Philly Fall Tour

DateOctober 26, 2014
HostsSophie and Carlos Garcia
WherePhiladelphia
Who (else) Caren and Mike Bianco, Brenda and Larry Isherwood, Susan Nicolich and Dave Snope. Jenna and Ed Peterson, Cheryl Prudhomme and Mark Cook, Diana and Percy Uribe.

I want to thank everyone for attending the Philly Fall Tour Ride. The weather was quite wonderful, cool and sunny.

We started the morning at an easy to park and free location next to Performance Bicycle. That's an important detail when heading to cities where parallel parking and 2 hour street limits usually apply. We met 4 teams there, Brenda and Larry, Mike and Caren, Cheryl and Mark, and Susan and Dave. The other 2 teams joined us later at Reading Market.

We rode about 1.5 miles to Famous 4th Street Delicatessen for brunch. The diner does not take reservations and is usually quite full. Luckily we were able to sit right away. Everyone ordered their colossal breakfast, and we shared their famous and wonderful French toast (a breakfast that is way too large for any single person).

After breakfast we made a short stop at Penn's Landing, meandered around the city and rode a few cobblestone roads that ranged from rough to "are you kidding me?" levels. We stopped at the Liberty Bell and peeked through the windows to see this iconic landmark. Unfortunately the line was too long to go through the actual tour.

We arrived at the Reading Terminal around 12:20 and headed inside for sightseeing until 1 PM. There we met up with the two other teams, Ed and Jenna and Percy and Diana. There was a moment of astonishment when Mike and Caren noticed that Ed and Jenna also owned an Erickson tandem - quite a coincidence as there are only ~15 of these titanium tandems ever built.

After Reading Terminal we rode through the city and experienced the over-the-water Schuylkill River Trail. As we rode the trail, we got to see the Art Museum, Water Works, and the iconic Boat House Row. We also passed by the Head of Schuylkill Regatta, in which Sophie had just participated on Saturday, competing for Aberdeen in the intermediate Corporate Challenge and finishing in second place (way to go!).

We then began our climb into Forbidden Drive, a gravel road in a wonderful forest oasis right near the city. While riding through this area, it was hard to imagine that we were just in downtown Philadelphia a few miles back. That was then followed by our single major (required) hill climb which took us out of the forest area into the small town of Manayunk, where we had a short stop for coffee and snacks.

While not originally part of the plan, a few daring teams decided to hit "The Wall" in Manayunk to test their vertical climbing skills. After a successful ascent, we regrouped and headed back to Philadelphia.

Thanks to all members that participated for making this a wonderful ride!

Photo Album (please share/download as you wish).

Brenda and Larry Isherwood's Picassa album


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Copyright © 2014, Carlos Garcia