CYCLE Program

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.

Over the Ben Franklin Bridge! (Camden Part I)

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. 

http://www.dailymile.com/people/Jerome9883/entries/8422896

Miles	Minutes	Speed	Calories Burned
18	105	10.3	1,264

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 5^th, 6^th and 7^th 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 5^th 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.

A few little known facts about the anchorages are: 1) there is an abandoned trolley terminal under the Philadelphia side; however it was never used as trolleys were becoming passé in the 1920s. 2) There are beautiful lobbies/rooms inside the pedestrian part of the anchorages that contain murals of various transportation modes throughout time. The public rooms were rarely used and are now completely abandoned. 

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.