When I'm 64

#365daysofbiking status: 64 days

Because I love statistics, here are a couple quick hits:

• According to my Strava profile, I've logged 417.6 miles in the month of May
• According to my blog, I logged 572.6 miles in April for #30daysofbiking
• I'm not sure what I logged from March 28-31 (when I unofficially began 365 Days of Biking), but let's assume it was 40 miles (10 miles a day, which is about average)
• Total so far for 365 days of biking: 1,030.2 miles

That's pretty staggering for a little over 2 months. I wish there was a way to figure out what I've done so far for the year. Time machine, anyone?

I thought it would be a good time to check in, because recently my schedule has gotten kinda hectic (in a good way). Wash Cycle Laundry has started servicing a new hotel client, and yours truly was given the reins. It's required me to spend some more time in a car, but as you can see, I've still found time to get on the bike. What I haven't had time to do is write. So here I am.

I took the above pic when I was visiting my Dad during 30 Days of Biking, and forgot about it until I was "cleaning out" photos just now. Kinda reminded me that I've forgotten about this blog over the last couple weeks in the midst of the organized chaos of hotel linen management. There haven't been very many epic bicycle-related adventures in my life these days, which is totally fine for now. The Summer is still looming large and I have a list that will get cut down in due time.

What was also looming large was one of the largest hurdles I will probably face during this challenge: vacation. Every June, I go to Canada for a week with some family, and our cars are usually packed to the gills with gear and humanity, leaving little room for anything else, much less a bicycle. Tonight, my cousin told me we can "make it work." I'm doing a happy dance right now.

In addition to new work, things are happening on the musical front. Beer Money (my co-run acoustic duo) returned to the stage earlier this month. I've started playing Open Mics again. I've played a couple campfires haha...but more importantly, I'll be playing a showcase at the Raven Lounge in Philly tomorrow night (Wednesday - come out if you're free). You can bet that I'll have my bike in tow.

So that's it in a nutshell. I admittedly have been bad at keeping up with this blog, but know that I'm keeping up the good fight. Cycle on, everyone. And Happy June. Anyone have any big cycling/adventure plans for the Summer?

Mann Up

#365daysofbiking status: 46 days

I have absolutely no way of knowing if this is true or not, but I'm pretty sure that today I logged more miles on a work day than I ever have: 35.5. It might be true, it might not be, but either way, even I'm a little sore right now.

I owe this tremendous log of mileage in no small part to a same-day service to the Mann Center:

You can't tell how overcast it is - thanks Instagram

Going there and back twice in the same day alone is over 15 miles (I forget the exact total and I don't feel like opening up Strava). Even with e-bike assist, it's still a workout. West Philly hills are no joke. Random note, check out this sign and see if you can spot the typo:

Mann shouldn't have 2 N's, right?

I'll give you a hint: I rode on the typo in question last month...

Thankfully I came in early today, and my laundry staff was super on top of everything, because just after this pic was taken, it started POURING. I got a little soaked, but at least the laundry got there while it was still dry. Silver lining, right?

Which is good because coming in early today was...not enjoyable. That old saying about rough mornings following good evenings is true. I played 2 consecutive open mic nights on Wednesday and Thursday, and of course I rode my bike to both:

True rock n' roll, or something like that

Pretty excited about that. I spent so much time biking and blogging over the last month, I seriously didn't have time to work on music. For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook, I did promise to have new stuff soon, and I'm keeping to that, so stay tuned.

I wasn't allowed to take pics of this, but I biked up to see a friend and co-worker in a play tonite, which was also pretty awesome. It's called "The Christians" and it's at the Wilma Theatre all month if you happen to be in the city.

Anywho, the 35.5 miles today is a pre-cursor to what is shaping up to be an epic Monday, where I'll be re-visiting The Mann Center, picking up another large haul from Outward Bound, doing my usual service in Fishtown/Northern Liberties AND hauling ass up to North Philly AND out to Swarthmore. I may regret working this weekend, but it should be worth it. If I don't blog for awhile, I'm sure you'll understand.

Tunnel Vision

My #365daysofbiking quest has reached 41 days as of today. While I'm not blogging every day, I am riding every day...according to Strava, nearly 100 miles last week! Oh, and in case you didn't see my last post, follow me on Strava (you can use that handy button I installed on the sidebar :D). It makes it way easier for me to keep track of my mileage with app, though logging it myself was kinda fun.

I took my bike on the road this weekend (well, duh, right?) as part of a brief vacation "home." Played an awesome gig on Friday nite with my partners in rhyme Vinny, Ric, and Scott, plus a few extra guest participants, including my Dad!

However, the weather was still kinda crappy on Saturday, and I was pretty exhausted this morning, so, sadly I didn't do much riding this weekend until tonite. This was pretty neat on the ride back to Philly tho:

The last time I had a bike on the roof of my car, I was traveling cross country. Sign?

No, I didn't ride thru the tunnel. That would just be stupid. This also happened this weekend:

Another sign...

It's been just a little over 2.5 years since I crossed over 100k. Wonder how many miles I've logged on a bike since then...

Thankfully we all survived the dreadful conditions of last week. Can Summer-like weather finally begin? That would be nice. Let's have a good week, shall we?

Everyone Loves a Blog

We're talkin' cycling...

In the midst of some unenjoyable yet tolerable weather today, I paused briefly in West Philly near the Mann Center for a break and the pic above, which showcases the Philadelphia Negro League team (in case you didn't know we had one of those, or if you didn't know they existed - we've come a long way).

I was telling a co-worker how excited I was to be returning to the Mann for our Summer deliveries simply because of how much I enjoy the ride, and I started reminiscing about the first time I rode out there last year. It was a day not unlike today - gray, overcast, humid, yet tolerable, and the ride wasn't bad, all things considered. I've also come a long way since then, if you'll indulge me...

I started this blog back in January of last year. In January of this year, I thought about doing an anniversary post of some sort, but ultimately, I felt it was futile. I think all of you who read this regularly can appreciate how much this thing has meant to me and what kind of impact it's had on my life. That goes without saying. I now get paid to write blog posts on the Wash Cycle Laundry company blog, and it all started because I wanted a simple way for me to get some things out of my head, attempt to be creative and also share stories with others. Thankfully they (and all of you) noticed.

It's meant so much to be a part of a larger movement towards cycling awareness, environmentally friendly business, sustainability and social change. I never would have been inspired to do #30daysofbiking without my co-workers, or to attempt to continue on with #365daysofbiking (more on that in a moment).

I owe a ton to my family (of course), my friends, macrobiotics (which brought me to Philly in the first place), and most certainly Wash Cycle Laundry. Consider this my anniversary post, overdue but right on time, and many thanks for reading, as always.

By the way, I'm still on track for 365 days of biking, but I can't possibly keep up with this blog every day. I joined Strava to make logging my miles a little less labor intensive. Follow me, I'll follow you. I'll try to post regular updates on here every so often.

30 Sense

30 Days Mileage Counter

Bike: 572.6

Car: 490

Train: 8

And so we've reached day 30 of #30daysofbiking. I hardly knew ye. As of 8:30AM today, I completed the challenge:

You know, technically a photo of my bike locked up doesn't mean I rode it...

Just as on Day 1, Day 30 included a trip to the Strengthening Health Institute. My culinary talents were called into action today:

Despite popular wisdom, helmets are not knife-proof

Those of you who know me know that I love to cook. If this were a food blog, I'd have several good stories to share. Since it's not, I won't, but you can trust me when I say it was awesome. I did take some great food pics which will eventually see the light of day on the SHI social media accounts...

So, I spent most of my time inside today, but I snuck in a ride to Center City during a break to pick up some supplies for the school:

Again, I could have strapped my bike to the back of a car and just placed it here - the grand illusion

Grand total for today was 10.4 miles, which means I came up just 27.4 miles short of 600 for the month. I out-rode my car by over 80 miles (another goal met). Not too shabby, eh?

#30daysofbiking has just flown by. I owe an extreme thanks to Todd for telling me about it. I was leery this whole thing would become like work, but the opposite has been true. I've looked forward to each day in this adventure. It's been so much damn fun, and I've been realizing that a lot of you have been enjoying it too, even if you're not participating. I've been floored by how many random friends have mentioned to me that they've been following along, including three more today - one of whom I literally just met today.

It wasn't always all sunshine and rainbows (in fact, it rained quite a bit), but the good moments were extremely good. Here are a few of my favorites:

• April 10: Bike-Apella - Meeting up with family in Glenside to see Straight No Chaser
• April 13 & 14: Flower Power Part 1 & Part 2 - Delivering flowers to Wash Cycle Laundry customers
• April 16: 300 - A trip to Valley Forge pushes me over 300 miles for the month!
• April 24: Takin' it to the Street Art - Finding the graffiti mecca of Philadelphia
• April 26: I Just Biked 500 Miles - Self-explanatory, plus moving 225 pounds on a trike

Many other moments that didn't make the cut were still awesome. Obligatory attempt at social engagement: did I miss anything you enjoyed reading about?

To give you a further sense of what I did this month:

• PA is 283 miles wide, east to west. I rode more than twice that distance.
• That distance would have required nearly 2 tanks (or 32 gallons) of gas in my car at 20 mpg, costing approximately $70.
• The SEPTA TransPass I used every day during the Winter costs $91/month. I took the train to work every day from November-March. This month, I took it once.
• I wrote 33 blog posts, as many as my previous 7 months combined.
• I have no idea how many photos I took - it's a lot.
• And just because, I did all of this on a plant-based diet - grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, beer, and coffee.

I'm gonna take some time in the next couple days to look through some more things my friends did, because I know I missed a few things here and there. There are a lot of amazing stories that came out of this, and I know I'm not alone in that.

A friend at SHI asked me today, "What am I gonna do without a daily blog to read?" I didn't know what to say. I was flattered, of course... I told her that I had actually decided about a week or so ago to keep this going as long as I can. #365daysofbiking actually began on March 28th for me. Who's up for some more riding?!?!?!?

I'm not going to guarantee a blog post every day. This thing is a lot of work some days. I'm not going to guarantee success, either, but it's worth a shot right?

Thanks 30 Days of Biking. It's been more than I could have possibly imagined. Cheers to many more.

Tour de Tour

30 Days Mileage Counter

Bike: 562.2

Car: 490

Train: 8

I'm so close to 600, I can taste it. In the last 2 days, I've made purposeful detours just to get a couple more miles in. I'm still facing an uphill battle with my busy schedule this weekend, but here's hoping it wasn't all in vain (it wasn't...duh).

After my morning route and a few hours at the office, I detoured to West South Philly, namely FDR Park. It's a decent enough ride for the most part, but despite what GoogleMaps says, the expansive intersection at 20th & Moyamensing is not the most bike-friendly place. This just looks odd:

At least there aren't any trolley tracks...

There's no left turn arrow, but when traffic from Moyamensing gets the green, they only allow one direction to go at a time. It's still a little unnerving, and crossing through the intersection felt like it took 5 minutes. It was also raining.

Nevertheless, I reached the park, the place where we used to park for free during Flyers games (that's a good story if you care to hear one day):

That new tire looks nice, eh?

I did a quick loop and headed home. All told, I added over 5 miles with that little detour. Not much else to say about FDR Park unless you're going there to play softball, picnic, or skateboard, but a couple extra miles never hurt anyone.

I'm off to SHI for a weekend seminar, then karaoke at SouthHouse tonight. One more day, #30daysofbiking. Let's finish out strong.

Take the Long Way Home

30 Days Mileage Counter

Bike: 546.6

Car: 490

Train: 8

For me, it appears #30daysofbiking will be ending very similar to how it began: with cold weather and a busy schedule that won't allow me to ride very much. Thankfully, I got out a decent amount yesterday.

This weather sucks. At least wearing gloves makes me more visible, I guess...

I did my usual Thursday route up to Temple University and down into Northern Liberties. I paused briefly to warm up at Front Street Cafe:

You've gotten used to seeing this by now

I ended up running into my friend Ashley, who I haven't seen in months. She now works for Philly Bread. I didn't know they existed, but it turns out they're pretty cool, working directly with farmers to source their ingredients and providing quality product to businesses. Neat stuff, and of course it's always good to catch up.

Onward to Northern Liberties, where I saw this at my next stop:

Don't remove me, bro!

Tell me exactly how you remove graffiti. Seems to me, anyone with a roller and a few cans of paint could do this. Unless you're getting into sand-blasting...in any case, an interesting idea. Not sure I'd buy it though.

Finally, on my way back to the laundromat, I noticed these new signs on the Divine Lorraine:

I'd rather live in the Statue of Liberty like Grandpa from the Simpsons

I'm disappointed that I never got to see the inside of this place before the remodel, but I'd love to see it once it's finished. So, if any of you know someone who knows someone with a lot of money that's going to rent here, let me know.

I'm not huge into horoscopes, but I read mine yesterday for some reason, and it said I should "take a different route to the same old places." I don't need any convincing to do that, but a reminder always helps. Fortunately I had some free time on lunch and decided to explore Brewerytown and beyond:

I originally intended to do Boxer's Trail, which is out that way, but that will have to wait for another day. I did happen upon Mount Pleasant:

Not just for DC any more!

This is actually a very neat little area of Fairmount Park up by Strawberry Mansion (just steer clear of the neighborhood to the East after dark) that I'll definitely come back to explore more in-depth one day. On the southwest side of this hill, I dropped out onto the Schuylkill River Trail and took that back to Center City. Keeping with the theme of taking different routes, I decided to pull off at Race Street because I never do. I got stuck inside the gates crossing the train tracks:

Just like back home, eh?

I actually pulled a quarter out and stuck it on the tracks waiting for the train to go by (don't tell me you don't love doing that!), but it stopped for some reason. I wasn't about to stand there forever, so I moved on:

A weird sign, and that building above 30th St Station I've seen every day in this city but still have no idea what it is...

I stopped to get some lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in Center City:

I dropped a few bucks there too. Hopefully that helps...

Here's hoping! It's always all about food, right?

I stopped by the office briefly to eat, then made my way home. I did some work here before heading out to a mixer at DiBruno Brothers on Chestnut Street. It was sponsored by ZipCar, who's partners with Wash Cycle. Unfortunately, I picked up some sort of sharp object in the rear tube I had just repaired last week and had to detour to Frankinstien Bike Worx for another repair. I have all the supplies to do this myself, but I left them at home. Lotta good they're gonna do me there, right?

The bad news is I spent 50 bucks. The good news is I got a new tube and a new tire (and I now have a spare), both of which are much thicker and hopefully more durable. The ride is surprisingly much better on this tire, too. I think I'll upgrade my front tire next paycheck...

After that side track, I did make it to the event on time thanks to the speedy service, and I ran into some people I met when I was delivering flowers a few weeks ago:

We didn't say cheese, but there was plenty to eat...

They're from United By Blue, who also does a lot of really cool stuff - neighborhood cleanups, outdoor apparel, equal exchange coffee, all good stuff. Give them a look too.

24.4 miles and lots of random experiences in between. I'm not sure I'll be able to get 53 miles in between now and tomorrow, but I'll try my damndest!