Philadelphia/Washington
 

I'm going over to Philadelphia and Washington for the next week to visit a couple of art galleries/museum and I heard there is a big fixed gear scene there (at least in philadelphia). I'll have plenty of free time and I will probably bring my bike with me. Does anyone knows if there's a race or a gathering of any kind this week, I'll be there from sunday to friday. Or any great fixed gear stores ?

By the way, I don't want to turn this out into a voyage forum but any other cool things to do there?

Like Bars or restaurants ? or anything else that I won't find in travel guides ?

philadelphia has a rediculously high concentration of fixed gear bikes.

i dont know if thrashin' thursday is still in existence but im not the person to go to on that. theres bound to be something.

the dc fixed scene is aite

you're coming to philly at the right time, my friend: Restaurant Week. All the restaurants in the city create a 3-course menu for $35. while $35 isnt cheap, some of the restaurants are top-notch places where you would pay $100 on any other night. i'd look into it soon and get reservations as early as possible. its a fantastic deal. this city has a tremendous food scene. here's a link where you can view all the restaurants/menus and make reservations online.


also, if you want to look at some sweet bikes, i often notice messengers hanging out at the northeast corner of rittenhouse square. it seems to be the local spot for them to take breaks while on duty. other than that, the city is basically full of ssfg bikes.

dcfixed.com register and post

Judge, I can't wait for restaurant week either. If you get a chance, try Valanni's, I ate their during the last restaurant week and it was amazing.

I just took a look at some of the menus, I guess this trip will cost me more than I tought. **** those hotels, I'm going to eat four meals a day and sleep in the park with my bike locked to my waist.

There's the pretzel ride which happens on tuesdays, basically people gather at the art museum around 11ish and ride down this soft pretzel company who start rolling out the fresh ones at midnight. Delicious. I've only done it twice but I had fun both times. I believe critical mass is on Friday also? Never done it, but I think that's when it is.

Some fun bars/pubs/taverny things to check out:

700 club - my favorite bar, great beer selection, good dj's on the weekends no cover, upstairs dancefloor area has old furniture and wallpaper, feels like a house party

McGlinchy's - divey joint with sweet jukebox and surly waitress and you can still smoke in there if that's your thing. always a bunch of bikes out front.

Bob & Barbara's - $3 gets you a shot of jim beam and a pbr, can't beat that. they often have these 3 old dudes playing jazz, thursday nights they have a drag show if you're into that.

Tatooed Mom's - cheap food and cheap booze, just go there it's fun.

Standard Tap - Awesome food, only local craft brews on tap, cool atmosphere

Silk City - Used to be a diner with a small club attached (a GREAT diner at that, jesus I miss it), just got renovated and it looks pretty slick, decent food, dj's every night (Thursdays are big). I really miss the old, but it can be fun.

I could go on, but that's a pretty good start, ask around when you get here, (most) people in Philadelphia are a lot friendlier than the media portrays us.

just gotta bump govindas on broad and south for delicious vegetarian and vegan food

dcfixed.com and phillyfixed.com should be able to set you up with some stuff to do.

in dc, the museums are free. we don't have regular weekly rides, but we will get together for pub crawls from time to time. and usually on wednesday nights you can find a few of the dcfixed kids at asylum in adams morgan. also, thursday night is polo.

lol trace, i love all those bars you just recommended. 700 club, mcglincheys, and barb&barbs and all among my favorites. i used to live at 15th and locust, so mcglincheys was obviously like a second home to me, and b&b's philly special is the perfect way to start any night. 700 club is probably the single most hipsterific bar on earth so i dont quite fit in, but they have crazy good local dj's come through sometimes.

also, i gotta throw out Grace Tavern at 23rd n south, my new local spot. great food, just divey enough for comfort. im going to have to check out Tattooed Mom's.

i'm not sure you can be a twenty something male in philadelphia and not ride a fixed gear.
is that just me?