Rustcycles: Strawberry & Market

In the midst of deliveries on Wednesday morning, I happened upon this guy near 2nd & Market in Old City:

There are various telltale signs that this bike has been here awhile, most notably the rust and the copious amounts of bird droppings on its front tire. Beyond that, the frame is in pretty good shape and it seems like most of the hardware would still be salvageable. The front tire is also potato-chipped, but it's tough to see here.

A side note, this appears near one of my favorite street signs in Philly, a favorite because it's nowhere near the street:

Simple pleasures. I need to come back to this neighborhood for First Friday again some time. It's been too long...

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

Wayback Wednesday, Throwback Thursday

I'm no stranger to getting called into active duty at Wash Cycle. Actually, it happened last Wednesday evening:

That was the first time I'd worked a cycling shift in well over a month, which means it's become somewhat of a rarity. That's still largely the case, but I was asked to help out on the residential cycling team again this week, this time in the morning yesterday. That's something I think I haven't done since I started this blog nearly 3 years ago:

Interesting that this happened as I approach my three year anniversary with Wash Cycle over this coming weekend...

As you can see, it was just just beginning to lighten up when I began. There's something kinda neat about biking early in the morning. For one, you get to see the sunrise depending on what time of year it is. Not the best pic, but you get the idea:

There's also the inherent good feelings that come with being active early in the morning: waking up to the smell of fresh ground coffee, stepping outside to crisp Autumn air (at least this time of year), hitting the road with very little traffic in sight, and when things go right, there's the added bonus of making a customer happy as they start their day. I almost miss waking up at 5:45 every morning. Almost.

I haven't had my eyes too thick into the delivery operation lately, so I was mighty surprised to see my favorite old bike still in operation. Of course I had to take Old Gray out for a spin:

He's been operational since just before we opened our North Philly plant in 2015, and he was the bike I used to help open that facility - a true throwback. The cycling Gods only know how many thousands of miles he's logged since then. He's getting a bit worse for the wear, but he still performed adequately and I had no issues with the route yesterday:

As luck would have it, the weather was once again ideal and I was asked to do it again today:

Overall, a bit cooler this morning, but one tends not to notice whilst hauling a hundred pounds of laundry. Sadly, Old Gray had been grabbed by another cyclist, so I had to use one of the yellow guys:

The yellow bikes are newer, but I'm not sure by how much. It's just as well, as today's route was more saturated, including 2 last minute stops outside my scheduled territory:

I ended up riding alongside the former executive director of the Bicycle Coalition. We chatted briefly whilst stuck in traffic on 20th St. in Center City. He knew our company's history, so I brought him up to speed on recent and future events. He, in turn, brought me up to speed on his happenings: founding a new transportation advocacy non-profit called Pennsylvanians for Transit. Very cool. I'll keep them on my radar for sure.

The last two days are not my typical days, but I have no complaints other than mild exhaustion, which I'm sure is the result of not being accustomed to a 5:45 wake up. I'm kind of excited because I already know I'll be on the same routes again next Wednesday and Thursday morning. This was borne out of a sudden change, as you might imagine. More positive changes are on the horizon here, so this will very likely be the last time I'll get to do this, too. Here's hoping the weather cooperates again next week...

Memory Lame

Yesterday, Facebook reminded me of this memory that I captured via Instagram exactly 3 years ago. It's a nice photo, for sure, but other than that, it might not mean much to the average viewer. You see, that day I was on my way to sign a one year lease on a house after living in month-to-month limbo above a bar for the previous 8 months, and I just happened to look to the left when I spotted that beautiful sight. Kinda made me feel like I was moving in the right direction, even if I was still a little uncertain. Hell, I even wrote as much!

Seeing that picture yesterday made me feel a bit nostalgic. The weather, although temperate, had been a bit lackluster the last few days. By contrast, there was not a cloud in the sky yesterday, and it almost felt like that same day 3 years ago. After being indoors most of the day, I needed to enjoy at least a little bit of a seemingly rare gorgeous Autumn day, so I left Center City and took a quick post-work ride down memory lane. Or up, if you're looking at a map:

Actually, that's just the bike lane on Spring Garden Street near 10th, but it's a rather auspicious photo. Back when I frequented this area on the daily, it wasn't buffered. The street has since been re-paved and re-painted. Granted, the buffer is only about a foot and a half, two feet at most, but progress is progress, right?

Unfortunately, things took a slow turn for the worse from there. I encountered a lot of traffic on 3rd Street as I continued to head north, which was really just an annoyance. I paused briefly outside the building that used to house the Strengthening Health Institute, the macrobiotic education center that gave me my first regular job in Philly. They've long since moved to South Philly (in part due to my efforts) and the building has been vacant ever since, save for one short stint when a cafe/catering business called it home:

I already knew this was the case, but it's still a bit sad to see. I had a lot of great memories in my short time in this space. I used to live literally right around the corner, so I could walk to and from work with ease. I think one of the main reasons I fell in love with city life was that I had everything so close by: work, a grocery store, my coffee shop, concert venues, and of course, night life.

On that note, I continued on just a half block north and paused near the former site of 3rd & Girard, which used to be my favorite neighborhood bar:

Again, I kinda knew already what I was going to see. This place closed up shop sometime around October 2015, around a year after I moved out of the area. When I found out about it, I was pretty bummed. To give you a little more insight, this was pretty much my utopia for more than a year: 180 craft beers, music on Fridays & Saturdays, open mic nights with a tight knit crew of regulars, even a Bad News Bears-esque softball team that I joined along with my roommate. Oddly enough, I'd written a blog post about that, barring anything crazy or unforeseen, I'd be back for 2016.

The place has been vacant ever since, and it's a shame. It's a neat building, complete with a roof deck. I've been hoping someone would buy it and reopen it but...if you look closely at the above photo, you may notice a bright orange object that's NOT my bike. It's in the window of the bar. Bright orange signs in windows mean only one of two things (usually): either the place has applied to sell alcohol, or they're about to be demolished. This one was the latter:

Sad. To quote a friend, Philly has a rich tradition of old buildings that some cities would love to have. Sadly, we're seeing more and more of these buildings being demolished and replaced by new construction that can be custom-tailored to the owner's desires, be it for apartments or commercial space (which is a whole separate debate I don't want to get into).

So basically, after I left my hood, almost everything changed for the worse. On the other hand, the bar I used to live above, The Fire, appears to be doing OK:

It's safe to say that I moved here at just the right time and in the right circumstances. I guess you could say, I moved on at just the right time, too. Someone once told me that we tend to look at the past through rose-colored glasses. Sadly, that's not the case here, and I know that if I were plopped into that apartment at any other time, I might not have fallen in love with Philly. At least yesterday's ride and the weather were nice, and I'll always have the memories...

Making Turns

We're FINALLY in the throes of Autumn after a rather lengthy Indian Summer that saw temps climb into the 90's on several occasions. The positive of this change: milder temperatures perfect for riding. The negative: many gray, overcast days, some of which include showers.

Most days lately have been of the gray and overcast variety, and without rain, it creates a very blah atmosphere if you don't have many trees in your immediate vicinity. As such, I was absolutely stunned by this bright green two stage turn queue box that suddenly appeared at 13th & Snyder Ave. on Friday morning:

I say suddenly because I ride through here just about every day, including the day before. I've admittedly been busy with other things lately - namely work and recording my EP - so sometimes biking-related news misses my radar, but I heard nothing about this and I'm pretty sure the road wasn't closed during daytime hours at all, meaning it literally happened overnight. In any case, I always appreciate new cycling infrastructure, and hopefully this makes this tricky intersection a little safer. It definitely brightened up my day.

Rustcycles: 21st & Chestnut

I was riding on a busy stretch of Chestnut Street the other day when I spotted this:

The rear wheel is potato-chipped pretty badly and it's been stripped of its front wheel already, but the frame is actually in decent shape. I've always wondered why more people who've left their bikes abandoned don't come back later to unlock and salvage the remains.

Speaking of locks, I happened to notice this bike is attached with the same lock I own:

So I know my lock will work, which is good news I guess, but I actually hate that thing. It's got an ovular tube as opposed to circular. The simple geometric difference from my Kryptonite (that broke back in April) makes locking and unlocking much more difficult, but I guess that makes it tougher for criminals? Anyway, I'll make do for now.

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