A Not so Quick Fix

Always double check your (and others') work...

Several weeks ago, I noticed a strange "wobble" in my rear tire. I can fix most problems with my bike within a few minutes, a half hour at most. This one, though, continued to stump me for several days, so I finally caved and took it to a bike shop. Kayuh Bicycles, the place closest to where I work, seemed appropriate:

I'd never been there before. When I walked in, I found out that they're opening the front area as a cafe, so that'll be pretty sweet when it's up and running, no pun intended. Anywho...

They took it apart and it turned out that I had a warped axle. I guess that was to be expected, as the bike was already almost 20 years old by the time I got a hold of it last Summer. A 20-minute repair, out the door. Boom.

After a long and aggressive ride on Sunday, the wobble returned, so I returned to Kayuh after work on Monday. They said it probably "settled" and just came loose. They tightened a couple things up, and boom. Done. I left quickly, as I had to grab lunch before a meeting and my afternoon job.

On my way home, I felt a rub, and noticed that the rear brake was now rubbing the rim. No big deal, right? I re-calibrated the brakes when I got home, and everything was fine.

Except that an hour later, the wobble returned, even worse this time. I'm guessing when Kayuh fixed the wheel the second time, it stayed in place because the brake was holding it there. Either that, or the wheel wasn't completely tightened. Luckily, my afternoon job isn't far from my home and another bike shop, Liberty Bell Bicycle:

Of note, they used an air wrench instead of a hand crank, and it worked. It's been alright ever since, and most importantly, I'll be ready to ride naked on Saturday. ;)

This is not to insult Kayuh, because they're nice guys and until I beat the shit out of my bike on Sunday, their fix was working fine. I'm just saying it always helps to double-check your bike before you leave the shop. In this case, it didn't cause any major issues (thankfully).

UPDATE: So, it turns out I did have a serious issue, most likely exacerbated by these recurring trips to the bike shops. My rear hub was completely blown out, caused by over-tightening and then re-tightening. It started acting funny again on Friday, and when I attempted to tighten things back up again, it actually became looser. $25 and a new wheel later, I'm FINALLY free of this beast of a problem that should have been solved on the first fix. Jerks.

Nice Guys Finish Last

It's become like a broken record at this point (for those of you who know what a record is), but aggressive drivers are a fact of life as a city cyclist. I encounter several every day, most often when I'm working. Peeps really don't like driving slowly behind a bike trailer full of laundry, though sometimes I question their driving skills when I clearly have left enough room for them to pass. Anyway...

I was on Master Street, not far from our Thompson Street laundromat, when a gray pickup pulled up behind me and laid on his horn. Normally, I ignore these outbursts when I'm working (gotta represent the company properly, right?), but for whatever reason, I caved today. There was no space to pull over, so I pulled on to the sidewalk when I crossed the next intersection.

I should have waited for him to pass and got back on the street, but I decided to continue on the sidewalk. I mean, I didn't have far to go. Unfortunately, a top-heavy trailer, a narrow sidewalk and uneven terrain make for a terrible mixture. Funny thing is, I was actually walking the bike when this happened:

This isn't the first time I've toppled a trailer, and it sure won't be the last, but it could have been avoided. After spending 10 or so minutes disassembling, unpacking, reassembling and repacking the trailer, I was up and running again. Next time, I'll be a jerk, stay riding in the street and save myself the aggravation. Drivers can wait.

Positive Reflection

Back in May, I wrote about a roadside memorial for a cyclist killed at the intersection of Ridge and Girard Avenues, very close to the laundromat where I work. I bike through that intersection several times daily, and it's certainly a rough spot. I mean look at this list:

• Trolley tracks and several asphalt ripples surrounding them
• "No Left Turn" signs that everyone ignores
• Traffic entering and exiting a gas station on the northwest corner of the intersection
• A sizable sinkhole that hasn't been filled for months (you'll see it below)
• During the school year, Girard College students and busses in addition to the usual complement of pedestrians and traffic

All these problems are not solved, and likely won't be any time soon, but I saw a rather obvious step in the right direction today, freshly-painted crosswalks:

Seriously. Look at that sinkhole. This development likely doesn't help all that much for cyclists' safety, but they're trying. Even though I get into my fair share of dust-ups with them, pedestrians are people too.

On another note, things you don't notice when you're driving in a car, little piles of reflective glass beads that were applied to the wet crosswalk paint:

It's not what you think it is...

So yes, they're reflective, which is definitely a good thing. Next step, we all become reflective. Hehe.

The Forbidden City

I don't have a bucket list, but I do have a list of things I want to do (in my head, not in the literal sense). I crossed one off today, as I finally biked Forbidden Drive, after over a year and half of living in this city:

The south trail head at Lincoln Drive

A lot of people use this trail daily, maybe thousands, but most of them will drive to the trail heads and then proceed to bike. I decided to bike to the trail from my house, so by the time I got there, I was already about 8 miles and 45 minutes deep. Seemed like a good time to pause to see what I was in for:

No signs of bear crossings...

Not too shabby. It was actually kind of encouraging to see the "8 Miles from Fairmount" and etc. milestones as I got further from Center City. Of course, I was having so much fun that I didn't stop to take a picture of any of them...but anyway, the ride was amazing. As expected, lots of terrain changes, a few tight squeezes and some close calls, but a great experience. There's nothing like trail riding. I love city biking and all, but there's nothing that compares to clean, woodsy air and a cool breeze. Reminded me of biking back home.

When I reached the northwest end of the trail, I took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere out on Andorra Road. I eventually picked up Ridge Avenue and took that back towards the Schuylkill River Trail. I appreciated the overall downhill terrain. Hah...

Side note: that's also about when I started to notice that I knocked my rear axle out again - the one I just replaced two weeks ago - so I guess I have some work to do before Saturday...

Another side note: I did today's ride wearing nothing but swimming trunks and my shoes. Gotta prepare, right? Just kidding. But not really.

When I got back to Kelly Drive, I waxed nostalgic for a couple seconds as I approached East Falls. Most people don't know that it's where I actually lived very briefly before I found a home here, as I house-sat for my friends Dave and Biz and crashed in their guest room more than a handful of times (still love those guys - it's been far too long).

Anywho, I had a couple places I would frequent in East Falls, but not the neat little place that I saw on my left, which I eventually found out is called In Riva. The railings were covered with old bikes! In an impromptu move, I decided to stop in. A place with a sign that reads "Bikes Welcome" sounded like a place I wanted to be:

If you don't have a bike, get the f*** out!

It also seemed like a great place to reward myself, a halfway house of sorts:

Actually, yes. Beer always has been there for me.

After devouring some bangin' bruschetta (gotta get those carbs, right?), I was back on my way home, which includes a small section of one of the other items on my "to do" list, the East Coast Greenway:

No, really. I want to bike the whole thing. One of these years.

All told, 31ish miles on a Sunday was well worth it. Who needs days off?

The Naked Mural

Since the SHI office has moved deeper into South Philly, Watkins Drinkery has become one of my favorite after work haunts, as it's only a few blocks from our new location. If you've never been, I highly recommend, for herbivores, omnivores, swill and craft beer enthusiasts alike. Also one of the best happy hours in the city, IMO.

Anywho, I stopped off for a quick bite this evening. For whatever reason, when I left, I decided to go west on Watkins Street even though home is toward the east. The next building over, I saw this:

I've been here half a dozen times in the last month or so, and I have no idea how I missed this. This is Isaiah Zagar's mural warehouse, which I knew existed, but whose location I never looked up. Durrrr...

After I stopped gawking, I was about to leave, when a local from across the street called down to me from his roof deck. He told me to go down the alley between the bar and the warehouse, to which I said "Thanks, but maybe some other time." I actually had to meet a friend in Old City, which is another story for another day.

He also said that there's going to be an after party here after the Philly Naked Bike Ride, and "You look like you might be into that sorta thing." Not sure what that means, but at any rate, I guess we'll see next weekend...

Finally Flat

Two months ago, I posted about a couple streets in my delivery area that had been ground to make way for paving projects. Today, the city finally began to finish the job on North 3rd Street:

I guess all good things take time? Even though Broad Street, Snyder Avenue, 16th Street and several other projects were started after this one and finished first...I guess it doesn't matter. I can finally stop avoiding this area and get back to my normal delivery route, and hope and pray that PGW doesn't get anywhere near this street for a few years.

If you look on the lower left corner of the above pictures, you may have noticed the cafe:

The only reason I highlight it is because I used to work in that building. The owner moved into the former location of the Strengthening Health Institute, and it's a little weird to see. I will, of course, return once it's open to see what their definition of "gourmet" happens to be. Still a strange location for a cafe, if you ask me...

Tonight, my friends from DC are in town playing a show at Kung Fu Necktie. If the rain holds out, I may ride my bike there and have an excuse to blog about it on here tomorrow. If not, I may do it anyway. Ha.

Generally Frontin'

I passed by a van parked near Thompson Street's Laundromat several times yesterday. Something seemed a little off, but I couldn't figure out what, so I grabbed a quick pic and decided to look at it later.

This morning, I looked. The first thing I noticed (of course) is that "Residential" is spelled "Redidential." Whoops.

Moving on, there's no contact information. The name is as generic as can be. In fact, there's nothing on here that can be associated with anyone other than the license plate, which I don't have a picture of.

Could this be a front? Hmmm....