visiting Philadelphia on a bicycle

Ken: I belong to two suburban bike clubs, Central Bucks Bike Club
(cbbikeclub.org) and Suburban Cyclists Unlimited
(suburbancyclists.org). Check out the cue sheets available on both web
sites. I think the best riding in the region is north and east, and
west of the city. You were, for part of your tour, in "lower" Central
Bucks and Lower Bucks, but it gets prettier and less-trafficked further
north and over in Hunterdon County, NJ. I would have suggested heading
east or north from Doylestown; I like to go into NJ.

Of some interest is the multi-use path called the Schuylkill Trail,
along the Delaware River, that runs from Center City far out into
Montgomery County, ~25 miles paved, when it changes to crushed gravel
and is called the Perkiomen Trail, fine for MTBs and hybrids. The
entire route is ~60 miles, if I recall?

I don't know your preferred pace and cycling preferences, but I'd be
glad to provide more info and guidance for your next trip. Regards, Roy
Zipris

In article <[email hidden]>,

Roy Zipris said:

Ken: I belong to two suburban bike clubs, Central Bucks Bike Club
(cbbikeclub.org) and Suburban Cyclists Unlimited
(suburbancyclists.org). Check out the cue sheets available on both web
sites. I think the best riding in the region is north and east, and
west of the city. You were, for part of your tour, in "lower" Central
Bucks and Lower Bucks, but it gets prettier and less-trafficked further
north and over in Hunterdon County, NJ. I would have suggested heading
east or north from Doylestown; I like to go into NJ.

Of some interest is the multi-use path called the Schuylkill Trail,
along the Delaware River, that runs from Center City far out into
Montgomery County, ~25 miles paved, when it changes to crushed gravel
and is called the Perkiomen Trail, fine for MTBs and hybrids. The
entire route is ~60 miles, if I recall?

I don't know your preferred pace and cycling preferences, but I'd be
glad to provide more info and guidance for your next trip. Regards, Roy
Zipris

The Schuykill River Trail follows the Schuykill River ( amazing! ) and
does not go anywhere near the Delaware River ( yet ).

The SRT is about 20 miles from the art museum to the Perkiomen Trail
which is 22 miles to Green Lane Park IIRC.
A little shorter if the detour become permanent.

Someday the SRT will go up to Pottsville and down to the navy yard
making it 75 miles long. Someday!

HTH

H M Leary said:

The Schuykill River Trail follows the Schuykill River ( amazing! ) and
does not go anywhere near the Delaware River ( yet ).

You're right, of course, H.M.; thinking of my preferred cycling along
the Delaware, my mind raced ahead and caused my fingers to type in the
wrong river. --RZ

In article <[email hidden]>,

Roy Zipris said:

H M Leary said:

The Schuykill River Trail follows the Schuykill River ( amazing! ) and
does not go anywhere near the Delaware River ( yet ).

You're right, of course, H.M.; thinking of my preferred cycling along
the Delaware, my mind raced ahead and caused my fingers to type in the
wrong river. --RZ

Yes!

I like to ride from I-95 up to New Hope.

On both sides of the Delaware.

HAND

Roy Zipris wrote

Quoted message said:

Of some interest is the multi-use path called the Schuylkill Trail

Good, we'll try some of that next time.

Quoted message said:

I belong to two suburban bike clubs, Central Bucks Bike Club
(cbbikeclub.org) and Suburban Cyclists Unlimited
(suburbancyclists.org). Check out the cue sheets available
on both web sites.

I checked those lists of cue sheets, and while they're probably helpful for
the club members, I found them kind of overwhelming for a visitor -- because
hard to decide which ones to start with. I found the Bicycle Club of
Philadelphia lists more helpful because for each route they had an
interesting little description that was designed to help choose.

Quoted message said:

I'd be glad to provide more info and guidance for your next trip.

How about say what some of your own favorite routes are and why.
Sharon and I generally like rides that are moderately hilly, and when we're
visiting some other area, we like to ride at least 75 miles to make it worth
the time + cost of travel (like our Phila loop was about 110 miles).

Thanks for your help,

Ken

Ken Roberts said:

How about say what some of your own favorite routes are and why.
Sharon and I generally like rides that are moderately hilly, and when we're
visiting some other area, we like to ride at least 75 miles to make it worth
the time + cost of travel (like our Phila loop was about 110 miles).

For general group rides, I tend to favor moderate terrain (CBBC
categorizes rides as flat, moderate, or hilly) and distances of ~35-50
miles, so I'm familiar with routes that would meet your preferences
more by reputation than by actual experience. What I will do is go
through the CBBC cue sheets and pull out the ones that might be of
interest to you; would it be easier to send you a PM or list them here?
(Incidentally, I am one of CBBC's cue sheet editors and you can
generally tell which routes I edited by the relatively extensive
comments, which I think are indeed helpful, even to club members.)

One resource that you might also appreciate is a wonderful web site, a
labor of love, by a fellow named Dustin Farnum, called New Jersey Bike
Map (http://www.njbikemap.com/). One of the great features is his
indication of elevation changes, marked with a circle at the bottom, a
flag at the top, and the number of feet. With these maps and cue
sheets, it's easy to link up parts of various routes so that you can
create longer rides to meet your interests.

Let me know if you'd prefer a PM or post. And if you let me know when
you'll be in the area, there may be a club ride or two that you might
enjoy. Regards, Roy Zipris

You may find my website useful. It has information for bicyclists visiting
Philadelphia, including links to local clubs, some featured rides, routes in
and out of the city, and relevent maps and books. The link is
http://home.comcast.net/~miketordoff/.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Michael Tordoff said:

You may find my website useful. It has information for bicyclists visiting
Philadelphia, including links to local clubs, some featured rides, routes in
and out of the city, and relevent maps and books. The link is
http://home.comcast.net/~miketordoff/.

Probably the best of the lot, IMNSHO, is:

http://www.billcotton.com

he has cue sheets for everything!

HAND
ride safe

"H M Leary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Michael Tordoff said:

You may find my website useful. It has information for bicyclists
visiting
Philadelphia, including links to local clubs, some featured rides, routes
in
and out of the city, and relevent maps and books. The link is
http://home.comcast.net/~miketordoff/.

Probably the best of the lot, IMNSHO, is:

http://www.billcotton.com

he has cue sheets for everything!

HAND
ride safe

Thanks. I like the idea that ken mention about descriptions. I will look
into that. However, the cue are of ride that I have done and on myride page
are descriptions on my rides.

--
www.billcotton.com

Michael Tordoff wrote

Quoted message said:

You may find my website useful. It has information for bicyclists
visiting Philadelphia, including links to local clubs, some featured
rides, routes in and out of the city, and relevent maps and books. The
link is http://home.comcast.net/~miketordoff/.

Yes it looks very useful. I especially liked the page of "classic" Philly
rides -- personal recommendations and descriptions of good routes is just
what I was looking for. I like the idea of connecting with the Main Line
area to the west -- where we've never thought of riding before.

I like that the riding is centered on Philadelphia -- because for Sharon and
me it's the city that offers something special in the riding. It's the key
"excuse" for making a bicycling visit to that region (rather than some other
northeast U.S. region with nice suburban or rural riding).

Ken

Over the weekend Sharon and I tried two "classic" Philly rides, out the Main
Line, and the Schuylkill River valley to Pottstown.
They were _too_ classic for us. Anybody know some non- classic routes
around Philadelphia?

Some of the scenery was indeed very pretty, with classic stone houses and
barns. But there were just too many _unrewarding_ hill climbs. And too
many steep unrewarding hill climbs. Sharon and I will gladly climb up a
hill -- if it has a reward ... a fun downhill with some interesting curves.
And some dips and rolls can be nice. A nice view somewhere along the way up
or down can also be a nice add. But too many of those roads were just a
climb straight up one side of the hill followed by a steep straight plunge
down the other side. Very authentic, very "classic".

So how about some suggestions for some routes around Philadelphia with a new
"mix": We'll acccept fewer stone barns, and more miles on high-traffic
roads, in return for fewer steep unrewarding climbs and more downhills that
are _interesting_ instead of just steep.

First we rode miles 20-77 of the "Scenic Schuylkill Century" cue sheet
linked from this page of "classic" Philly rides:
http://home.comcast.net/~miketordoff/Rides.htm
Highlights were seeing the twin steam towers with plumes around miles 40-50,
and lots of pretty farms and stone houses in miles 50-60. Sharon liked
riding the quiet roads thru Evansburg State Park 27-29. The section we did
was about the hilliest riding we've done this year. Somewhere around mile 54
or something, I said to Sharon, "This is combat". When we got to the
straight steep downhill, Sharon groaned and said, "Welcome to Pennsylvania".

Then we rode the "Main Line and Valley Forge" route ("Freedom Valley" on the
cue sheet) from that same page, though out of order, starting from Betzwood
with the flat Schuylkill River trail. Interesting there was an organized
supported ride that same Sunday with food stops and numbers on their
bikes -- appararently riding a similar route. After like 15 miles of flat
riding on the trail, we turned left to climb a hill on Shawmont, and we saw
two athletic guys with numbers on their bikes walking up the hill, one
looked pretty thrashed. After 15 miles of flat riding, we didn't understand.
Then we did the rest of the route.

I think I would change the title of the cue sheet to "Find the Valley?", and
change the route description to "nearly continuous hills from West River
Drive to Paoli, then a few more to Betzwood." Indeed also lots of very
interesting stone houses along the way. I don't want to be unfair: some the
climbs we did were rewarded with interesting fun downhills, and maybe only a
couple finished in the _truly_ classic Pennsylvania style: steep and
straight down into a stop sign.

So if you like that "classic" style of hill riding, I don't think you'll
find it hard to find some on a visit to southeast Pennsylvania.

We liked the rewards of the riding around Philadelphia -- just hoping
someone will point us to some routes with a different proportion of
punishments.

Ken

P.S. It might help if more route descriptions gave a _numerical_ estimate of
the vertical feet of climbing on the route, not just the horizontal distance
of the route.

"Ken Roberts" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Over the weekend Sharon and I tried two "classic" Philly rides, out the
Main Line, and the Schuylkill River valley to Pottstown.
They were _too_ classic for us. Anybody know some non- classic routes
around Philadelphia?

Some of the scenery was indeed very pretty, with classic stone houses and
barns. But there were just too many _unrewarding_ hill climbs.

If you are looking for a flat route, there's the towpaths along the Delaware
River north of Philadelphia. They are on both the PA and NJ sides of the
river. Pretty scenery, nice towns to grab a bite in.