This weekend has been my first FULL weekend spent in the city in about 3 months, and I'm taking full advantage of it, mostly getting some mundane housekeeping tasks off my plate. But that's not really why you're reading this blog, right?
Rather fortuitously, the weather has been near perfect for riding. Yesterday in between chores, I crossed another Circuit Trail off my list, Boxer's Trail in Fairmount Park/Strawberry Mansion:
A brief back story: Boxer's Trail is where Joe Frazier (and many other boxers over the years) used to train back in the 60's. Legend has it that Muhammad Ali one went to this trail to challenge Frazier to a fight before management intervened. Back then, it was narrow and mostly overgrown. Today, a restoration is in progress, but it's already decently passable:
My first thought from this view was about the bridge in the background, and whether or not I could venture there after I was finished. Upon further investigation, it's the Columbia Railroad Bridge, not something that's really explore-able via bike. Sigh...anyway, this is one of those places that, if not for the sounds of the Schuylkill Expressway off in the distance, you'd scarcely know you were in the city. I detoured around much of this trail back in April, and once again, it's an area I'll go back to explore more another time. Namely, a time when I bring a mountain bike:
A large section of the trail is gravel, which again, is passable, but much easier with knobby tires. It's a moderately challenging ride with some serious hills no doubt, but that's what makes it fun. The northwestern section is entirely paved. At only 3.8 miles in length, it is one of the shorter trails on the circuit. With the trail head being 5 miles from my house, I put in 14 miles yesterday, and I'm planning to head back out today at some point. Ya know, after I cross some other boring stuff off my list...
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