Week 22 in Review (August 1-7)

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 20^th 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 5^th 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!

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.  

Week 21 in Review (July 25 - 31)

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 you  check 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!