Eggplant Jeff

I found a commute, now I need to buy a house at the other end of it.

Today's my first day at my new job in Philly. We're hoping to buy a house somewhere in Mt. Airy (a suburb) so that's where I dropped off my U-haul yesterday so I could get an idea what the bike commute would be like (I'm temporarily renting a place downtown, not far from my office).

Wooooooo hooooooo! Something like 8 or 10 miles of paths through Fairmount Park (a giant park, mostly wooded, following a river), followed by a mile or two of city riding.

I totally "get" city commuting now. Riding a multi-use path, dodging rollerbladers, walkers, other bikes (other bicycles!? You mean I'm NOT the only one in the world?!), riding through parks, running red lights on tiny city streets where you pass cars like they're standing still (oh yeah, cause they ARE standing still! hah!).

Now if I can just get hit by a car and have my bike stolen the experience will be complete . I'm having fun though .

max-a-mill

word! welcome to philly.... just don't start telling everyone though or soon we'll have more bike commuters than we know what to do with.

tsl

Personally, I'm in favor of a somewhat less-than-complete experience, but I hear ya! I love it when I can use a MUP or cut through a park on my commutes and errands. It feels like cheating.

derath

The only thing worth checking, is how the MUP is maintained in the winter. Specifically snow removal etc. That is if you plan on commuting on it year round.

Lot's of sorta ugly stories seem to pop up in the winter months. Just ask Koffee. (or do a search for her posts)

-D

ken cummings

See if your estate agent can get you a home that backs onto the path. And I do mean ON the path, not a 10 minute dirve away. Never mind the snow, that is what mountain bikes are for. I used light dirt tires in snow up to 6 inched deep. After that put studded tires on and use the roads.

max-a-mill

they plow up to the strawberry mansion bridge (from the art museum) when it snows. but it ain't like the streets, it may be a day or two after the storm.

crtreedude 

Sounds great! Imagine the difference it would make if people thought this way - near a commuter trail - house sells quickly.

I am happy that I am now not going to work in my home just so that I have an excuse to ride my bike everyday. Life is very good!

Eggplant Jeff

Bah, Koffee's a wuss. (dives for cover)

Seriously, I've already got studded tires that I rode all last winter, including through a small park that NEVER got plowed (as in, not at all). It gets irritating when you're riding over refrozen ruts, but eh, I'll deal... it'll be worth it for the rest of the year .

I dunno if I can get a house that backs up to the park, but getting one within a couple blocks should be a piece of cake. I can't wait!

TexasGuy

Glad to hear that you're finally getting settled in. And happy to hear you found a good route. I managed to get a decent cycling route here to work which i'm pretty thankful for

jyossarian

You don't wanna get hit by a car or have your bike stolen. Both suck. However, I can recommend that you carry a U-lock in your back pocket so you can threaten people. That's just as good as far as the whole city commuting experience.

Eggplant Jeff

Hehe. I actually mounted the u-lock clip holder thingy on my handlebars, because it was the only place it would fit (my rack prevents me from mounting it to my seatpost, and my bottle cages don't leave room for it in the frame triangle). However I noticed that makes it easy to unclip the ulock 1-handed while riding .

Eggplant Jeff

The only thing that stinks is that where I'm staying right now, I have to keep the bikes in the basement. That's good as far as them not getting stolen but it is a real pain to get them in/out because it's a very narrow staircase and doorways and stuff. In fact I may just leave my regular commuter bike there until I move, and ride my fixie if I have to go anywhere (it's much lighter and has narrower handlebars).

The apartment I'll be moving into for the short-to-medium term until I can sell/buy houses will let me commute through the park like I described above, but it'll have the same problem as far as where to keep my bike (if anything, the basement there is even LESS convenient to get into/out of). I'm actually thinking right now maybe I'll weld a steel bar into the bed of my truck and just lock my bike there, since the truck will be parked in front of the apt. The apt is out in a more suburbish area so there should be somewhat fewer bike thieves than downtown where I'm staying right now.

Eggplant Jeff

For some reason I can't start a new thread. So I'll just hijack my old one...

I want to get from Kelly Drive to the path in the park along Wissahickon Creek. I've attached a picture. The fat purple line is of course Google's car route (onto Lincoln Drive since it obviously doesn't know about bike paths).

The thin red line is where I came South. You can see I started from a bike path in the park, next to Wissahickon Creek. Turned onto Ridge Ave, rode a block, turned right onto Kelly Drive (or a lane that becomes Kelly Drive anyway). It is one-way from there all the way to where the red line meets the purple line.

The problem is, now I want to reverse the route, starting from Kelly Drive I want to get onto that path. The only way I can see (from the map) is to stay in the road, riding up and over the overpasses and following the lane that merges onto Ridge ave, then turn right onto the path. I drew that in light blue where it diverges from Google's line.

Anyone know a better way?