Naked in the Rain

Perhaps the worst thing about 2020 from a leisure perspective was that just about any event you could think of...was canceled. This included my favourite event of every year, the Philly Naked Bike Ride. With a return this year, I was sure not to miss it even with much uncertainty still lingering in our society these days. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ride and what it means, it aims to raise awareness of body positivity, bicycling, and environmentalism. If you know me, you know I'm all about that. 

Things weren't looking promising at first. I encountered some delays getting on the road Friday afternoon, and didn't arrive in Philly until midnight. Saturday morning was very gray and it rained pretty heavily for a few hours prior to the ride. I'd attempted to paint my body in the morning prior to leaving my BnB in the morning, but most of it ended up being washed off by the time the ride rolled around.

Despite damp and dreary conditions, the ride did go on as scheduled (it is always billed as rain or shine). In addition to the weather, the vibe around this year was a bit different for a couple reasons. Masks were still recommended, and the pre-ride was shortened to a half hour (down from the usual 2 hours). As such, it was difficult to meet up with friends who I knew were attending, but I did manage to snag a rando to touch up my paint and get my traditional pre-ride picture:

If you've never been Zucked, just don't post anything mildly offensive on Facebook and you won't have to worry about it. ;) I also custom made the mask with the help of my girlfriend. It reads "Mask On Pants Off." Clever, I know. 

Regardless of the pre-ride conditions, the turn out was as big as ever. It's almost like everyone missed being able to do this last year:

I didn't bring my camera due to the threat of rain, so I didn't take nearly as many pics this year, but I did bump into friends along the way, including one who graciously let me use his bathroom near the end of the ride. I did put some shorts on before I went into his house, just FYI:

Once the ride was over, I met up with one of my college roommates and a few of our friends for some post-ride food and bevs:

This happened two years ago as well. It's Groundhog Day, really.

I feel like I'm not doing the ride justice with this write up, but I guess I really was thrown off a bit this weekend. I'm very glad I went, and I'm looking forward to next year, which will be my 7th consecutive (we're ignoring the canceled 2020 event, obviously). This year was the 12th year of PNBR, so that means I've participated in half of the rides that have actually occurred. Kinda impressive when you consider I haven't lived in Philly for three years, no? And so until next year, keep riding and be positive.

Day 30 of 30: 1% Better

...and so, we have reached the end of yet another 30 Days of Biking challenge. This is now the 6th time I've completed the challenge, and though not grand in fashion, a couple short rides around the neighbourhood today did the trick:

At the end of each April, I'm always struck with a bittersweet feeling. I know I did a lot of riding, and yet, I feel like I could have done more. For the moment, I'll focus on the former: I did a lot of riding.

How much? While I don't set mileage goals for myself during the month, I do keep track of them because it's always interesting to see how things play out and/or how far I can go. I logged 326.2 miles this month, a little over 3 miles more than I did during 30DoB last year. That might not sound like that much, but 3 miles is 1% of 300, so I did approximately 1% better than I did last year.

Interestingly enough, Strava ran a 1% better challenge that began on April 5th, with the basics being to do 15 minutes of activity per day for 5 days a week, adding up to about 1% of a month. Guess what I completed today:

And with 2 days to spare on that, to boot! Why I find this interesting is that I thought I had more than two days this month where I had resigned myself to taking a lap around the block as a means to complete the 30DoB challenge, and it appears that only occurred twice since April 5th. Perception is not always reality.

I'm not sure where the 1% better mantra came from, but my workplace has been using it as our theme for this year and it's continued to come up more and more frequently in the last couple months. 1% can be the easiest thing in the world, if you think about it. I mean, from last year's total, that would have been me riding an extra .1 mile per day, much less than a ride around the block. I'm not saying this month was easy, but it was at least 1% better.

So, on to May, and beyond? Thanks for riding along, and I hope you've had the opportunity to improve 1% somewhere along the way, even if it's NOT on a bicycle.

Here are some of my favourite photos of the month to lead out, no captions necessary.

Day 26 of 30: Pharewell, for Now

Day 26 of 30 Days of Biking involved an 8-hour drive back to Columbus, OH. Before that, I made sure to sneak in one more ride in Philly. It would have been a shame to waste such a beautiful morning in the car, right?

Other than the two pics from Logan Square above, I had one other stop at Green Line Cafe to pick up some coffee and "my" sandwich for the road:

8 hours later, I was back in Ohio. The family was glad to see me, and so was this guy:

Either that, or he was trying to con me into feeding him a second dinner.

Now that I'm all caught up, I'll start adding my mileage total at the end of posts once again. One thing I didn't think about until I was driving home is that this is the first 30DoB since 2018 where I spent at least part of it in Philly, and last year was the only 30DoB I've spent in just one state. That's a streak I'm glad to have broken after one year. Life gets pretty boring if you sit still, right? Only 4 days remain in April, and as I close in on 300 miles, I'm feeling pretty good about this year's edition. I most likely won't get to 400, but 300 is better than a 10 mile average per day, which is kinda awesome if you as me. I hope you've been able to get out and enjoy a ride this month, and if you haven't, there's still time...

30 Days of Biking 2021 Mileage Total: 298.4

Day 400 of 30: Fulphilled

The title is an intentional typo. On Sunday, day 25 of 30 Days of Biking, I celebrated my 400th consecutive day of riding daily. The funny thing is, I realized this day was coming about a week earlier, and I actually forgot about it until today (I'm writing this on Monday, day 26). In a weird coincidence, I decided to make a spontaneous trip to the City of Brotherly Love that just so happened to be on the same day. With no real set plan in mind, the weather cooperated enough for me to take a tour de Philly of sorts.

I tried to hit as many sections of the city as I could at a relaxed pace. It's been a long time since I've been able to spend time in my favourite city, so I wanted to take in as much as possible. What follows will include a good amount of pictures, but there are certainly many more mental images that I appreciate just as much, if not more.

It's always interesting to return to a place and see what's changed. The city appears to be working on some upgrades to Penn Treaty Park, which is a park I used to enjoy riding to when I first moved to the city:

I think that trail entrance is new. Anyway...

It also looks like they added a small buffer to the bike lane on Delaware Avenue, which was always a nerve-racking place to ride before this. It's a little better after this installation:

I headed over to Triple Bottom Brewing for some refreshment after about an hour of riding. They finally opened some time last year after several years of anticipation:

I've been following these guys for a few years due to their triple bottom line mission, which in part strives to help people re-enter the workforce after periods of incarceration, chronic unemployment, rehabilitation, and etc. I used to work for such a company in Wash Cycle Laundry. It's great to see they're open and appear to be doing well. The beer was pretty good to boot:

And in a move that really warms my heart, they have plenty of bike racks outside:

One thing that will hopefully never change about Philly is the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is equal parts cool, interesting, and terrifying:

These views also haven't changed all that much:

I did notice lots of freshly painted bike lanes in the Art Museum area, though:

Unfortunately it sounds like there's still a lot of work to do, because a woman was struck and killed in the area just a few days prior. I didn't notice any signs of the wreck when I was there. Otherwise, I would have paused to pay respects as I usually do.

On a more positive note, I was riding past a skateboarder around this area. We diverged a couple times and kept crossing paths every few blocks it seemed. After the third time, he said "Hey what's up man?" and gave me a high five. We told each other to enjoy the day and went on our ways. It was a really nice moment that I've missed all these months when people were scared to go outside and interact with other humans. I hope more of these start happening again.

Another positive note, the view of the city skyline from the South Street bridge is as breathtaking as always. I think the partly cloudy skies made it even better yesterday:

Another thing I noticed as I was riding around were the plethora of outdoor seating areas that had claimed parking spots (I'd seen a similar approach in New York last summer). Some of them were quite creative in their design:

And finally, I couldn't make it a true Philly day without stopping for my favourite vegan roast beef sandwich at the Triangle Tavern:

From there, I headed to visit briefly with a friend before heading to the far south Philly to spend the night with another great friend catching up and enjoying plenty of adult beverages. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty spectacular way to celebrate a 400th. Sadly, they don't make 400th bikeday cards. I checked.