Nice Rack: Front & Thompson

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 265.1

Normally when I post about a nice bike rack, it's relatively short. However, this is #30daysofbiking and everything is amplified so...I present to you, day 13: a story in reverse.

This evening, I decided to venture to Front Street Cafe because they were opening their "garden" for the season and had a bunch of cool specials. I've been here many times before, but never noticed this leaf-shaped bike rack:

A good place to leaf your bike

To be fair, it looks shiny and new and may well be. You can see it even better when my bike's not locked to it:

When a plant gives you 1000% of your RDA of Iron...

Back to why I chose to ride 4.5 miles up to Fishtown...I heard there would be live music tonite, and music and beer are the quickest ways to my heart other than a nice bike ride:

The musician is in there somewhere. Trust me.

The first guy (above) was an instrumental pianist. The next guy was a guitarist/harmonica-ist much like yours truly. Both were solid, and definitely made for an enjoyable end to an up-and-down day.

Speaking of the rest of the day, earlier on, a new old client returned to the Wash Cycle roster, which required a trip to Chinatown. It was a little scary riding a cargo bike on Vine Street, but the cherry blossoms in bloom with the skyline as a backdrop was kinda nice:

Screenshotted because I was feeling lazy this evening

Said delivery was part of a same-day service, which went off without a hitch, always a nice bonus.

The not-so-nice parts of today came early on, when I had two clients in the suburbs today and traffic was jammed in almost all directions. Just reminded me why I ride a bike to work every day. But...

I also serviced another client in Fishtown and picked up 25ish pounds on my personal bike because I was running late and underestimated how much laundry they would have. Rather than riding all the way back to the plant to pick up the company bike first, I figured I could just do the pickup on my bike. Just barely made it. If you were expecting pics of that ridiculous spectacle, sorry. The plus in all of that was the obvious workout, and let me tell ya, I think this is the first time in a long time my legs are actually a tad sore. You won't hear that on this blog very often.

Lucky 13 was a challenge, but rewarding just the same. Friday and palindrome day tomorrow, 30 Days of Biking!

West Willy Wednesday-ish

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 237.3

I had one of those days, but it ended well.

Let's just bypass the first 3/4 of day 12 of #30daysofbiking and move right to the dinner hour, where I found myself riding out to West Philly for the monthly Philly Vegan Drinks event. This one was held at Dock Street Brewery:

Dock Street Brewery is neither a dock nor a street nor a brewery. Discuss.

Dock Street is actually a pretty nice place to enjoy a beer this time of year, with plenty of outside seating (as you can see) and a solid menu for folks of all dietary preferences. The beer is pretty flippin' awesome, and it should be - they claim to be Philly's first craft brewery (pretty sure no one disputes this). The event was rather underwhelming, but not unpleasant in the least. And again, it gave me an excuse to ride another 6ish miles.

I actually could have stayed longer, but I told a friend I would meet him in South Philly around 8, so I had to roll out before it ended. On my way out the door, I saw this GORGEOUS sunset:

It's not a comet.

I took a different route home this evening than I did last week and found this work zone on Gray's Ferry Avenue at 34th St.:

I find these all the time, actually.

I only point this out because I think it's kinda neat that they're using the old train tracks as sidewalk forms. That's quite possibly the best re-purposing I've seen in recent memory. I find it slightly disappointing that they removed my favorite part of this intersection, the random buffer stop that used to sit on the sidewalk right near the intersection:

Not stopping anything now other than progress...

I dunno, I always thought it looked neat there because it was so out of place (sort of). In any case, the conditions for riding were awesome tonite and I could have kept going, but I kept day 12 on the lighter side mostly by design. Even I can't keep up this torrid pace. Lucky 13 tomorrow. How's everyone doing?

Lock Down

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 223.5

Although 30 Days of Biking is labeled as a challenge, for the most part, I don't see it as such. I mean, I ride almost every day as a commuter, and occasionally on the job (that's become less and less frequent, but as you have seen, still happens). So basically, life isn't a challenge, and it shouldn't be. Right?

The real challenge has been to find ways to make this whole thing as adventurous as possible. That, and dealing with minor annoyances. Case in point...

Perhaps fitting (or not fitting, if you appreciate the pun) that this occurred on the last ride of last weekend's 30 Days of Beer-king adventure, my key got stuck in my U-lock after unlocking on the boardwalk:

I guess it's not technically a U-unlock...

In hindsight, I'm thankful it didn't get stuck in the lock before I was able to unlock my bike, because that would have resulted in a messy scene requiring bolt cutters and plenty of turned heads. Also, where the hell would I have gotten bolt cutters on a Sunday afternoon during the off-season in a beach town? Police I guess...

I bought a new lock which I absolutely hate, but it works, so that's cool. Also on the bright side, it gave me a reason to go for another ride to buy said new lock (to Walmart, the only place that was open) after I got back to Philly, which logged another 5ish miles (I have a backup cable lock just for situations like this, but only for temporary use). Random things like this have contributed to this unusually high mileage total for this week:

Unusually high for a month other than 30 Days of Biking

Then again, some friends and I have been known to pop off 60 miles in one day every now and then...it also helps that the weather has been GORGEOUS the past couple days. I haven't had any big adventures to speak of, just usual everyday riding and errands that just seem to add up. The next few appear to be relatively tame as well (which can change at any minute) but I've got some cool ideas for this weekend. In the mean time, enjoy one more look at a snap from outside Radicchio Cafe in Old City last night. This may be my favorite so far:

11 days ain't nothin'. Ride on, #30daysofbiking!

Mondayne

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 198.6

It's like I have a fever plus 100.

I logged just over 30 miles today, starting as early as 6:45AM. It was a beautiful day to be outside as you can probably tell by the mileage total.

Apologies for the brevity, but sleep is of utmost importance right now. Enjoy this view of the sunset from Old City, and see you tomorrow for day 11. =]

30 Days of Beer-King: Part Two

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 166.5

It's a bit surreal to see that mileage total up there, but it's on the internet so it has to be true, right?

I wrote an extremely abbreviated post yesterday for two reasons: 1) I didn't have access to a computer and 2) I was having too much fun. If you're not following me on Facebook or Instagram, here's what I was up to.

One of my best biking friends suggested several weeks ago that we take a trip to the beach during the off-season to explore, ride bikes, and sample some microbrews. How could I say no? It just so happens that we decided to do this during #30daysofbiking. We rode in 2 states in 2 days, the first time I've done that during April, ever:

I wanted to ride but something about an 8 hour ride was off-putting to my counterpart

My friend Amy showed up to my house in Philly on Saturday morning and we took a drive down to Rehoboth Beach, stopping at 16 Mile Brewery on the way down (not pictured, because we didn't ride our bikes there). We had some snacks while there, but were understandably getting a little hungry by the time we parked in downtown Rehoboth. Luckily, there are no shortage of breweries with kitchens in the vicinity. Our first stop was Big Oyster Brewing/Fins Ale House (this is actually my second time here), less than 3 miles from where we had parked:

Not pictured: me gasping for air

However, they were a challenging 3 miles to ride, as we fought a headwind the entire way. It was a beautiful day otherwise, especially in the wake of the downright miserable conditions I battled in Philly the previous 2 days. After finishing there, we ventured another mile or so northwest on the Coastal Highway to Crooked Hammock Brewery (again, my second time here):

Can a hammock ever be straight? Let's be real here.

At this point, we were starting to feel a little gassed, which was concerning because I still wanted to do so much more! Good thing we had gone as far west as we were going to go, and the ride home would be much easier. We hung there for an hour or so before heading to what ended up being my favorite stop all weekend, Revelation Brewing (for my second time as well):

You might say it was a major revelation

Admittedly, I have a lot of energy. Amy wasn't sure she wanted anything there, but I ordered a taste of every beer on the menu. We ended up liking every single one of them, and she actually got a growler filled (I should have too). A tiny little space but plenty of character present, and very supportive of cycling culture. Their growlers are actually designed to fit in a large water bottle holder. Hehe.

As you can probably imagine, we were once again getting hungry. Revelation doesn't have a kitchen, so we were forced to ride onward to our final stop of the evening, Dogfish Head (which we both rode to last Summer...22 miles!):

Not my best picture. I blame the artificial lighting.

We ate, we had a couple more tastes (two were absolutely incredible and rare), and by the end of it all I was ready for sleep. We had made arrangements with a friend who has a place in Ocean City, MD to stay the night, so that's where we headed (via car, of course). That was Saturday.

I was excited for several reasons this morning. There's biking, of course, but I was also excited to bust out these awesome cycling socks I picked up at Lineage Brewing in Columbus last weekend:

Wait. How can a sock cycle?

I know. Lame. Whatever. Judge me. They actually are quite comfortable and functional. If you look closely, you can see the top of the arch has a vented area, which actually does work, believe it or not. I've never owned cycling socks before, and I may need to get more. Anyway...

I initially had a much more elaborate plan for Sunday that got scaled back due to a scheduling error (one brewery was closed - my error haha) and an overall feeling of laziness in the morning. We did, however, ride to some close by places that I visit almost every time I go down there, including Fractured Prune Donuts:

The best way to feel bad about riding a bike - donuts

They are absolutely delicious, satisfying to my soul, and every time I have one, I remember why I can't have them very often. Sugar overloads don't do well with me. I survived. After a short 1 mile ride, we headed to the beach very briefly and then back for a short nap. We had a bit more in store for the afternoon, including an 8 mile ride to Backshore Brewing on the boardwalk:

Not sure where the front shore is...

I'd put this place among my 2 favorites of the weekend (after Revelation) because it was an absolutely perfect day to ride and sit outside enjoying craft beer ON THE BOARDWALK. It's a neat little place, too. They serve their flights and some food on mini skateboards and surfboards, and they have a beer named after Charlie the Unicorn.

Sadly, we headed back and packed the car to go home shortly thereafter. We didn't hit everywhere I wanted to hit this weekend, but as you can see, we still did quite a lot. The silver lining is that this also leaves the door open for more exploration on my next visit to the beach.

9 days down, 21 to go. What an adventure it's been already, 30 Days of Biking...

30 Days of Beer-King: Part One

There were beers, there were bikes. Day 8 was chock full of everything I love. Full update tomorrow-ish. Ride on.

...and on the Seventh Day, He Biked.

30 Days of Biking Mileage Counter: 133.8

Day 6 was a bit of a monsoon, quite literally. Day 7 was only marginally better.

I decided to "sleep in" until 7. I remember when waking up at 7 for class at 8 was the toughest chore in the world. Now, I (occasionally) move 200+ pounds of laundry on a bike at about 8 AM:

They didn't teach this in college. Take THAT, degree!

Actually, this was at around 11AM, but I was on the clock around 8 servicing Swarthmore. You get the point. Very little rain today, but it was still cold enough that I contemplated wearing ear muffs. In mid-April. Aside from being forced to wear my rain jacket more for wind protection than anything else, the route went smoothly and I wrapped up this week of deliveries without any major hitches. That speaks volumes (pun intended) to how far we've come.

After some office work, I headed home and watched a bit of the Phillies home opener. Hard to believe it's baseball season, what with it being so damn cold. Enough of that, though. I refreshed enough to brave the elements once more, because it also happened to be National Beer Day. Noted craft beer enthusiast that I am, I decided to make it as much of an adventure as I could. I decided to head north to Fishtown and encountered this on the way:

I didn't know the Pope was coming back to Philly... 

The American Revolutionary War Museum is holding a grand opening gala this weekend. They couldn't have picked better weather! Ha...aside from the slight annoyance of having to change my route (trust me, in this cold and wind, you'd be annoyed too), the place looks like it could be a good visit once opened, and I'm sure I'll stop in sooner or later.

Onward to Fishtown and my intended destination, the Evil Genius Brewery:

Because Dr. Evil was copyrighted

Notice anything strange? Check out the bike rack. It's one of those "wheel only" racks that are rife for thefts. I never lock my bike without attaching the wheel to the frame to the rack, or at least the frame and the cable. As you can see if you look closely, I was forced to get creative. Hopefully I didn't pull a spoke out... Anywho, the beer was decent, as was the food, as was the atmosphere. I look forward to coming back on a warmer day when I can sit outside.

Hard to believe it's already been 7 days. A side note, I've now visited 8 breweries since #30daysofbiking began, and there will be more...