to speed past, yelling obscenities in his general direction. Not my finest moment of representation for the company, but whatcha gonna do? I mean, I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid, but jumping out into traffic (bikes are traffic, remember?) was not one of them. I think I reacted appropriately.

Just blocks up the street, I came upon another small group of people, this one gathered outside a small row of stores on Girard Avenue. I think there's a methadone clinic there. They all appeared to be recovering addicts, not moving very fast or with much intent. I see them just about every day, and this little story has caused me to think that maybe I should find out what they're doing there...

At any rate, I moved past them and heard the normal things like "Wow, you got laundry in there?" and "Boy that must be hard work!" But then I heard one woman ask "Do you take donations?" I said not really. Now, I don't think I'd want HER donations, but it's a noble idea, and something I might actually bring up to management. I'm not sure exactly what we can do with it, but something about it made a light go on in my head. Onward...

Finally, I was on my way home and I saw this. Just one reminder that today was kinda nuts:

Shoeless Joe and the Attempted Pyramid

I was stopped at a red light, facing east on Poplar Street at 29th Street this morning, when I saw a bizarre sight:

At first, I thought they were bike tubes, flattened and/or discarded. But those are definitely someone's shoes, and they appeared to be delicately placed upside down in the crosswalk near the edge of the road.

There are a lot of attempted explanations for shoes hanging from power lines, but I have no idea what this could mean. And one more thing: why are they facing different directions?

I saw this while I was in the midst of delivering 23 bags for 1 client (Outward Bound). It took three trips and two hours, but required absolutely zero gasoline (saying that never gets old). When I was finished, I wanted to stack them all into a pyramid, but laundry doesn't stack as nicely as Legos:

Close enough. It was also a beautiful day to work on my Farmer's Tan. Mission accomplished...

This Spoke to Me...

Bit of a delay on this one...last Thursday, Spoke Magazine hosted a happy hour for the bike-centric community of Philadelphia. They had an ulterior motive of garnering some donations for their upcoming issue (it's a magazine run by volunteers), but of course it was for a good cause: getting cyclists together to bitch about how much we hate cab drivers for always cutting us off!

Anyway, I made some new friends, drank some new beers, ate some FREE food (minus my donation)...what more could I ask for? I happened to mention this blog to them, so I'm hoping for a shout-out in the next issue...hah.

They're holding a launch party next Thursday May 7th, so if you happen to be in the area, let's hang.

Side note: The place where it was held, W/N W/N Coffee Bar, is collectively owned and operated by I think 7 people, one of which I met last year through SHI. Interesting idea to say the least...

Many more happy hours to come I hope.

ApPAlachian Elation

I took a vacation home this weekend to play a gig with my good buddy and talented author Vinny Tobia, visit family & friends and participate in other much less exciting extracurriculars.

I also found time to hijack my Mom's bike took to the trails near Palmerton. Even though it's just across the Lehigh River, getting to the Delaware & Lehigh Trail requires a car or riding your bike a few miles out of your way. Guess which one I chose. Hah...at any rate, by the time I got to the trailhead, I was already 5 miles in:

I haven't ridden on a trail in quite some time, and I forgot how different it is from city biking. I decided to go up to the upper trail (which used to be a railroad bed). Even though I'm in the best shape of my life,  getting there was definitely not easy on the legs. I had to pause at the top to admire Palmerton off in the distance...

I continued on the upper trail, around the bend in the river and into the narrow, rocky area where bikes are forbidden (I walked/carried it. Even I'm not that stupid). Along the way, I ran into a guy I met years earlier at TV-13. As good a time as any for a photo op, right? :P

...and a tad further ahead, a view looking east across the Lehigh atop where the railroad bridge once stood:

I also found this marker stone, signifying the Lehigh/Carbon County line:

The trail got very narrow and rocky here, and I walked my bike for most of the next half mile or so. Eventually, I came down by the Lehigh Gap Nature Center and crossed the route 873 bridge back to the Palmerton side of the river to pick up a small portion of the Appalachian Trail.

On the other side of the former railroad bridge, looking west:

Don't look down...

That's route 248 down below. That first step's a doozy.

From there, the trail was wide enough to bike until I reached a rather steep drop near the Aquashicola Creek. I walked down the hill and had to briefly hop on the shoulder of 248 to cross it before I took the back streets home.

I'm glad I got out there, even if only for an hour (and a measly 12 miles haha). I'll be back...

The Cost of Inflation

When it was super rainy and nasty outside on Monday morning, actually whenever the weather is nasty, we usually encounter some mechanical issues with the bikes. I fixed or replaced 3 flat tires that morning.

So you can imagine my surprise/disgust when I came in to yet another flat tire on Tuesday morning:

In case you can't see above, there's a pretty sizable hole in the tube:

So, annoyed, I thought "OK, it was just a bad tube. These things happen." I replaced it again, pumped up the tire and walked into the other room to get ready to head out on the road.

About 30 seconds later, I heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, which based on the neighborhood, isn't that unlikely. Scared the freakin' shit out of me, and my ears were ringing for a few minutes.

Hesitantly, I walked back in to the bike room to find that the tube had exploded, which is more than likely what happened last night. Whoever rode it the night before was lucky it didn't happen to them while they were on the road.

At any rate, when shit breaks or the weather is too nasty to continue riding, the company allows us to rent Zip Cars. I don't like doing it, for a lot of reasons, but sometimes you get to drive some pretty nice wheels, like this 2015 VW:

Yes, that is a DC plate. I made you look good, Capital City...

I'm not a big fan of foreign automobiles, but I did enjoy tooling around in this jawn for a few hours.

A Tale of Two Days...in One

After torrential downpours water-logged my morning appointments yesterday, the clouds burned off and we were treated to a GORGEOUS afternoon.

LOVE biking in the Spring in Philly!

Super Soaker

Wash Cycle Laundry now offers mobile bird baths...

Rustcycles: Carlisle & Master - Double Shot

I found these two particularly intriguing because they bookend the same bike rack. Both of them have been ravaged for just about anything that could possibly be removed from the frame (the vandals spared the broken rim - how nice), and THEN flipped on their sides for good measure. Good ol' North Philly...

Rustcycles is a series of abandoned bicycles and locks I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

Nice "Rack": 9th & Passyunk

LOLOLOL

Take that, Geno's!

Nice Racks is usually a series of bike rack art I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia. This one, I just found amusing.

Lemonhead

Any time I'm at the intersection of two same street names, I think of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer thinks he's found the nexus of the universe at 1st and 1st. I was surprised not to see more people around. You'd think this would be a pretty Poplar spot.

I promise no more puns for this entry. At any rate, I had just finished picking up from Outward Bound in Fairmount Park. It happened to be the last appointment of a rather busy morning, so I felt I owed it to myself to pause for a minute to enjoy the view from Lemon Hill. You can see center city on the left:

The statue is a depiction of former Philadelphia mayor and newspaper publisher Morton McMichael. A mayor in the newspaper business. Kinda makes ya think...

If you look very closely, you can see the moon over his left shoulder. (Pats self on back)

Outward Bound for Glory

Yesterday while Wash Cycling, I stumbled upon this cool little organization called Outward Bound. Okay, "stumbled upon" actually means "was assigned to service," but anyway...

They're a non-profit that runs courses and/or expeditions for all kinds of purposes, including professionals who are looking for team-building experiences as well as under-privileged youths who just need to get the f@#% out of the city for a few days. So basically I'll be picking up and dropping off their used sleeping bags and camping gear all Summer. Haha.

Road trip season is coming, and I'm fixin' to do a lot of adventuring. Mayhaps I should just volunteer for these guys. If only time and energy were limitless...

Nice Rack: Logan Square

Saw this last weekend in Logan Square on my way to the Art Museum. I think they were going for some sort of cloud-like shape. Interesting that I've driven past here probably hundreds of times and never noticed these (like a lot of bike racks, I'm sure).

At any rate, it was pretty sweet to see the fountain on for the first time all year. Today is very similar, weather-wise. Spring has finally arrived:

Nice Racks is a series of bike rack art I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

Nice Rack: Bodine & Wildey

The bike rack isn't all that outlandish (see the diagonal green "sevens" attached to the fence?), even though it is neat looking. I found this scene particularly nice because today was downright miserable weather-wise, and this pseudo-mural brightened up an otherwise bland street directly across from Liberty Lands Park in Northern Liberties (My former 'hood. Sigh).

However, I have a bit of sadness to report (and no picture of this sadness, either, because it's too sad). Whoever is building across the street from my house knocked down an Isaiah Mosaic Wall and put up a temporary fence so they could have a quicker path to the site they're excavating behind where the wall used to be.

Yet another lesson to appreciate beauty at every moment. GFY, urban renewal.

Nice Racks is a series of bike rack art I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

Paper Trail

I guess I'm destined to be a delivery guy...

A little over a year ago when I was road-tripping back to the East coast, I half-jokingly suggested that I was going to become a truck driver. The half-joking turned into serious research and nearly enrolling in CDL classes, until I stumbled into the Strengthening Health Institute in January and changed my mind.

SHI was the impetus for my move to Philly, where I came upon Wash Cycle Laundry in October and decided "Why not? I can be a bicycling laundry delivery guy." If that's a job title.

Then last week, a friend casually texted me that he was looking for someone to help deliver newspapers for The Spirit on Wednesday. I had an unexpected free morning today, so I turned out to be the man for the job. I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Sadly, I wasn't on a bicycle for today, but I could see it happening some day...

A Short Post

You know that giddy feeling you got as a kid when you could wear shorts to school for the first time since last Autumn? Yea...I still get that feeling. Yesterday was that day. :-D

The feeling was short-lived, however (see what I did there?). Today is a tit bit nipply...

Rustcycles: 11th & Spring Garden - Double Shot

I've been seeing this one for months. There's nothing wrong with the little bike, yet this seems sad. Perhaps a father and son???

Rustcycles is a series of abandoned bicycles and locks I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

Underprivileged Overload

While conversing over lunch with my friend Max yesterday, he said I should do "a day in the life" story. This is sort of in that vein...

Friday is typically my busiest day of the week at Wash Cycle, both in number of appointments and volume of laundry. I think yesterday I moved 41 bags and over 900 pounds total, all before Noon. Side note: I wasn't even the busiest cyclist on our team yesterday.

We service two homeless shelters on Fridays that make up the bulk of my morning's work. They usually average 6-10 bags, each weighing 30-40 pounds, so you end up with scenes like this:

No parking? Whoops... Anyway, do the math. That's a lot of weight - easily twice my own body weight.

One thing I've noticed about this job is that the novelty has not worn off, and probably won't. Sure, I've been exhausted at times, and during a downpour I pretty much hate my life, but what I'm taking about is this: just about every day, I encounter someone who simply cannot believe that I (we) move this amount of laundry...on a bike! Yesterday was no different.

I was loading up while several older gentlemen stood idly by, smoking cigarettes and chatting amongst each other. I hear all kinds of funny things, like one guy saying "Yea that's crazy. No cars. They don't use no gas except what comes out they butt." Hah...

And of course, there's always at least one person who asks "YOU are gonna move all that by yourself?" Yes I am.

And I did (pats self on back).

Today, a leisurely bike ride to the Art Museum, because it's free all weekend! Happy Saturday.

Nice Rack: Frankford & Susquehanna

Whilst delivering in Fishtown the other day, I saw this neat little guy on Frankford Ave. I really enjoyed the contemporary take on the old-timey bike style. At least, I think that's what they were going for:

There's a whole set of these up and down Frankford Avenue, most (if not all) of which are part of the Frankford Avenue Artracks project from a number of years ago. I'll have more in future posts.

Nice Racks is a series of bike rack art I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

When Business Gets (Awkwardly) Personal

Last week, Wash Cycle opened a new plant in North Philly, and promoted me to "Route Manager," which basically means I'm in charge of all the northern commercial appointments, rather than having a different person assigned to them every day. Go me. Haha.

One of the intended results of this move was that we'd have a more personal relationship with our clients, and let me tell ya...it's working.

Case in point, earlier this week I went to deliver a bag at a spa-like business (I'm attempting to preserve anonymity). They weren't open yet, but the business owner was there at our scheduled time and greeted me at the front door wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts. THAT'S personal. I think he said he was cleaning.

One of my past bosses once said, in regards to customer service, "Make sure the client has a warm fuzzy." I don't think this is what he had in mind.

The Good, the Bad and the Bike Lane

Yesterday, I was on my way home from work, riding in the bike lane on Spring Garden Street near 10th Street. I saw a young couple ahead on the right sidewalk, the man carrying a young child.

As I neared the intersection, suddenly the man decided to step into the street without looking and began to cross against a red light. I was close enough that I had to pull hard on my brakes and swerve to avoid him. His partner said excitedly, "Honey you gotta watch what you're doin!" while still standing on the sidewalk. His response, "Man, that ain't no car." I'm not sure what difference that makes. Traffic is traffic, and bicycles are quickly becoming a more regular part of city transportation. He was in the crosswalk, but he was carrying a child, and regardless of a pedestrian's rights, it doesn't preclude looking both ways...especially when you have another life in your hands - literally. What kind of example is that setting?

At any rate, I was relieved I didn't hit them, but I rode on because I didn't feel it was worth my time to engage in a debate. Also, I was starving. Hah.

As I continued on, I noticed when I turned down North 6th Street, they had re-painted the lines on the bike lane (and only the bike lane):

So that was a nice surprise. Even though we "ain't no cars," it's nice to see some respect and bicycles continuing to gain momentum.

Who knows? Maybe the city will finally fix all the potholes. I'm not holding my breath on that one...