Bicentennial Man

#31daysofbiking Mileage Counter: 247.3

It was quite a monumental weekend. Record-breaking heat notwithstanding, I checked off a lot of things on my non-existent to-do list. Before I get to that, something else of interest: One year ago today, I posted my 100th entry on this blog. Today, I'm posting my 200th, and coincidentally, I crossed 200 miles for this month yesterday. It's strange how timing works, eh? In commemoration, I'm going to write a 200-page blog post! Not literally, but it will be lengthy...

Saturday, August 13th, 2016

As I mentioned on Friday, the weather this weekend was going to be far too hot/humid to attempt my planned 50-mile ride to a friend's Summer party, so I improvised this weekend. I went back to that non-existent to-do list and decided Saturday would be a good morning to knock at least one off of there. My friend Todd (who you may remember from April) told me to check out Pennypack Park in Northeast Philly after he saw my post about Tacony Park, and I did on Saturday (sorry for all the links).

I wanted to go start to finish from my house, but that would have added an additional 15 miles to the ride, and the goal was NOT to suffer heat exhaustion. Instead, I took the El to Frankford:

There's no one here on weekends

The last time I took the El to Frankford, I think I was on my way to a job interview way back in April 2014. I think. I also got lost in the neighborhood after I got off the train. This time, I fared much better. It didn't take long for me to get hot enough to shed my t-shirt. I paused at Cottman Avenue, the hub of sports victory celebrations in the Northeast:

It's an ordinary street corner any other day

The Northeast is...weird to say the least. There's a lot of poverty in some areas, and just as many "nice" neighborhoods. There are also confusing street layouts, as in most cases, the roads follow the terrain and not your standard grid-work. Even more confusing, a double street:

I dunno...looks like one to me

I live in South Philly, and we have a Jackson Street too. We also have a Morris Street, and there's another Morris Street in the Northwest. I guess after awhile, they ran out of names. Anywho...I continued on to Torresdale Avenue, made a left (through some neighborhood called Holmesburg) and was almost to the entrance of the park when I saw this across the street:

A STONE BUILDING! HOLY CRAP!

That happens to be Holmesburg Prison, which looks very much like the Eastern State Penitentiary from the outside. It turns out, they also look very similar on the inside, too. Learn something new everyday, right?

Finally on to the park. Pennypack is approximately 9 miles of trails, most of which are paved:

Look Ma! No hands!

After being in the sun and getting very sweaty, it was nice to get into the shade for awhile. There are many clearings along the way, and other recreational opportunities:

Crap. I gotta Google this guy now

My goal was to bike the whole trail from start to finish, and I woulda if I coulda:

Closed for no apparent reason other than to be jerks...

So, I detoured back out to one of the many trail heads and picked back up as soon as I could. I didn't miss much of the trail. These guide signs were helpful:

I know where I'm going but I don't know where I am

I started at Torresdale Avenue and ended just past Verree Road. Long ride for sure, but in the shade it's easy to log miles and forget about the 97° heat. It's also easy to forget that you're within city limits:

I mean, other than being able to hear cars off in the distance...

I stopped a couple times along the way for water, but no more pictures after this. I zoned out. With all do respect to Forbidden Drive, I think this may be my new favorite Philly trail. There's a mixture of hills and flatland, it's just challenging enough to let you know you're working, and the ride is much smoother. Plus, there was basically no one there for most of the ride, so I was free to do my own thing.

After emerging from the forest, I didn't want to jump back on the El right away, and instead decided to see how far I could make it. I happened upon a street fair in Kensington:

Boxing? Nah...I'd rather just ride my bike.

Best part about this fair, the oasis!

Definitely ran through there a couple times

By the way, the row of homes in the background are featured in the original Rocky movies. I kept riding until I got to Fishtown, at which point hunger took over. I stopped at Front Street Cafe for some tofu tacos and I was entertaining the idea of riding home, but sitting for 20 minutes took the wind out of my sails, so I took the train instead. Still, logging 25 miles in this heat is not too shabby.

Sunday, August 14th, 2016

I went to a party last night. Unsure how I would feel today, I didn't make any plans. As I was driving home, I started to get the itch to do...something. But what? Back to the list, I suppose.

I read this article a long time ago about Philly's Best Bike Trails and have a loose goal of completing all of them. One such trail is in Cobbs Creek Park, which I tackled today.

I don't care how damn hot it is outside, because this is beautiful:

I mean, if you like Philly, that is...

It was a bit windier today than yesterday, which helped with the heat a little. This time, I rode start to finish. No El necessary, though you can see it in the background of this trail head marker:

6-3 reprazent!

As you can see, I rode all the way out to 63rd & Market Streets. Last time I did that, I got a flat tire. Cheers to double-walled tires and reinforced tubes! The north end of the trail starts by paralleling the Cobbs Creek Parkway (63rd Street):

Also known as a sidewalk

At 61st Street, I saw this kinda confusing sign:

It suggests that the bike path continues straight, but the recreation path actually continues to the right:

I went right, deeper in to the park. This trail was much shorter than yesterday's, only a few miles, but it was very similar in terrain and difficulty. A couple serious hills, everything paved, it was nice. At the end, I was greeted with this at 70th Street:

THE BIKEWAY AGAIN!

I had no plans on how to get home, so I decided to follow that East Coast Greenway sign you see up there. Seemed logical, right? I made a left onto Woodland Avenue because it has a bike lane, but I will caution anyone to avoid it if at all possible. Unfortunately, it also has trolley tracks, and plenty of debris in the roadway, not to mention all the people who live there oblivious to the existence of bikes. It was kinda nerve-racking after such a nice experience in the park.

Nonetheless, I survived. I stopped at Local 44 for a quick pint and a bite before heading home.

Two weeks down, over 200 miles logged, and plenty more to come. How ya feelin', everybody?