The title is an intentional typo. On Sunday, day 25 of 30 Days of Biking, I celebrated my 400th consecutive day of riding daily. The funny thing is, I realized this day was coming about a week earlier, and I actually forgot about it until today (I'm writing this on Monday, day 26). In a weird coincidence, I decided to make a spontaneous trip to the City of Brotherly Love that just so happened to be on the same day. With no real set plan in mind, the weather cooperated enough for me to take a tour de Philly of sorts.
I tried to hit as many sections of the city as I could at a relaxed pace. It's been a long time since I've been able to spend time in my favourite city, so I wanted to take in as much as possible. What follows will include a good amount of pictures, but there are certainly many more mental images that I appreciate just as much, if not more.
It's always interesting to return to a place and see what's changed. The city appears to be working on some upgrades to Penn Treaty Park, which is a park I used to enjoy riding to when I first moved to the city:
I think that trail entrance is new. Anyway...
It also looks like they added a small buffer to the bike lane on Delaware Avenue, which was always a nerve-racking place to ride before this. It's a little better after this installation:
I headed over to Triple Bottom Brewing for some refreshment after about an hour of riding. They finally opened some time last year after several years of anticipation:
I've been following these guys for a few years due to their triple bottom line mission, which in part strives to help people re-enter the workforce after periods of incarceration, chronic unemployment, rehabilitation, and etc. I used to work for such a company in Wash Cycle Laundry. It's great to see they're open and appear to be doing well. The beer was pretty good to boot:
And in a move that really warms my heart, they have plenty of bike racks outside:
One thing that will hopefully never change about Philly is the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is equal parts cool, interesting, and terrifying:
These views also haven't changed all that much:
I did notice lots of freshly painted bike lanes in the Art Museum area, though:
Unfortunately it sounds like there's still a lot of work to do, because a woman was struck and killed in the area just a few days prior. I didn't notice any signs of the wreck when I was there. Otherwise, I would have paused to pay respects as I usually do.
On a more positive note, I was riding past a skateboarder around this area. We diverged a couple times and kept crossing paths every few blocks it seemed. After the third time, he said "Hey what's up man?" and gave me a high five. We told each other to enjoy the day and went on our ways. It was a really nice moment that I've missed all these months when people were scared to go outside and interact with other humans. I hope more of these start happening again.
Another positive note, the view of the city skyline from the South Street bridge is as breathtaking as always. I think the partly cloudy skies made it even better yesterday:
Another thing I noticed as I was riding around were the plethora of outdoor seating areas that had claimed parking spots (I'd seen a similar approach in New York last summer). Some of them were quite creative in their design:
And finally, I couldn't make it a true Philly day without stopping for my favourite vegan roast beef sandwich at the Triangle Tavern:
From there, I headed to visit briefly with a friend before heading to the far south Philly to spend the night with another great friend catching up and enjoying plenty of adult beverages. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty spectacular way to celebrate a 400th. Sadly, they don't make 400th bikeday cards. I checked.
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