The Bare Necessity

My favorite day of the year has come and gone, but not soon to be forgotten. Some scenes from the Philly Naked Bike Ride on Saturday:

In addition to the Wildfire paint, some (myself included) chose to go the more "traditional" route, if there is such a thing:

And this is my message, sort of in the same vein as the guy above:

These jerks showed up at the starting point to yell at us for being friends with gay people. They also said that because we were friends with them, we have sex with chickens, we're more likely to get into traffic accidents, and all other manner of gibberish. Haters gonna hate, I guess. Anyway...

This guy was a total badass. I don't know how he didn't fall with the crowded nature of the ride. Starting off, it actually didn't look that full:

But as we rounded the Eakins Oval, I could see this was bigger than last year's crowd:

And hey, I ran into some friends! Blues musician Shakey Lyman among them:

Seriously floored by the turnout each time. It's so crazy, even the street performers stop to take pics of us:

And then there's this woman, total badass on a unicycle:

Wow. I think she made it a pretty good distance. I was back and forth, trying to see who else I could see along the way, so I lost track of her.

 We covered a lot of the major landmarks in greater center city, and I think this year's route was longer than last year's. 12 miles in total:

Yet another fantastic day of positivity that pictures cannot begin to describe. Until next year, cycle on, you crazy riders.

Will Bike for Beer. And Bread.

Last weekend, I had originally planned to go to the beach for the majority of said weekend until Hermine blew away most of those plans. See what I did there?

Rather than skulk away a free Sunday, I decided to seize the opportunity to "explore" one of the few neighborhoods I haven't explored in the City of Brotherly Love, Mt. Airy:

You've all seen trolley tracks before. Nothing to see here.

By explore, I mean I rode my bike 13 miles up the hill(s) and stopped at a local brewpub, as is typical of my adventures on this blog:

Because "Dirt Bread & Brewery" doesn't sound all that appetizing

Interestingly enough, the Drumpf was my favorite beer. I find their choice of beer names interesting, considering the drivel just across the street:

I'm referring, of course, to the American flag flying backwards...

Yech. Anywho, the town itself is quaint. I say the town because it's yet another one of those areas of the city that doesn't feel like it's part of the city (looking at you, Manayunk). In any case, I'll go back some day to see what else is going on. Chestnut Hill is right up the road too, and I haven't been there yet...

So back to the brewpub, those who know me know that I love beer, veg(etari)an food, and local/sustainable businesses, and any time I can find all three in the same place, I'll make the journey. No exception here. Earth Bread and Brewery sources locally almost exclusively, and with a small menu, there's little room for error. I don't normally do baked food, but this spicy veggie pizza was pretty bomb:

All killer, no filler

And, they didn't even use any of that strange fake cheese - all real ingredients. I didn't feel the least bit guilty about staying for 2 hours and finishing the whole thing myself, and I felt more than capable of biking home. This place alone would definitely be worth a ride out again.

As for Monday, I did end up going to the beach, and it was awesome. This week, I've been taking it kinda easy on the bike since my challenge ended, but I haven't missed a day. Next up: Philly Naked Bike Ride 2016 on Saturday! See (all of) me there.

Cat Nap

#31daysofbiking Mileage Counter: 523.3

So hey, I did it again! Alas, a month of consecutive biking has left me spent, so I'm taking a cue from Sebastian for a few days. See you on the road, and thanks for riding along with me (again)!