Even though my birthday is tomorrow, today was supposed to be the second annual installment of my birthday bike ride (the first being last year). It's a tradition I actually got from my friend Todd, who rides his age in miles every year on or about his birthday.
See, the thing about planning a day to ride weeks in advance of the actual date is that Mother Nature doesn't care about your plans. Due to bitter cold temperatures and wind chills, I was forced to postpone my planned ride to Manayunk. I'll try to get one together for January on a day that's not as brutal.
My backup plan was to ride to the new Yards Brewery location, a place I'd not yet visited until today. From my house, it's only about 3.5 miles one way, much more palatable than the original 20+ miles I'd planned for today. I somehow still convinced my girlfriend to ride along with me. We did need to pause to get out of the elements a few times, and occasionally to admire the scenery:
That picture was taken in Franklin Square. I was pretty surprised to see the fountain still operational with temperatures in the teens. In any case, it made for a unique view.
We survived the trek to lower North Philly and made it to the tap room. There's not much bike parking outside (that will hopefully change in the near future), but when we arrived there was plenty of room inside:
In addition to the beer (obviously), the new space also features a food menu that caters to most anyone. Back in my day, ramen was never considered a gourmet restaurant choice. My how times have changed:
We bundled up again and headed for home. This ride was pretty tame compared to a lot of the crazy things I've done, but I'm actually really proud of my ride companion for toughing this out with me:
Nonetheless, I was ready for a hot shower and a nap by the time I got home. It's just not that pleasant to be outside today. Kudos to my co-workers who were out delivering laundry in this brutality, or really anyone who also toughed it out. I saw a few of you out there today.
I've got no major bicycling plans for the last couple days of December. I'm likely just going to do a couple laps around the block to keep my "ride a bike every day" pledge, and considering that I've somehow logged over 250 miles this month, that's definitely enough. Stay warm out there, friends.
#bikeyourbirthmonth
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