Hey all! So it’s been forever since I last updated my
blog. Beginning in August I became really busy with the CYCLE program (it was a
lot of miles to keep up with) then I kept getting odd jobs – good for my
wallet, bad for a blog updates.
September I barely even rode and October/November I’ve ridden about town
but I haven’t gone on any adventures.
I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things over the next few
weeks. I know y’all are buzzing with
anticipation.
What better way to get back into the swing of things
then to show the extent of which I biked during the CYCLE program I assisted to
coach? Since it was such a long time ago
(the first three weeks of August) I’ll remind you – and me – of the program.
Simply, CYCLE stands for Camden Youth Cycling, Learning and Exercising. The program encourages middle-school students
in the City of Camden to learn how to bike safely throughout the city and
region. The eight participants this year
varied in cycling skills when beginning the program. After a quick catch-up on the basics of cycling
and rules of the road the group began to bike throughout Camden and eventually beyond. Each day typically culminated in a 10-20 mile
ride. Along our rides the students
learned about cycle lanes, multi-purpose trails and how different organizations
promoting cycling and over-all healthy-living throughout the region. All in all I/the group racked up some serious
miles:
Miles
Minutes
Speed
Calories Burned
197
1,162
10.2
13,368
As you can tell we went all over South Jersey,
covering large swaths of Collingwood, Haddon Township and Pennsauken – not to
mention the City of Camden. Below is a
closer view of the area we covered.
The program was chalked full of specific rides, here
is a quick roundup of the program’s events:
Day 1 –Basic day of learning how to bike and getting
to know one another staying in a parking lot outside the Susquehanna Bank Center.
Day 2 – First time we ventured out of the parking lot along
the Central Camden waterfront’s trail, ending up at the base of the Ben
Franklin Bridge.
Day 3 – While learning hand signals we explored the
Cooper Grant historic district and eventually North Camden’s Pyne Point Park.
Day 4 – First long bike ride of the camp. While biking
along the Cooper River we went through a several parks on our way to Croft
Farm, all in all we traveled just shy of 20 miles this day.
Day 5 – First trip across the bridge – we dropped in
on the South Philadelphia location of Neighborhood
Bike Works which was holding a similar summer program. The day ended with a short exploration of
Society Hill.
Day 6 – Venturing southeast from Downtown Camden we had
or first glimpses of the suburban neighborhoods of Collingswood and Haddonfield
as well as the stately Knight’s Park.
Day 7 – Philadelphia Adventure Day! We began by meandering through the
Independence National Historic Park and visiting Elfreth’s Alley in Old City.
Eventually biking along Spring Garden (which will become a new greenway in the near future) to visit Lemon Hill and
the Philly’ Art Museum.
Day 8 – Visited the Camden County boathouse along the
Cooper River then ventured out into Cherry Hill stopping at Erlton Bike Shop, along Marlton Pike.
Day 9 – Biked to North Camden where Greensgrow’s
Mobile Farmers Market set up shop just on the outside of downtown’s
freeways interchanges. Afterwards we discovered
the Cramer Hill neighborhood of Camden and Pennsauken Twp.
Day 10 – Rode an endurance ride, past the Jersey
Turnpike along Kresson Road. All-in-all this was the longest ride of the camp
at 21.5 miles.
Day 11 –After visiting the Camden Children’s Garden we surveyed the industrial landscape of South
Camden, visiting Johnson Park and the master-planned community of
Fairview/Yorkship Square before biking along Newton Lake in Collingswood/Oaklyn
Day 12 – Traveled back over the Ben Franklin Bridge to
the Bicycle Coalition’s Center
City offices and made a brief stop in Rittenhouse Square.
Day 13 – Accompanied by Rails to Trail’s we cycled
through Campbell’s HQ and back to Croft Farm.
The day was documented by a file crew, which you can see here.
Day 14 – The only time we were rained out so we had an
amazing day at the Adventure
Aquarium, where I got to touch a shark!
Day 15 – Last day of the camp we visited the Whitman
neighborhood of Camden as well as back out along Federal Street to Greensgrow’s
location that day. We ended the day with
a lesson on how to lock one’s bike so it will not get stolen.
I wish I had taken pictures as we traveled through the
region there is a lot of fodder in South Jersey for an urban bike blog - ranging
from deteriorating urban fabric to active tight-knit communities. Alas, I didn’t – I’ll just have to revisit
South Jersey again. All in all CYCLE was
a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Well it’s been a while since an update and since that update I’ve biked
more than I had the entire month of July. The first week of August was my first
week instructing the Camden CYCLE
program, and what a week it was. First let me say that I crossed the Ben
Franklin Bridge a total of 12 times during the week. That bridge is SERIOUS,
even after many crossings I still feel winded after getting to the other side.
As for the camp itself it started out slow but has ended in some epic rides
around South Jersey.
For a little background, there are 8 children (ages 10-11) enrolled in
the camp, the majority coming from Eco Charter School in downtown Camden. When
starting the camp the kids ranged in skills from not knowing how to even ride a
bike to some being more-than confident in their abilities. However, in the
first few days we spent most of our time in a parking lot across from the Susquehanna
Bank Center learning various skills (i.e. changing gears, stopping, balance,
etc) as well as safety precautions (i.e. hand signals, riding in a single file
line (which they still haven’t mastered), etc).
Although the entirety of the first day was spent in the parking lot the
second day ended with biking along the Camden waterfront (which I had done before
in a previous unrelated ride that I have yet to finish blogging aboutL). Although we only
rode up to the bridge and back the camp ended up accruing approx. 7.5 miles. It
was a nice leisurely tour compared to some of the other rides we took the rest
of the week.
Day 3 was much more about getting the campers acquainted to riding on
the streets (and as I have learned on Jersey streets, dodging potholes). The camp
racked up almost 14 miles biking through the streets of Cooper Grant and North
Camden. North Camden is ROUGH, and not in the way you all think I mean. I mean
in the sense that the city has not repaved many of the streets in the area since
it seems the early 20th century. Elm Street (the street closest to
the Ben Franklin Bridge) is all Belgian block and patchy asphalt.Highly inappropriate for Loretta.
Day 4 was our first big day – one I wasn’t expecting.Deemed a fitness day we biked 9ish miles into
South Jersey ending in Wallworth Park, between Haddonfield and Cherry Hill. The
route followed mostly streets that are along a series of parks lining the
Cooper River.Although there were bike
paths along most of the route, the campers stuck mostly to streets in order to
get them acclimated to riding in traffic, and that elusive single file
line.
The last day of the week was a trip into Philadelphia to visit Neighborhood Bike Works. We
visited their “South Philly” location, the Bikery, at the corner of 5th
and Lombard.The location is set up as a
community center basically.Targeted for
anyone in the neighborhood to use the space as a spot to fix up their bike or talk
to someone and learn how too.While we
were there the Bike Work’s summer
day camp was happening.We spent an
hour or so talking to them and getting a tour around the facility.Afterwards we spent a few moments in
Headhouse Square before heading back over the bridge to Camden.All in all the campers cycled roughly 50
miles and with my trips over the bridge everyday along with a few other rides I
ended up with a record 93 miles for the week.
Routes
Miles
Minutes
Speed
Calories Burned
11
93.4
523
10.7
6,099
My Philadelphia
neighborhood composite did not change much this past week, and I don’t expect it
to for the next couple weeks as I have little time to explore new routes
through the city. However, my regional
composite changed a lot. Philadelphia is
now second to Camden in the largest proportion of a municipality I have biked
through. Additionally I added four new municipalities
to my list, all in Camden County. Make
sure you stay tuned to the Geographic
Analysis page for all the deets!
A few weeks back I took an ambitious ride through New
Jersey. It all started when I was flying into PHL and I noticed a distinctly
planned neighborhood tucked between two marshy waterways and a park that juts
out into the Delaware overlooking South Philadelphia. I immediately thought, “what
a cool area to explore, I’ve never really been in New Jersey!”Well it turns out I know very little about
New Jersey.I rode through Camden’s
downtown, their civic and industrial waterfronts as well as some neighborhoods
leading into Fairview (the distinctly planned neighborhood eluded to above) and
from the there, into Gloucester City, NJ. Over the next few blog posts I’ll
depict what I discovered.
Unfortunately, my camera broke half way through the
ride which not only limits this series but future blog posts until I can buy a
new one. However, with that sad fact behind me, below are the stats and a map
of the ride in its entirety.
For the beginning of this series on the Jersey –side
of the Delaware there is no more appropriate landmark to start with but the Ben Franklin Bridge.It’s also very appropriate as this ride is
foreshadowing my month of August. I’ll be crossing the bridge every weekday for
the next three weeks in order to instruct, CYLCE
camp. This camp is geared toward Camden youth and getting them comfortable
with biking through the city and regional greenway network.
However, to the ride at hand; I live a short distance
from the beginning of the bridge but as a cyclist it’s one of the most
treacherous miles of biking in Center City.Not only are there cars whizzing by on 5th, 6th
and 7th Streets (the only viable options for getting to the bridge),
it is damn near impossible for a new cyclist to figure out how to get to the
one open walkway. On top of the confusing and fast moving traffic patterns
there are “historic” street pavers EVERYWHERE. On 5th Street for a
block, on Chestnut Street for a block, and on the SIDEWALK to get to the
bridge’s walkway!There should be a rule
that if the street hasn’t had belgian block or cobblestone in the last 75 years
then it doesn’t need it now.
The Ben Franklin Bridge is a large and old bridge. It
was built between 1922 and 1926 as the first permanent pedestrian/automobile crossing
between Philadelphia and New Jersey.The
steel suspension bridge was originally named the Delaware River Bridge and was
world’s longest suspension bridge until 3 short years later the Ambassador
Bridge opened between Detroit and Canada. The bridge itself is 9,700 feet long
(from entrance to entrance) or 1.8 miles. (However, as a bike travels the
distance is only 7,800 feet or 1.5 miles). Rising from the city skyline, the
bottom of the bridge reaches a height of 135 feet above the Delaware. It’s
quite an engineering feat.
It is also quite a cycling feat.
As the bridge provides 135 feet clearance above the
water, the pedestrian/bicycle path is at least 15-20 feet above the car deck at
the center. This means that a cyclist reaches a height of 160 feet above the
Delaware. After a few rough calculations I found that this means that there is
an average grade of 4.1% on the Philadelphia side and 3.4% grade on the Camden side.
The reason the grade is much less on the Camden side of the bridge is two-fold:
1) the walkway ends before the bridge does and one has to walk down a set of
stairs and 2) the approach is longer on the Jersey side.
The bridge provides spectacular views of Philly,
Camden and the Delaware River as well as some great 1920s architecture.About 2,000 feet from the Philadelphia
entrance there is a plaza (or more like a wider sidewalk) around the bridge’s
anchorage (where the suspension cables are anchored).It offers a detailed view of the bridge’s
architecture as well as the ability to step out over the PATCO lines.
Below are some of the vistas of Philadelphia from the
bridge’s walkway:
From the anchorage plaza there is another 1,700 feet
of climb before reaching the apex of the bridge.From there it’s smooth sailing until the
steps on the Camden side.
Before cruising down the rest of the bridge I stopped
at the Camden anchorage to take some pictures of downtown Camden and their
waterfront.
This is an appropriate place to stop for the time being.
Stay tuned for the rest of the Camden waterfront series.
This past week I did a few rides to Camden as I was getting ready to
help instruct a youth cycle camp that began yesterday.The three week camp, aptly named CYCLE, is
organized by the Rails to Trails
Conservancy and Cooper’s Ferry Development Association. The
program is meant to engage Camden youth, ages 11 and 12, as bicycle users as
well as stewards of the growing trail network throughout the region.We will be biking throughout the Philadelphia
region as we use cycling as a way to get to a destination and to explore the
region.After three weeks the “graduation”
ride is an all-day, 40+ mille trip from Green Lane, PA to the Camden
waterfront. I’m super excited to be involved in this program and make sure
youcheck the blog as many of these
rides will go up in the coming weeks.
Along with my rides across the Ben Franklin Bridge I took a ride along
the Schuylkill trail to the Wissahickon.This is a ride I have done before so it did not really change my totals
that much but after the prior week’s heat it was nice to be able to bike along
a familiar territory.
Routes
Miles
Minutes
Speed
Calories Burned
5
36.1
164
13.2
1,954
Again, there were very little changes in the Philadelphia neighborhood
and regional municipality composition of my rides. I biked through about 17%
more of the Wissahickon Park.Additionally
I biked through a little more of downtown Camden, bringing my total percentage
for Camden to 15.4%.Philadelphia is
still the city I have toured through the most at 21.2% or 30.4 sq. mi. Make
sure you check out the Geographic
Analysis page for all the deets!
There’s not too much to review this week. I didn't bike at all, which is the first time since mid-January (I biked at the gym when I had a 30 day membership). The week was just too damn hot.
Point proven. However this coming week I expect to be
biking a little more so keep tuned.
I’m starting to realize with my schedule picking up and the fact that its
90 degrees out that my bike rides are not as frequent. I've only ridden 78
miles so far this month, last year I totaled 283 for the month of July. I don’t
think I’m making that threshold, especially seeing this coming week is in the
UPPER 90s.
This week’s rides were fairly mundane, consisting of traveling back and
forth along the Spruce/Pine Street bikeways. However the week was dotted by an
epic first ride through New Jersey. It was less epic because of distance and
more epic because it was through Camden/Gloucester City. Camden, as many think
of it is a bit rough but not any rougher than parts of West and North Philly.
It was more nerve-wracking because I have no concept of New Jersey
geography.Philadelphia is easy to
figure out because if you are lost you can always look for a numbered street (2nd,
5th, 23rd, etc.) or one of the main thoroughfares (Germantown,
Baltimore, Frankford, etc.) and within 10 minutes you’ll find it.In New Jersey if you find a main arterial
there’s a high probability that you’ll end up on some freeway type road with jug
handles and long impassable medians.
My Jersey ride was brought on by a few things. 1) The temptation of a
new place seeing that I’ve not been there since blogging. 2) When I was
recently fly into the airport we flew over South Camden and Gloucester City and
I saw two interesting things from the window.A park that seemed to over look the South Philadelphia Port (which is
impossible to get to in Philadelphia, I’ve tried) and an adorable looking
neighborhood plan that was tucked in between highways and marshlands.
Once on the ground I found so many more interesting places it wouldn’t be fair to continue
talking about it here. Look for a Camden/Gloucester City post coming soon.
As always here are the stats for the past few weeks.
Routes
Miles
Minutes
Speed
Calories Burned
4
32
169
11.4
2,021
There were very little changes in the Philadelphia neighborhood
composition of my rides. I apparently biked through a new portion of
Rittenhouse which brought my total for the neighborhood to 99.8%.However, with my Jersey ride I made some significant
headway through new municipalities. I’ve still biked through a higher
proportion of Philadelphia than any other city (30.49 sq. mi/21.2%) but I explored
almost 1.5 sq. mi. or 13% of Camden. Make sure you check out the Geographic
Analysis page for all the deets!
As part of June’s epic week
of cycling, my riding buddy Zack and I took a lovely Wednesday afternoon to journey
through southwest Philly, inside the wildlife refuge and loop around the backside
of the airport. I had pretty much done a similar route a few years back with my
friends Ben and Sarah, so I knew the lay of the land to a degree. It is a good idea to know where you are going
around the airport because while it can be fun there are some really tricky
spots. No one wants to end up on the I-95 bridge or heading towards the
terminals on a bike
I started this ride by heading over to Zack’s house in
West Philly where together we carefully dodged the trolley tracks at 49th
and Woodland in order to head down Grays Ave./Lindbergh Blvd. Philly Weekly
might have rated
Girard Ave one of the worst streets to bike in Philly, but I’d say 49th
and Woodland is easily one of the worst intersections. Once finished dodging
tracks going every which way we made it to Lindbergh Blvd. It is a strange road
to bike down; the road starts out as fairly large arterial, however the further
southwest we travelled the more the road turns into an actual boulevard.
As in many areas in the city typical Philadelphia rowhouses
line the side streets of the boulevard. What
is fascinating is the highly customizable nature of the rowhouse. Lindbergh
runs through Eastwick and as an area developed in the mid 20th
Century many of the houses take on architectural styles popular at the time. Just
take a look at this late 1970s beauty; not only do you get a stone fenced
parking spot and little yard, you get an entire house that is shingled. For those who are enthusiastic about living
inside a roof.
Lindbergh essentially leads to the entrance the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
where we left the busy road for peaceful serenity. Zack and I had visited the refuge on a ride
before but only got as far as the visitors center. This time we rode the entire trail!
The refuge was created as part of the early 1970s
federal environmental push for protecting sensitive and important lands. Before
rapid industrial urbanization during the early 20th century the
entire area, which is home to the PHL airport, Sunoco Refineries and Navy Yard,
used to be tidal marsh lands. By 1970 most of the marshlands had been built
upon under the auspicious of economic growth. The more than 1,000 acre Heinz
site was one of the last natural areas left and was under development pressure
from a sanitary landfill to the north and Interstate 95. John Heinz, a senator
from Pennsylvania, was the champion of securing the national wildlife
designation. The wildlife refuge was named for him shortly after his premature
and uncanny death in 1991. According to Wikipedia, John Heinz
died in a plane/helicopter collision over a school in Lower Merion that killed
all passengers on board AND two kids. On
a much cheerier note, the Heinz Wildlife Refuge has been deemed very successful
and is now home to over 80 species of animals, including a nest of Bald Eagles.
The first part of the refuge trail is on a compacted
gravel path, much like the Manayunk Towpath trail, and follows the banks of the
Darby Creek. Near the visitor’s center
there is a boardwalk with observation areas over a large impoundment (which is the
term for an area of water that is made by constructing dams or embankments,
a.k.a a man-made pond). The boardwalk
provides stellar views of the expansive airport and long stretch of I-95, as
well as the wildlife in the area. When Zack and I were there we saw several
types of turtles; painted
turtles, mud
turtles, and my favorite name, stinkpot
turtles. Stinkpots are adorable,
they’re so small!!
About a quarter mile down the trail is another observation
area, this one being a “tower” (it’s really only two levels). We took another break to explore. However, this exploration was not as relaxing
as the edges of the upper level were filled with mud dauber’s nests. They
seemingly didn’t bother Zack. We still made it to the upper level which
provided more expansive views.
Shortly after the observation “tower” the trail gets a
little bumpier until is eventually turns into a path of large gravel rocks.
Loretta was not pleased as she (and I) were real worried about either skidding
out or getting a flat tire. However as
the trail moves further from the impoundment it winds along other water
channels and through some amazingly wooded areas.
There were several
birds that Zack and I heard/saw as we traveled.
However one of the coolest occurrences we had is when we were biking and
around a corner and there was this deer chilling; completely unphased by us.
As we rode further both Zack and I were becoming a
little over the inconsistent gravel road. The road eventually exited the woods
and pretty much became dirt road next to i-95. Additionally, the further we toured
the more the weeds there were growing into the road. Even though it was awesome
to bike through a shaded natural habitat, the last half of the ride made it
almost not worth it, for me at least.
I’m not a big fan of ticks; really bugs in general.
The trail ends just north of the interchange of I-95
and State Route 420 in a gravel parking lot, not an ideal spot. Also not ideal
is to get to the airport we had to bike over the cloverleaf
interchange at I-95, which is probably one of the trickiest things to do on
a bike. I know if I was driving I’d be cursing out whatever biker is trying to
cross that as those loop ramps are ridiculous even in a car. On the other side
of I-95 lies the heart of Tinicum Township; two little towns named Lester and
Essington. Neither are recognized towns but both are fairly historic. Essington
is the site of the first recorded European settlement in Pennsylvania. 40 years
before William Penn, the Swedes settled in the upper Delaware Bay and
established forts where present day Wilmington and New Castle, Delaware are.
They expanded their reach up to Tinicum Island but only for a short 10 years,
in 1655 the Dutch gained control of the region and in 1674 the English captured
it. Through this entire turnover the Swedish settlers were mostly the only
Europeans in the area. In fact, when Philadelphia was founded many of the
original buildings were built in the Swedish log cabin manner as that was the
only building technology here at the time.
Today there are no indicators of this Swedish heritage
in Essington. It looks like any coastal, Mid-Atlantic town, there are a few
businesses along Wanamaker Ave and bunch Cape Cod inspired houses scattered
among a small grid. The only remnant of the Swedish influence in the area is
Governor Printz Park, sandwiched between a motel parking lot and a yacht
club. Governor Printz was one of the few
governors of New Sweden while it was its own colony and built Printzhof, a two-story,
log house on the site of the current day park. The park is essentially a deep
grassy lot with dated interpretive signage and a walled river bank. Even though
the river bank is walled, it is one of the only spots with public access to the
Delaware River along Tinicum Island. Additionally, all of the signage (there’s
a lot of it too) tells the story of the colony of New Sweden. Neither Zack nor
I cared that much about it though and by that time it was getting late and we
had to boogey if we were going to make it around the airport.
When we biked away from the park we entered more of
the industrial section of Tinicum Township.
Along the north side of 2nd Ave. sits the Airport
Business Complex, 130+ acre industrial complex which claims to have the
first “smart-grid business complex in the country”. However I’m not putting much stock into that
claim as looking at their website it seems like a fake company - most of the webpages
are in gibberish. After cycling along a
long stretch of industry to the north and natural reeds to the south we turned
onto Hog Island Road. Named for the island the PHL airport began on the road
runs 5 miles around the southern perimeter of the airport. The ride is fairly monotonous as the entire stretch
contains a railroad track and line of trees along the riverbank to the right, and
the airport’s open fields to the left.
Zack and I paused a couple of times along Hog Island
Road. First, we saw this brown
shimmering fuselage in the distance and as we got closer it was easy to
indicate it was some sort of burned up airplane. Turns out it is the airports fire training
center. Not pictured below, but an equally creepy part of this site is a very
long metal tube that must be used for training people to climb through HVAC
ducts. It made no sense though.
We used this stop to explore the river bank on the
other side of the road from the fire training center. Zack made a comment about how it’d be a great
place to dump a body. I concurred seeing that there was no one for miles and a
large refinery across the river.
The rest of the ride was the same, periodic points of
interest along the airport side (i.e. a field of UPS containers and an air
traffic control tower) but nothing worth stopping for. One of the coolest parts
of biking Hog Island Road though is the ability to stand under a plane as it
lands seemingly on top of you. I only
got one picture of it on this trip because we running out of time. Along with
the picture below is a video that my friend Sarah shot as we went on this ride
a few years back.
It’s a little nerdy but it’s also a pretty surreal
experience. When a jet lands overtop of you there is an awkward delay and then
everything that lies in the approach path gets blown around as the jet engines
have an immense amount of power. The video is of a prop plane, as Sarah points
out, which do not have the same swoosh effect.
The last stop that Zack and I made along our journey
before we diligently biked home was at Fort Mifflin. Almost at
the end of Hog Island Road this historical treasure is lost behind an
ill-marked sign and a confusing entrance to an industrial complex.
The fort was built a few short years before the
American Revolution in order to protect the booming city of Philadelphia from
pirates. The City of Philadelphia was the largest colonial city to not have a
defense system in place due to its Quaker roots. The fort briefly served as a
battle ground in the revolution before the British destroyed it to gained
control of Philadelphia in 1777. After the revolution John Adams commissioned Pierre
L’Enfant to redesign the fort and renamed it for Thomas Mifflin, a merchant
and major general in the revolution. Apparently it is a very interesting layout
on the inside of it, and has some of the few examples of Greek revival architecture
in military buildings. The fort was used mostly as a prison during the Civil
War, housing Confederate soldiers and political prisoners. Additionally a hospital was built on the
outside of the fort’s walls to attend to the sick. Fort Mifflin saw very little
action after the Civil War and was decommissioned in the 1960s where the City
of Philadelphia gained control of it and the Old Fort Mifflin Historical Society was
created to preserve and maintain the site.
Zack and I didn’t go into the fort due to time and the
fact that neither of us had $6 at the moment. We biked along the parking lot
and I took a picture of the outside and the hospital - that now serves as the
offices for the historical society.
From the fort we continued along Hog Island Road, under a runway and onto Island Avenue where there is another tricky interchange near the Sheraton, but not as death defying as a cloverleaf. Once we crossed under I-95 it was smooth sailing from there, with the exception that I lost Zack right near his house and he somehow ended up at 54th and Baltimore. Whoops.
