The Pinch Hitter

A couple weeks ago, I thought my seasonal side job doing live TV productions was finished after an extremely random last minute work opportunity. As luck would have it, I got a request to fill in for someone yesterday. This is a tale of pinch hitters.

The game I was to help produce was scheduled in Northeast Philly, which is rare for our production crew (we're usually far outside the greater Philadelphia area). I'd purposely not scheduled myself as available, as I'd planned to be in Philly all weekend. Sometimes the breaks go your way.

And sometimes they don't. Due to an unfortunate incident after the latest Winter storm to plague the region, my bike had to go in to the shop for repairs. I wasn't about to drive to work this game. Even though it was only 10 miles from my house, parking in South Philly would have been nearly impossible by the time I was scheduled to return.

So, I called in my own pinch hitter. The "She Beast" was called into action for the first time since last December. I bought her last Summer so my girlfriend would have a bike to ride when she came to visit me, and she's turned out to be more than worth the investment:

Due to time constraints, I once again rode to a train station to aid my commute:

That's the 2nd Street Station of the Market Frankford Line (or the "El"), located in Olde City. Apparently adding the "E" at the end is a point of contention among SEPTA:

I don't know why that needed to be blacked out, but I guess you gotta spend your budget dollars somewhere...

Anyway, I've done this ride (or very similar rides) multiple times before. I've also said multiple times before that it's hard to believe that the Northeast is still part of the same city. It's like a completely different world. There are row homes, but they also have front yards due to more ample space. And as such, there are many more wide avenues and bike lanes. On my way to the game, I happened upon a place I'd been meaning to ride for more than a year, Philly's first two-way parking-protected bike lane on Ryan Avenue:

I'm not going to lie, I'd completely forgotten about this when I mapped out my route in the morning. I mean, how often do I venture to the Northeast? Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise near the end of a rather taxing ride up some pretty serious hills and into a headwind. Also, bonus points to whoever plowed the bike lane after the storm.

A short 3ish miles after getting off the train, I'd arrived at my destination, Abraham Lincoln High School:

And even though the snow wasn't cleared from their general area, they did have ample bike parking out front:

I was actually late arriving. Thankfully (or not), so was our crew. It was a bit helter skelter getting set up for the broadcast, but we pulled it off. I was operating graphics this time around:

The game went off without a hitch, as did my ride home. This morning brought a return to normalcy (of sorts), as I picked up my boy from the shop with a brand new rear wheel. I took him for a short test ride to two of my favorite views of the city. This one from the Spring Garden St. Bridge:

And this one from the top of the Art Museum steps:

There's a small shifting issue happening (I expected it) so I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the rear derailleur for sure, but I'm happy to say he's back in working order. Somewhat sadly, this means the She Beast goes back into hiding for now, but it's good to know she's got my back.