Visiting Philadelphia in August -- resources and tips please?
 

Aug 15th through 19th. Where to rent a decent hybrid bike? How friendly are the streets? Group rides? How bad is bike theft? Rides just outside the city? Local bike forums? Will be staying at the Marriott near the airport. Can I ride from their into town? etc. etc.

Thanks from Don in Austin, Texas

Don, although I don’t live or work in Philadelphia and rarely ride there, I will make an attempt to answer some of your questions

1) Can’t help you with rental (I am a Suburbanite)
2) I have ridden in the city and would guess its like most NE city’s. There can be KnucleHeads anywhere
3) Can’t help you with Crime Statistics but I, as a rule don’t let my Bike out of my site anywhere and always keep it locked accordingly.
4) There is a Great paved Trail that runs from City Center and Goes to a Place called Valley Forge. It is called the Schuylkill River Trail and follows the River. Some guy named George camped out in Valley Forge with a bunch of his Pals in the Winter of 1777-1778. J The Trails goes beyond Valley Forge several more miles.
5) I am not sure that there is an easy or direct route into the city via bike from the Airport as the Airport in SE of City Center. The Train System allows bikes on them and you can take the Train from The Airport into Town.

Not much help and Maybe someone more familiar will post up. Here are some links that you may find useful.

Train Info: http://www.septa.org/policy/bike.html
Bike Maps: http://www.bicyclecoalition.org/resources/maps
Gen Info: http://www.bicyclecoalition.org/
SRT Info: http://www.schuylkillrivertrail.com/

I appreciate the response. I looked at the address of our hotel -- Marriot @ 8900 Bertram -- on Google Earth and that is a boulevard with bike lanes. I figure one way or another I can get somewhere from there.

Very interested in the Schuylkill trail. I will have to learn how to ride somewhere without much in the way of hills, perhaps?

I think in any city you need to lock up your bike.

Perhaps if you are riding sometime from 8-15 to 8-17 you can drop me a message.

THANKS! Don

Forget the Bike Coalition for organized rides. They are an advocacy organization.

For group rides, check out www.phillybikeclub.org

I think you can rent bikes at Breakaway on the 1900 block of Chestnut in center city. You can also rent from Fairmount Bicycles, which is near the Art Museum, which is near where the trail system starts. Look them up on the web.

On weekends, MLK Dr., which starts at the Art Museum, is closed to motor vehicle traffic from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. (The first 1.5 miles opens to cars at noon, but there is a path you can take.) It's nice and shady and beats the crowded path on the other side of the river.

While theft varies by area, the safe rule is don't let your bike out of sight unless you lock it up with a good lock.

If you are not used to urban neighborhood riding, you might feel thretened riding from the airport into center city. Take the train. You can bring your bike with you on the weekends and during off-peek hours on weekdays. If the shops make you return the bike at the end of each day, there will be no need to worry about any of that.

The SRT takes you to one side of Valley Forge Park. If you want to see the side where Wasington camped, you have to cross the river via a narrow walkway along side a bridge. There is a sign just before you get to the Betzwood picnic area direvting you to the walkway, which will be on your left. From the Aret Museum to Betzwood is about 23 miles one way.

When we went to Chicago I picked up a rented bike and immediately rode through downtown rush hour traffic to the hotel. I am probably game for it. I plan to keep a bike the whole time rather than rent by the day. I am curious about trails that might not be paved but cinder or fine gravel etc., also the condition of the streets. Around Austin I am comfortable with 28 tires for all purpose urban riding including some smooth but unpaved paths. I would like to be able to keep up on intermediate level road rides, but don't want to sacrifice versatility.

At the gym today another of my trainer's clients said she just came back from Philly and loved it. Said the food was great. My taste in food is local established working class dive type food -- not as interested in celebrity chefs as my wife is.,

Thanks for the reply!

Don in Austin, Texas

I was not referring to traffic volume. To get into downtown Philly from the airport area you pretty much have to go through SW Philly, which has some crappy areas populated by crappy drivers, many of whom might look right through you. You will also probably encounter lots of broken glass. And it's not not a quick ride. The airport is a ways out.

The Manayunk Canal Tow path that leads to the SRT is not paved but rideable on even 23c tires. 28c would work for Forbidden Drive, which is a nice, shaded car-free ride along the Wisahickon Creek.

Not much working class dive food left in center city and surrounding neighborhoods. Most places are ethnic, upperscale or hipster gastro pubish. Although if you want an excellent cheesesteak for lunch, I can give you a place that is about as working class as you can get. It's a shack that only has outdoor seating. The roast pork is great, too, although some people say the food doesn't taste as good now that the chemical plant across from the outood pinnic tables is now closed.

The airport is no man's land. Will you have a car?

I visited Philly a few months ago, had a great time.
Some roads had bike paths, most don't. But I find
a lot of drivers were ok around bikers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt5Mzmv7hCk

Will have a car for my wife to use. I was hoping not to use it. It would not matter to me how long or devious the route, I would like to try to ride in and out from the airport. Would like the name of he cheesesteak place.

Thanks, Don in Austin

It looks like I will rent a hybrid from Humanzoom. To get from their shop to the hotel, how doable is this? http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/249878909 I have experience in urban riding. Would probably be leaving the bike shop around 6:00 Pm, Thursday night and I will bring my own brilliant lighting. If the route could be doable, I will check it out on Google earth streetview.

Thanks....Don

I can't answer your question about riding from the airport, but I'll second the notion that it's in no-man's-land and that Septa rail is an easy ride from their to center city.

When I ride the Schuylkill River Trail, I start at the Art Museum and ride the roads around the unpaved area. It is easy to do that and I find it more enjoyable on skinny tires than the unfinished part of the path.

I think Philly has become much more bike friendly in the past few years. There are many more bike lanes than there were, and I feel like there are more cyclists also. And it has great food :)

Tell me about food! I am not going ONLY to cycle. :) Interested in good local working class eats.


Thanks...Don

Truthfully I live in NJ, and while I dine in Philadelphia often, it's not usually at the kind of place that you're looking for. Monk's on 16th Street might be up your alley though - fantastic beer selection and very good food (especially mussels). O'Neal's on 3rd near South is a decent dive, but I wouldn't send someone there specifically unless it was to watch a game. Hopefully a more genuine local can step in and help - I think I'd have better advice for your wife, lol. She'll love the restaurant scene.

Monk's is decidedly not working class, and it can get extremely crowded. The last time I ate there I had peoples' butts in my face half the time. The mussels, however, are devine, and it's one of the places to go if you are really into beer.

As I noted, there are very few "working class" places left in parts of the city that will be relatively accessible by bike from your location. Philadelphia is a huge city geographically. Many of the places I think you are contemplating are way up in the northeast section of the city. As rents have increased in center city and the surrounding neighborhood, many younger people have flocked to other neighborhoods that are accessible by bike, like south philly. The result is that a lot of the "old man" bars and pubs have converted to hipster hangouts. With that said, here is the cheese steak place:

http://www.johnsroastpork.com/

Their roast pork is even better. Large with shap provolone and cheese. You might not feel like riding after that.

For Italian, this place is about as old skool south Philly as you can get:

http://marrasone.com/

Lorrenzo's Pizza in the "Italian Market" is another place:

http://lorenzospizza.net/

as is Chickie's Deli:

http://www.chickiesdeli.com/

Don't confuse it with Chickie's & Pete's, which is a stupid place, IMO.

A stop in at the Reading Terminal Market is probably in order. DiNics there has very good roast pork. If you go when the Amish stalls are open, which I think is Wed. or Thurs. through Saturday, you can clog your arteries at the Duth Eating Place.

As for your route back to the hotel, it's pretty much the way to go, although I would get to the west side of the Gray's Ferry Ave. bridge a via University City, etc.. That does not mean it's going tobe pleasant. Make sure you have stuff to change a flat. Lindbergh Blvd. riding could very well be unpleasant at best. Many drivers in that area aare not very bike-friendly. And don't stary off course. There are parts of SW Philly that are extremely dangerous. Lots of drug gang activity. And the path along Kelly Drive could be very crowded with cyclists, joggers and walkers depending on the weather. The path along MLK on the other side of the river is preferred by many for that reason, although the views are not as good.

But are you going to ride that every day? I would be leary of riding Lindbergh during morning rush hour.