Rustcycles: Lawrence & Girard

Lawrence & Girard...sounds kinda like a music duo, no?

On my unexpected excursion yesterday, I spotted a Rustcycle with some flora growing around/in it:

This guy happens to be right next to the bar I used to live above:

All the more reason why I NEVER locked my bike outside when I lived there ;)

Rustcycles is a series of abandoned bicycles and locks I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

The Opposite of Congress

I've often lamented about the sorry state of the streets in Philadelphia (as recently as yesterday). I was called into action for an emergency pickup near my former home today, and got to see a large portion of the OTHER side of the coin.

The pickup was in Northern Liberties, about 3 miles northeast of the office, so I headed that way. I found myself on one of my favorite routes from my commercial cycling days, Spring Garden Street. It's recently been re-paved:

Obviously it still needs some additional striping to be declared complete (further west has already been completed), but even without, it's further solidifying its place as one of my favorite bike lanes in the city. Well, at least this section of Spring Garden is...the West Philly section, not so much.

Oh yea, did I mention I did this on my personal bike? OK, I did:

I've been to this client probably 30 times before, so I knew my steed could handle it. That bag only weighs about 15 pounds. Looks awkward though.

Heading back to the plant, I spent some time on another major thoroughfare in Lower North Philly that's getting a much-needed face lift, that being Girard Avenue, seen here at Broad Street:

It's been ground down but has yet to be paved East of Broad. Ultimately, I still wouldn't recommend it as your first choice as a cyclist, but it's going to be better than it was once complete. I only rode on it because I had clients there. The treacherous nature of traffic I used to deal with on a daily basis was complicated even more by the monstrous potholes that surrounded the trolley tracks, which have also been replaced. Just west of Broad, the same is true:

The parking lane still needs some work, but the cycling "lane" is in good shape up through Ridge Avenue, which also recently saw renewal:

Don't get me wrong: Ridge & Girard is still a dangerous intersection, but again, it's in much better shape now.

I moved down south, started working down south too, and all the streets finally get repaved. That guy Murphy. Let me tell ya. He's a jackass. I guess I'll take it over the usual terribly pockmarked Philly streets...

Tread on Me

My ride home yesterday was far from enjoyable, as the rain had really picked up and made riding quite a chore. I'm not going to complain much about the rain, especially after seeing what's going on in Southeast Texas, but I did see something yesterday that made me think.

I saw a guy nearly slide out on treadless tires (slicks), and it reminded me of this guy I met at a bike shop (that shall remain nameless) 2+ years ago when I was still riding my mountain bike on the daily. I needed a new tube and also mentioned that I would need new tires soon, and he told me to go with slicks because you don't need tread in the city (I didn't listen).

Now, of course what you need depends not only on your terrain but also your capabilities. No tread means less rolling resistance, but it also means less traction and (in my experience) a greater possibility of flats. I could be wrong. All I know is that since I upgraded my tires on my commuter bike to CST Otis with level 5 protection, I have not had a single flat. My front tire has seen well over 3,000 miles of action and it's still going strong:

They are a little burly compared to the factory stock tires, but the peace of mind they've brought to my day-to-day riding can't be measured in speed or dollars and cents. Let's face it - I've written many a time about the sometimes nasty conditions of Philly streets, and you wouldn't believe some of the pieces of glass I've pulled out of these things. I'm more than willing to exercise a little more to know that I'll get from point A to point B without issue. That said, I still carry a repair kit just in case.

Oh, and I've also never once slid out on a rainy road with these guys, as an added bonus. I might go treadless when I finally get a road bike, but for day-to-day use, I'm treading.

/rant

Fool in the Rain

Fresh off his first post-tune-up adventure, The Bike With No Name is experiencing his first rainy day today:

It's actually just a light drizzle, but nonetheless. The precipitation wasn't so bad this morning. The wind, on the other hand, was quite annoying. I'm actually hoping the rain picks up a little bit, because he's in need of a bath after this weekend, as you can see by looking at the fenders:

Go figure. A trail ride gets a bike dirty. After such excursions, I like letting Mother Nature do the bulk of the cleaning work with a little natural water logging, because basically all I gotta do is wipe the bike dry afterward and re-lubricate the chain. It's not the most effective method however, and I do give my bike regular cleanings using more traditional methods. It's a crucial part of bike maintenance, and unfortunately I didn't have time on Sunday or yesterday to get it done. According to this guy, you can do the whole thing in 5 minutes. I haven't tried that yet. Maybe one day, I'll get all sophisticated and get all the neat little toys (including a chain cleaner) to do the job.

In any case, let it rain...

Nice Rack: 18th & Federal

In the midst of a studio recording break today, my buddy Rob and I stopped in the American Sardine bar, where I spotted this outside:

Not sure quite what it's supposed to be, but it's nifty. There are several others nearby to boot. This one was my fav, obviously. Now if only this place hadn't upped the price of the mini sardine sandwiches to $3, I might consider coming here more often...

Go East, Young Man

Summer is winding down and my schedule is about to get very busy due to football season, so adventure days will be limited for the next few months. That said, I was granted a beautiful and schedule-free Saturday yesterday, and I made the most of it by crossing a few more miles off the D&L Trail:

I parked my car at Canal Park in Allentown with the intent of riding the trail all the way east until I hit the Delaware River in Easton. Unlike most of my random adventures, there's a bit of backstory behind my location choice this time: Canal Park is, near as I can tell, the closest trail head south of Northampton, which is where the trail is cut off due to obstructions and the like. I've wanted to do the whole trail from Palmerton to the Delaware for some time, but until they decide to fix it, that's not possible. This'll do for now.

The D&L Trail, for those of you who are unaware, follows the remnants of the Lehigh Canal for a large portion of its length. The trails in this area are mostly old towpaths that were previously used by workers and/or horses to pull coal barges up and down the canal. Even though they're no longer used for that, they're still quite valuable for walkers, runners, and cyclists:

It's a little blurry because I didn't feel like stopping to take the picture. Case in point, this action shot too:

This area of the trail is an absolute joy to ride on even on my rigid commuter bike, because you can see how well it's been maintained. Even in areas where nature has been left to grow a little, it's still in pretty good shape:

This route was supposed to be easy - basically head east until you hit water! Ha...but there was another trail closure somewhere closer to Easton just after Hugh Moore Park, so I was forced to detour through the city. However, I spotted this neat little bike park before veering off to the left:

My 17-mile trek out eventually resulted in me reaching my destination. Of course, I rarely choose a destination without some sort of ulterior motive. In this case, it was yet another brewery (and one of my favorites beer-wise) that I've been wanting to visit for some time, Søle Artisan Ales:

I rode right past it due to the lack of signage. It's a beautiful old building, but honestly, not much to write home about other than that. The building itself sits very close to the Delaware River, and this cool old bridge to Philipsburg, NJ:

It's funny to see these signs when you haven't actually left PA before seeing them:

As for the place it self, the beer was great, as expected, but my experience wasn't all that great. They didn't appear to have a food menu, so I pulled out the sandwich I'd packed and started eating. A waitress came over and told me they don't allow outside food, and that they did offer snacks (listed on the reverse side of the menu - whoops). Snacks were croissants and soft pretzels - not really what I was looking for, but I was hungry from the ride so I had to eat something.

So, feeling a bit unsatisfied and also in a bit of a "When in Rome" kinda mood, I decided to make a small half mile detour to yet another brewery, Two Rivers Brewing:

I probably should have gone here first. They boast a full menu including vegan-friendly options, and their beer was more modestly priced (and they offer flights):

That was a good little detour. It also enabled me to find a better/faster way back to the trail by going through Wilson borough, which is notable as the former home of the Dixie Cup Factory:

You can sort of see the cup on top of the factory in the background. Anyway, I got back to the trail and experienced a hard-to-believe first on my trail rides, DEER!

I've seen plenty of deer in my life growing up in Northeast PA, but this is the first time that I can remember seeing one while riding my bike. Neat. She wasn't phased by me in the least.

Shortly after that, I got back into the most woodsy section of the trail, which was still in pretty great shape for riding:

I made one short stop for a water break on the ride home, ultimately resulting in an 18-mile trip back to the car. Overall I'd say this section of the trail is my favorite, other than that closure between Bethlehem and Easton. What's up with all these closures?

At any rate, the bike's finally gotten his break-in adventure post tune-up. Feels good, because I won't have many more days like these for a while...

Member Approved

Got this bad boy in the mail today:

Ok, it's really not all that impressive, but it makes me happy. I couldn't do all that I do without the help of the Bicycle Coalition.

My cycling was limited on this beautiful day, mostly due to work and the first Friday of high school football. I'm going to do some extra venturing tomorrow as a result...happy weekend everyone!

West Filly Phuckups

I took a ride out to West Philly yesterday. Officially, it was for work, but I did a small bit of exploring just because.

My first stop was the Drexel University campus. We're launching a student laundry plan subscription service this Fall, so I headed out there to take a few pics and get the lay of the land, so to speak:

After I'd finished, I wanted to get a look at two recent bicycle infrastructure additions. The first, history's worst bike lane on Spring Garden St. that was installed a couple months ago:

To the untrained eye, it might not seem so bad. I mean what a great idea: two bike lanes on a one-way street, with a contraflow lane closest to the parked cars to reduce the amount of door-ing.

Unfortunately, this causes other potentially more serious hazards. Cars exiting parking spots will now be moving into not one, but two bike lanes, one of which meets cyclists head on. The other major problem is that when (not if) a car double parks (as you can see above), a cyclist has to move into oncoming traffic to get around them. And if you think this is an infrequent occurrence, it happened twice to me in a span of 2 blocks:

The second occurrence is made all the more dubious by the fact that it's a police vehicle blocking the bike lane. If you're in the area, I recommend avoiding this bike lane at all costs. It's more dangerous than Broad St. The good news is that the Bicycle Coalition has already begun to address these issues.

Before heading home, I also decided to check out the new bike lane on Chestnut St. Let's just say, the city has some work to do with regard to parking enforcement:

In all reality, it's not actually completed yet, so this isn't a major concern. This pic was taken looking east from 36th St. Looking west, you can see the buffers installed and the proper parking procedures in place:

Neat. Once finished, this will be a great safety improvement, one that took several years of planning and input from experienced cyclists, unlike the Spring Garden project. You can literally see the difference. I'd say it's a shame, but at least one project was executed correctly.

Now here's hoping the continued work on the 13th & 15th St. Bikeways sees completion...

Lunchventure

We're entering into one of my two favorite times of year for cycling, the other being Spring. It's that lovely weather when it's just warm enough to require shorts but cool enough that you can ride without becoming completely drenched in sweat. Well, most days. If not for the crazy storm we had here on Tuesday night, we'd probably still be dealing with sweltering humidity.

Anyway, yesterday and today have been absolutely beautiful. I didn't have any time for any major adventures yesterday, but I did manage to sneak in a nice little ride around lunch time:

Ignore the fact that Strava sucks at location sometimes. I may have a ride out to West Philly for work in my future today, and I wouldn't mind that at all. Maybe I'll get to check on that new bike lane installation on Chestnut Street, which didn't look so hot the last time I was out there. We'll see...

A Different Kind of Tune Up

As you're probably aware, I ride a bike to go just about anywhere or to do just about anything. I've visited a lot of places via bike, and yet there are still plenty of firsts to be had. Case in point, yesterday afternoon I spent some time recording music in a studio for the first time in well over a decade, and of course, I rode my bike to get there:

My friend Rob has a studio less than 2 miles from my house, which isn't that far, but the ride through the narrow and sometimes treacherous South Philly streets was quite tense. I've traversed this city with a guitar on my back many times before, but never my absolute favorite guitar, my Taylor 600 series acoustic that I received as a graduation present way back in 2002:

She's a beaut, and she survived the journey, what will be the first of several. I may try to cram as many guitar tracking sessions into the next visit to limit the amount of commutes she has to make. It would absolutely break my heart if anything were to happen to her.

Oddly enough, I arrived back home just barely in time to avoid a rather severe thunderstorm. Said storm has made for a beautiful day today. Mayhaps I'll try to duck out of work a little early to get a nice afternoon ride under my belt before dinner.

By the way, the experience in the studio itself was awesome - way more fun than I remembered - and I can't wait to do it again! I've been wanting to record my stuff for several years now, and hearing the playback (and the amazing tone even with no EQ or post-production) making it "real" feels like a huge accomplishment, even though there's plenty of work to be done.

Rustcycles: Broad & Walnut

Hey Rustcycles, it's been awhile. I was walking to lunch today and spotted a dead bike near one of Philly's busiest street corners, just in front of the Center City Wawa:

You can see he's been there awhile, and there's not much left of this poor guy. I hope he's put out of his misery soon. Anyone got a bolt cutter? :P

Rustcycles is a series of abandoned bicycles and locks I've stumbled upon throughout Philadelphia.

Live, Love, Ride

I stumbled upon a Love to Ride challenge being sponsored by the Clean Air Council (several friends of mine work there). It starts in October. Well gee...I sure do love challenges, and in case you haven't noticed by reading this blog, I love to ride. Let's do it! Join me?

Bikeclipse

Yesterday, biking took a back seat to mother nature. It was a monumental occurrence for many people across the US, where a partial solar eclipse occurred over the vast majority of the lower 48 states, and the first of any solar eclipse I've witnessed in more than 20 years.

Even before the event occurred between 1:20 and 4:00 PM yesterday, I could feel the intensity in the air. Something about the sun and moon aligning changes the energy about everything. Unfortunately I spent most of the day in the office, but that might have been for the better due to the aforementioned intensity. I still took part, creating a pinhole projector like I did when I was a kid:

I also remember my teachers telling us not to look at the sun. Of course we did anyway. It's generally not a good idea at any time, but especially during an eclipse. It was kind of neat to know that there were so many people doing the same thing at the same time all across the country, including my girlfriend, who was on her way back to Ohio with her daughter. They made a few extra pit stops for viewing pleasantries.

It was tough trying to get a good picture with my phone camera. That said, as some clouds began to obscure the view about a quarter of the way through the event here in Philly, it provided a rare opportunity to do so:

I had borrowed a friend's goggles in attempting to take the previous photo. They do look pretty snazzy:

I tried to get a pic with the glasses in front of the phone camera, but it didn't really turn out. It was also a lot of fun trying to take the picture I did capture without being able to see the screen. Those glasses are near blackout dark. Similarly, I couldn't get my phone camera to focus on the pinhole projection, which also worked quite nicely.

Before and after all was said and done, I did ride, just as the sun rises in the east and falls in the west on any other day:

And today we go back to normal. Or something. Yesterday was but a blip on the timeline of this year and my life, but one I'm glad I witnessed, and one I won't soon forget. See ya in 2023 (there's an annular eclipse in 2023 before the total eclipse in 2024).

Mama's Boy

I took a weekend off from biking. Sort of.

It wasn't a weekend off at all actually. I had a lot of stuff to do back home this weekend, but I snuck in a couple short rides yesterday and today in the midst of a weekend full of girlfriending, family time, adventures to Crystal Cave and 2 microbreweries, a baptism, and such. I had to borrow my Mom's bike because I'd left mine back in Philly:

I am absolutely in love with how my bike feels since I got it tuned up, and yet I've not had the chance to truly stretch his legs just yet. Family stuff is awesome, and probably the only time you'd ever hear me say that I didn't mind being off my bike for a few days. Not in the least.

That said, sitting here writing this with 5 days of adulting staring me in the face, I'm already looking forward to next Saturday, when I have nothing planned. A ride is definitely in order...

Peace, Love, and Bikes

Shit seems to be hitting the fan just about everywhere in America these days, and as much as I try to stay focused on my own tasks at hand, it's nearly impossible not to be distracted by what's going on in the news media and in reality.

Side note: I'm not going to get uber political here but with all of these sensationalist stories coming out seemingly every hour, keep your eyes peeled for something else going on that the news media doesn't want you to see...

With that being said, it was absolutely oppressively humid today on the ride into work. I took a shower before I left, and 20 minutes later you wouldn't have known the difference. On the bright side I noticed two things on my way into the office. First, this bike adorned with two floral arrangements:

Neat. Second, I snagged the last spot in the covered by clot next door to the office:

Trust me he's in there somewhere... I never get one of those spots. I know my bike is going to get rained on eventually, but I'd like to preserve this tune up as long as I can. Focus on the positives!

Stunt Double

I was locking my bike outside the office yesterday when I noticed this Breezer locked just up the street a few feet away;

I saw it again this morning. It's possible they've been locking there for quite awhile but I never noticed until after I was riding a nearly identical bike every day. I gotta find out who this is, because they have fenders that look rather nifty and match the back rack. I've been unable to find some as of yet...

Tune Me Up, Buttercup

After more than a week of waiting, I finally picked up my bike from Bicycle Therapy yesterday, fresh off his first ever tune-up:

I know. If you're an experienced cyclist, you probably know that I waited too long to get this done. It's been needed for probably about the last 6 months, maybe longer.

The thing is, a bike isn't all that different than a car in some respects. After you've spent some time with it, you get a real feel for how it rides best and adapt your style as it wears and changes. I also made an innumerable amount of small fixes here and there (including upgrading the tires and replacing brake pads, among other things) to keep him running as smoothly as possible for far longer than recommended. Hell, I was getting close to logging 5,000 miles on most of the factory-installed parts and still think I could have gotten another 1,000 out of them.

That said, I made the right decision. I knew it needed, well, pretty much everything. They replaced my entire drive train, including a new cassette with improved gear ratios, so my first gear is no longer useless:

I also needed new pedals and a crank, not to mention a new chain:

All this with new cables and housing to boot. The $250 investment has been worth every penny, even though all I've done is ride to and back from work thus far. I'm gonna try to sneak in a small adventure before this weekend (I'll be busy this weekend doing non-biking activities).

And hey, just for fun, here's some maintenance math since this guy's birth date:

• $250 tune-up including replacing entire drive train, cables, and housing
• $32 new brake pads
• $60 new tires
• ~$60 replacement tubes (I haven't had to replace one since upgrading the tires)

I'll build in an additional $50 for something I might have forgotten. That's roughly $450 in maintenance over 2 years, and even if you include the accessories I've purchased for the bike (one-time purchases, natch), the total is far less than I've spent on gas and maintenance on my car in the same span. I'm not even going to bother trying to calculate that. I love my car, but I love my bike more.

All he needs now is a new set of grips and he'll be just like new:

Yeesh! Next pay, that might have to happen. So here's to new beginnings, and the start of another 5,000 miles...