On the 10th of November I had the pleasure of completing my first Metric Century + 14.52 with fellow BFer The Historian. I was a brisk Saturday Morning at 8am when we departed, 38 degrees and spitting a light rain. Unshaken by the weather we headed around the Historians home town and around a few area's of historic interest including a covered bridge, historic theater where scenes from "The Blob" was filmed, and a historic canal. Go figure, The Historian has a tremendous knowledge of local history amongst other subjects. After working our way through a town whose name eludes me at this point (Neil told me it's name many times), we met up with a trail head in Valley Forge. The local woodland critters were rather tame; one particular family of deer didn't mind me riding past at less than an arms length. Continuing down the trail we met up with the Schuylkill River Trail which we took into Philadelphia. Along the trail the "Schuylkill Navy" was out in force. The local college's had their rowing teams out and were drawing quite the crowd. We eventually made it to the Philadelphia Art Museum were we stopped for a few pictures and a much needed rest/stretch. The return trip was considerably more difficult. The hill intervals defiantly favored the up portion. I didn't notice the trip to be incredibly difficult until mile 50, the last 26 miles were defiantly tough to grind out. But with encouraging words to each other and the sheer desire to finish the ride under our own power we eventually finished. Towards the end of the ride while chatting back and forth an odd thing happened. Neil said something along the lines of “Thanks for coming out, if you hadn’t come down I would have probably stayed inside and not done much”. To which I responded “Thank you for having me down, I would have probably done the same thing if you had not invited me down to ride with you”. At first one might read that and think little of it until you consider just what we were saying. We were thanking each other for dragging the other out of bed early into the cold and rain to put ourselves through the trials of distance biking in adverse conditions. I bet you didn’t know a Trek 7.5 FX made for a good mudder and gravel bike did you? Neither did we, but I must say Neil handled it with grace. He is quite fast on that bike, both uphill and down hill when the road isn’t too curvy.
Distance: 76.52 Miles
Time: A shade or two over 8 hours factoring traffic, red lights, pedestrians, stops signs, lunch and being a tourist.
Average Temp: 42 degrees
In closing I would like to thank Tom Stormcrowe for starting the “Clydes/Athenea’s Seeking Ride Buddies” thread where I made originally made contact with The Historian. In addition I thank all the Clydes and Athena’s for your inspiration and guidance in my bicycling and weight loss. You’ve all showed me what one can do with proper knowledge and determination.
Great story...you make me want to drive up there for a ride.
BTW, watch the deer. I worry about spooking them when they're too close. A 300 pound critter jumping into me while I'm doing 20 mph is not my idea of fun. When I see them like that, I usually yell something so they give me a little distance.
CliftonGK1
11-13-07, 08:32 AM
Excellent job! Next big mark: 100 miles!
The Historian
11-13-07, 09:34 AM
On the 10th of November I had the pleasure of completing my first Metric Century + 14.52 with fellow BFer The Historian. I was a brisk Saturday Morning at 8am when we departed, 38 degrees and spitting a light rain. Unshaken by the weather we headed around the Historians home town and around a few area's of historic interest including a covered bridge, historic theater where scenes from "The Blob" was filmed, and a historic canal. Go figure, The Historian has a tremendous knowledge of local history amongst other subjects. After working our way through a town whose name eludes me at this point (Neil told me it's name many times), we met up with a trail head in Valley Forge. The local woodland critters were rather tame; one particular family of deer didn't mind me riding past at less than an arms length. Continuing down the trail we met up with the Schuylkill River Trail which we took into Philadelphia. Along the trail the "Schuylkill Navy" was out in force. The local college's had their rowing teams out and were drawing quite the crowd. We eventually made it to the Philadelphia Art Museum were we stopped for a few pictures and a much needed rest/stretch. The return trip was considerably more difficult. The hill intervals defiantly favored the up portion. I didn't notice the trip to be incredibly difficult until mile 50, the last 26 miles were defiantly tough to grind out. But with encouraging words to each other and the sheer desire to finish the ride under our own power we eventually finished. Towards the end of the ride while chatting back and forth an odd thing happened. Neil said something along the lines of “Thanks for coming out, if you hadn’t come down I would have probably stayed inside and not done much”. To which I responded “Thank you for having me down, I would have probably done the same thing if you had not invited me down to ride with you”. At first one might read that and think little of it until you consider just what we were saying. We were thanking each other for dragging the other out of bed early into the cold and rain to put ourselves through the trials of distance biking in adverse conditions. I bet you didn’t know a Trek 7.5 FX made for a good mudder and gravel bike did you? Neither did we, but I must say Neil handled it with grace. He is quite fast on that bike, both uphill and down hill when the road isn’t too curvy.
Distance: 76.52 Miles
Time: A shade or two over 8 hours factoring traffic, red lights, pedestrians, stops signs, lunch and being a tourist.
Average Temp: 42 degrees
In closing I would like to thank Tom Stormcrowe for starting the “Clydes/Athenea’s Seeking Ride Buddies” thread where I made originally made contact with The Historian. In addition I thank all the Clydes and Athena’s for your inspiration and guidance in my bicycling and weight loss. You’ve all showed me what one can do with proper knowledge and determination.
I also thank Tom for bringing Ben and I together for rides. And Ben for coming out so early in the morning on such a dreary day.
Here is some additional detail:
The route was through the former steel town of Phoenixville, along Bridge Street and the Colonial Theater. The Colonial was featured in the 1958 horror film The Blob. Each year Phoenixville hosts Blobfest, complete with a re-enactment of the film's famous scene of the screaming movie patrons running out of the theater.
We passed Lock 60 of the Schuylkill Canal, the last surviving lock of the canal, in nearby Mont Clare. We met the Perkiomen Trail in Oaks, rode through Lower Perkiomen Valley Park to the intersection with the Schuylkill River Trail, and followed that down to Manayunk. We rode through Manayunk, missing the famous "wall", and reached the Art Museum. We both posed for photos - Ben is being kind to me by not posting mine; I'm up about 15 pounds and I look very crooked, like an oddly shaped sausage. Near the Museum there was a sculling event, and all the local teams had boats on the river. We had to ride carefully among all the pedestrians.
Return trip was much the same route, with a couple of shortcuts - daylight was fast fading, and neither of us had lights.
Tom Stormcrowe
11-13-07, 11:06 AM
No worries, both of ya! This is exactly why I started the thread as well as the locater map :D PLeased it worked out ;)
CongrATS ON THE RIDE, bAU!
I also thank Tom for bringing Ben and I together for rides. And Ben for coming out so early in the morning on such a dreary day.
Here is some additional detail:
The route was through the former steel town of Phoenixville, along Bridge Street and the Colonial Theater. The Colonial was featured in the 1958 horror film The Blob. Each year Phoenixville hosts Blobfest, complete with a re-enactment of the film's famous scene of the screaming movie patrons running out of the theater.
We passed Lock 60 of the Schuylkill Canal, the last surviving lock of the canal, in nearby Mont Clare. We met the Perkiomen Trail in Oaks, rode through Lower Perkiomen Valley Park to the intersection with the Schuylkill River Trail, and followed that down to Manayunk. We rode through Manayunk, missing the famous "wall", and reached the Art Museum. We both posed for photos - Ben is being kind to me by not posting mine; I'm up about 15 pounds and I look very crooked, like an oddly shaped sausage. Near the Museum there was a sculling event, and all the local teams had boats on the river. We had to ride carefully among all the pedestrians.
Return trip was much the same route, with a couple of shortcuts - daylight was fast fading, and neither of us had lights.
neilfein
11-13-07, 12:38 PM
Congratulations on completing the metric. The city you're thinking of - Phoenixville? That is indeed a beautiful area to ride in, we'll be riding from Norristown to Philadelphia next weekend.
JohnKScott
11-13-07, 03:14 PM
Congrats!
The Historian
11-14-07, 06:46 PM
Congratulations on completing the metric. The city you're thinking of - Phoenixville? That is indeed a beautiful area to ride in, we'll be riding from Norristown to Philadelphia next weekend.