Parallel Universe

I got to the office the other day and noticed a bike that looked just like mine. Because it is:

Well, aside from the color

I'm not gonna lie, I accidentally tried to unlock their bike instead of mine. I kinda wish I could have. Theirs is newer. :P

I've been in the office with some regularity for the last 2 weeks. Tonite, I'll be called into action as a residential delivery cyclist for the first time in more than 2 years. The joys of upper management - whatever is needed, whenever it's needed. Hopefully tonite isn't a storm before the storm...

The Water Cycle

This is a garbage post, but trust me, it's a worthwhile garbage post.

I've encountered my fair share of interesting folks and businesses since I started working at Wash Cycle 2+ years ago, and the list keeps growing, which of course lends itself to more new experiences.  Through them, I met the folks at United by Blue, who are not only clients, but also really awesome people.  More on them later.

Yesterday, I signed up to volunteer on a clean up they had organized.  They conduct these on the first Tuesday of every month.  This month's Philly edition was held at Bartram's Garden, which gave me an excuse to ride 5 miles out to Southwest Philly:

I was singing Octopus' Garden the whole ride there for some reason...

The ride was a bit scary at times.  I took Vare Ave. for part of the ride, which parallels the Schuylkill Expressway, leading people to exceed the 35 MPH speed limit quite often.  Even on a 3-lane wide avenue, it's still scary.  Shortly thereafter, I turned onto the Grays Ferry Bridge, which sits right next to a trash transfer station (I told you this was a garbage post).  After successfully dodging all manner of debris on the bridge, I found myself in the urban wasteland of abandoned row homes and delinquent factories that plague the Southwest.  Not the prettiest ride, hence the lack of pictures.

Bartram's Garden, on the other hand, is a beautiful place that's been preserved and operated (in varying capacities) since 1893, and is one of the oldest in the country.  It's also terribly fallen victim to littering and drifting garbage over the years, which is probably why UBB decides to hold a clean up here every late Winter.  From despair comes inspiration, though, as about 100 people showed up to help.  Believe it or not, I was the only person who rode a bike:

Maybe it's because there's not much bike parking there...

Exciting stuff, though.  OK, picking up trash is not really anyone's idea of exciting, but doing it for the best of causes and meeting some great people in the process makes it seem more like a party than a chore.  It also helps when the organizers provide free stuff like Clif Bars (one of my favorite guilty pleasures):

Where are the Steve bars?

Inspired Brews' kombucha on tap (if that's your thing):

I prefer beer

And local/organic fruit cups from Honeygrow:

Those who arrived late still got fruit cup

United by Blue is an outdoor apparel company that organizes these cleanups because their co-mission (in addition to profit) is to remove one pound of trash from the oceans for every item that they sell in their stores or online.  Basically, water connects everything, everything is united by blue.  Cue the hippy picture where I tell you why it's important not to litter:

Bonus preservation tip: don't be an idiot that throws trash out your window on the expressway

After the intro to what we were doing and why we were here, it was time to get to work.  Groups of about 15 scattered throughout the gardens and picked up and sorted trash and recyclables for about 2 hours.  I paused briefly to admire this view, which will probably be gorgeous once the trees bloom:

It already looks better with less trash

This is another place I'll come back to explore once the weather turns nicer and I have a free day.  Big picture-wise, the Gardens are eventually going to be connected to Center City and beyond via the Schuylkill Banks trail.  So basically, you'll be able to ride from Southwest Philly up to Manayunk and further without ever having to get on a major road.  Righteous, no?

After cleanup, we lugged our trash & recycling bags back to the meetup point.  Blue is for recycling, white is for trash:

My bike is going to be re-cycled. See what I did there?

Our group got back at about 5:45, and some groups that were further down the river didn't get back until closer to 6, so that's just a small portion of what we collected.  Amazingly, we collected over 1,900 pounds of discarded items, and about 70% of that will be able to be recycled.  UBB also provided us gloves to use during cleanup, and guess who's going to be washing them:

Well, obviously someone that's not me...

In case you didn't notice, that's a Wash Cycle Laundry bag.  :D  UBB awarded 2 people after all had returned: the person who guessed closest to how many pounds we picked up, and the person who found the weirdest item.  I wasn't one of them.  Meh.  I still had fun, and so did everyone else:

Photo Courtesy: Honeygrow

The rain held off just long enough for me to ride there, help with the cleanup, and ride home before dinner.

All in all, picking up trash yesterday was pretty flippin' awesome.  It would be even better if we didn't have to do it at all though...

Cycles of Change: Part ? Of ¿

This month has been a crazy one...but before I write the bulk of this post, I want to thank Facebook for reminding me that exactly one year ago today, I took The Bike With No Name out for her maiden voyage. Approximately 3,000 miles later, you can literally see what kind of a difference a year makes:

That's actually the under side of my handlebar grip, which I flipped around some time ago because I had already worn out the top half. That also kinda ties into why I haven't been blogging lately, even though I have been biking. Lookit:

Those of you closest to me know this already, and maybe I mentioned this on here before, but this hobby blog has actually been a great contributor to my personal and professional progress. In the first 2 months of this year, it's really moved me further than I'd ever imagined.

My higher ups (including my amazing former director of marketing) noticed this special space I've carved out in cyber space some time back in 2015 and offered me an opportunity to do part-time marketing work at Wash Cycle Laundry. As the saying goes, the rest is history.

I spent the next year-ish learning on the job, and when my supervisor left for her own bigger dreams back in December, the door opened for me to step into a larger role in marketing and sales. I've been away from the blog for the last month or so as I trained a replacement for my commercial route. Happy to say, my replacement is doing awesome, and I'm expecting big things from the both of us. Let's just say we both had good trainers (I promise no more shameless self promotions).

Nearly 2 years to the day that we opened our North Philly plant, it was tough to let go of my route this past Monday - much tougher than I thought it would be - but riding onward to bigger and better things is also exciting for sure. What a difference a year makes, indeed...

So that's it. Sort of. I'm off the bike for work-related purposes, but just because that was a major reason why I started this blog doesn't mean it's going anywhere. I've got some big plans for the remainder of 2017, of course. Remember, 30 Days of Biking is just around the corner in April.

With continued thanks for all of your support on this ride we call life, let's ride on...

Down With the Sickness

Down, as in, actually down. Not in the good kind of "down" way.

Anywho, I get sick usually once a year. Last week happened to be that once a year, and let me tell ya, it sucked horribly. I was all but forced to take 2 days off from work-related cycling and 3 total cycling days last week because I literally couldn't breathe. Sickness aside, taking any sort of absence from riding kills me more than anything.

So, with a relatively mild forecast on tap (pun intended) for Super Bowl Sunday, I decided I had to venture at least a little bit, if for no other reason than to "sweat it out." I wanted something only mildly challenging, so I decided to keep it to about 5 miles one way. As usual, my midpoint would be a brewery/brewpub, in this case, the recently opened Flying Fish Crafthouse in Brewerytown. Some of you already know this, but in case you don't, it's a resurgent area that's still in transition:

Not sure what's going in that empty lot, most likely more dime-a-dozen condos, but who cares about that? The abandoned Red Bell Brewing Company building in the background is the real story here. Much like its Brewerytown brethren, it's been left to rot for decades, yet still stands because back in the day, they used to build things to last. It's been recently purchased and will likely be redeveloped in the near future. Across the street, that's already happened:

That's the Crafthouse, which looks rather unassuming from first glance. In fact, I drove by here a few weeks ago and almost didn't notice it. What was once a decaying factory is now a large brewpub, which makes me hoppy. See what I did there?

The place is yuge. I'm excited to come back for the various events they have talked about hosting (live music, game night, etc). I mean, anything to give me an excuse to go on a medium-length bike ride. There's also a full menu but not many vegetarian options, so I decided to skip the food side of the equation for now. I got there in the middle of the day and wasn't really hungry anyway. Besides, you go to a brewpub for beer, right?

And plenty of it. 5 samples for $12 is a steal. Just enough to get you feelin' good, but not too much that you can't ride home. Speaking of which, I did eventually make it back to South Philly:

The ride was decent, nothing epic to report, so I post that pic only because of the mileage total. Combined with my ride to and from my friend's house for the Super Bowl, I logged more miles on Sunday than I did the entire rest of the week combined. You can definitely tell I was in rough shape earlier in the week. Anyway, I'm going to try to get back into my Sunday Cycling Series routine once the weather gets 100% nicer, but this was a good start. Of course, if you have any recommendations for future Sunday rides, please let me know.

Laying Low

I've been devoid of much activity on this here blog, and maybe that's because these days I'm not doing all that much biking, relatively speaking.  I've not moved my car in more than three weeks, and my bike has clearly seen more miles.  It's a strange month to be a cyclist, where things can range from sunny to rainy to snowy all within a couple days, and usually it's cold to boot.  I bike in any weather, but the pleasure biking definitely takes a bit of a hiatus this time of year.  That said, I have sneaked in some fun rides every now and then:

This was from about 2 weeks ago, when I joined for a small portion of the monthly Full Moon Ride.  I branched off and headed towards home while listening to the Flyers on the radio.  They went to a shootout and actually won (!), at which point I was passing by the arena and could hear the goal horn from well over a quarter mile away.  Some have told me they can hear it from their houses that are actually much further away.  Still pretty neat.

A little more than a week later, I joined my first Night Cycle ride.  Also pretty damn fun, especially the campfire at the midpoint:

Again, I had to leave a little early, but I got in a solid 14 miles on a Friday night nonetheless.  The next day, I was supposed to cat-sit for a friend all the way out in West Philly.  This prophecy appeared to me on her fridge:

That day happened to be a historic day across the globe, as hundreds of millions of people joined the Women's March. Philly was no exception, and I joined for the early part of the day, via bicycle of course on my ride home:

You can see from the above that the weather was threatening.  That continued through Sunday and it broke on Monday, so much so that I was forced to take the train home from the office.  I don't like it any more than you:

Though less than ideal, I'm always glad I got out and did something, even if it's just biking a mile down the street.  I get really bad cabin fever.  Apparently it's rubbing off on the cats, too:

Tomorrow promises to be much better, so we'll see what happens.  January is a strange month for another reason.  Even though I bike every day, I'm just not that motivated to write about it.  You might call it a holiday/birthday hangover, or something.  At any rate, it's already almost over.  Can you believe it?

A Tale of Two Weeks

For the most part, this January has very much looked like January.  In fact, it's been downright brutal at times.  It was so cold earlier this week that my pipes in my kitchen froze, which isn't an irregular occurrence in Winter, but nonetheless...

It's been pretty cool (pun intended) to see just how many people are still willing to brave the cold and ride every day, myself included.  OK, I'm not gonna lie.  I took this weekend off.  I literally had no reason to ride other than for pleasure, and when it's 20 degrees outside with 3 inches of snow on the ground, there's very little pleasure to be had, even for a cycling enthusiast.

One awesome thing about this though, when I was forced (yes, forced) to ride to work on Friday, I finally popped my baby's snow cherry:

Hard to believe since we've logged well over 2,500 miles together in less than a year, but last Winter, I kept her in the stable until we had some more palatable weather.  Now, she's been around the block more than enough that I'm not so paranoid about her getting a little dirty.  I gotta say, she did very well.  Wouldn't recommend doing it every day tho...

In any case, the weather broke sometime between last night and today, and we were greeted with beautiful sunshine for most of the day, with temps near the 50s.  Hard to believe, really.  At times, I'm totally alright with global warming (not literally of course).

It was perfect riding weather, so I made the most of it.  Besides commuting and other less-than-exciting errands, I had to make a detour to a friend's house in West Philly and took a few extra detours on the way home.  Most notably I paused at Drexel Park, which was the launch point for the Naked Bike Ride 2 years ago, and also features a gorgeous view of the Philly skyline:

My crappy phone camera really doesn't do it justice.  What a town, I tell ya.  Without a doubt my most enjoyable ride of 2017 thus far.  Not like it has much competition, but you get the point.  All good things must come to an end, and as I re-entered South Philly, it started to rain.  I made it home just in time to avoid getting soaked.  There's another positive though.  With a forecast in the 60's tomorrow, I'm anticipating a lot of riding...and if nothing crazy happens, the full moon bike ride.

33 on the 33rd

I sneaked in one final adventure in 2016, and it just so happened to occur on my birthday.

Back during 30 Days of Biking, I was inspired by my friend Todd, who told me he always rides the distance of his age in miles on his birthday.  Oddly enough, he's also the guy that inspired me to do 30 Days of Biking.  We rode together with several people from Wash Cycle Laundry on April 16th, and I decided that day that I wanted to do the same on my birthday.

Weather permitting, of course, it was a great idea.  I don't know if you're aware, but December is historically much cooler than April.  My birthday last Friday was no exception, but despite the chilly temps (I think at ride start, air temp was 40F) and high gusting winds, it was a beautiful day for a ride:

I didn't expect everyone who rode along with me to log 33 miles (yes, that's how old I am), so I set the meeting point at the Philadelphia Art Museum.  From my house to there it's about 5 miles, and I added a detour or coffee in the early morning in hopes of ensuring a 33-mile total.  The destination, you ask?  Iron Hill Brewery in Chestnut Hill.  You knew I had to pick a brewery as my waypoint:

I hide my exhaustion well under a Winter jacket and 3 layers.  The ride there was awesome at times, arduous at others, mostly due to the wind.  I didn't even mind the hills.  But that wind...I kid you not that I was literally dripping in sweat by the time we got there.  Give credit to the garment makers - my Winter gear did its job a little too well, but later on, I would be glad to have it...

Anyway, FOUR of us survived the trek up the hills of Northwest Philly.  Our reward, some excellent bar junk food (Hey, it's my birthday. Birthdays are for stepping out of bounds.) and local craft beer:

It was definitely worth it for that and one other reason; some members of my immediate family joined myself and friends for lunch as well:

Couldn't have asked for a better experience, and it wasn't but halfway over.  Remember, I still had to ride back home.  One of the best parts of riding up a large hill is that you eventually get to ride back down.  On blistering cold days, a downhill can be a blessing and a curse, especially if you're not dressed properly.  That Winter gear came in handy when we dropped downhill at nearly 18MPH...

I branched off some time after we got back to the Art Museum and headed back for South Philly for an almost exact 33 mile round trip.  You might think I had planned it:

Some said it was pretty crazy.  I just think it's crazy that I biked this distance without leaving the city limits.  This place seems so small to me at times, but this reminded me how sprawling it can be.  It also was yet another reminder how lucky I am to live here and keep the company I keep.

And thus starts a new tradition, with many thanks to all who joined, whether in practice or in spirit.  I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's celebration.  Here's to another fantastic year of biking.  Who wants to be crazy enough to join me for this ride later this year?!?!?!?