Bike Tour to Philly

During my year in Germany I came to appreciate the freedom that long bike rides brought. In fact, if you were a reader of this blog from the beginning then you already know I documented it here frequently. I had practically grown up on a bike: my childhood neighbor Rivers and I rode our bikes all through the neighborhood and came to know every street, creek, and shortcut possible. I also biked a lot in my Boy Scout troop and then in high school became friends with Martin and shared an interest in mountain biking the few trails our city offered. Germany introduced long-mileage bike rides to me in the form of a vintage Raleigh bike I picked up at a second-hand market in Cologne. Touring, as I would come to learn, was actually an activity many Europeans did during summer holidays. Some bikes were actually built with a geometry which supported this type of biking.

I got my current touring bike, a Trek 520, as a Christmas present from my grandmother during my final year of college. It felt like I had received the Nimbus 2000 or something -- the world was now my oyster and you couldn't get me off the thing. During the first year of owning the bike I logged probably 1000 miles, 100 of which came from a ride with my friend Samson when we rode from Baton Rouge to New Orleans in late July 2016 (terrible idea, wait until the Fall). Now that I live in DC, the bike has turned into a commuter for my 6 mile round-trip bike to work and weekend rider. We've got some great trails up here specifically for riders like me that want to hunker down and crank out the mileage on Sunday morning. In February 2017 I took the bike out over a 3 day weekend to a state park in rural Virginia just to see how far I could go. That time I borrowed a friend's panniers and packed a tent, sleeping bag, extra food, water, and my cellphone and wallet for the 160 mile round-trip ride. It went well and I had a blast. I was immediately looking for the next ride.

This July 4th weekend I made good on the search by riding a 3 day, 2 night trip to Philadelphia. I had planned overnight stops in Baltimore, MD with a couple I found on the bicycle-touring hosting website warmshowers.org and then in Newark, DE with the family of one of my roommates in DC. Max and Maya hosted me the first night in Baltimore and we exchanged stories of past rides, mine from Germany and theirs from a cross-country tour they did together on a tandem bicycle. In fact they had their own travel blog, which I encourage you to check out. We went to an Orioles baseball game together and rode bikes to the stadium. I also got to meet many of their friends at the game as well as their 2.5 and 3 year old daughters who were super nice and interesting!

Riding with Max on Melvin, the tandem bike that crossed the continent

The Orioles game had a rain delay

Waking up in Baltimore, I realized not applying sun screen had been a bad decision. I had some solid tan lines on my legs where my biking shorts ended, tan lines on my wrists from wearing biking gloves, and then about mid-bicep a nice farmer's tan from my biking jersey. It hurt, too. Maya hooked me up with a leftover bottle of sunscreen which I applied generously before embarking on my 70 mile ride to Delaware.

The ride started off hot without any clouds. An hour in my arms and legs were glistening with that odd combination of sweat and oily sunscreen and I could have seen my reflection if I had looked down. At one point it got so hot I could start to smell the recently laid black top -- not a good sign! I peeled off for a water break to regroup.

Time passed quickly on my bike. With no music and nobody to talk to I had only my thoughts to keep me company. Between that and just being a big 'ole eyeball taking in the scenery I usually finished my rides before I realized it. The second day ended in northern Delaware at my roommate's parents' house. I ended up cooking dinner for Jen, my roommate's sister, and her fiance Eric. As part of spreading the Good News (Louisiana cooking) I bought some ingredients at the grocery store to cook an alfredo pasta dish with what passed as Cajun andouille sausage.

Success: Another household now has Tony's and Crystal in its cupboards

I pulled into Philadelphia right when I expected: 12:00 on the dot. I went first to the Amtrak station to buy a train ticket back to DC and then met up with a childhood friend from Baton Rouge, Finn, who studies Art at Temple. Finn's parents are artists and our moms have known each other since college. We met up over some nice filling falafel before heading to the Barnes Foundation and the Rodin Museum. Sadly, no Liberty Bell or Independence Hall this trip on account of my time constraint with the train, but for proof that I made it to my destination here we are at the Rocky statue:

I took the train back to DC and rode the five minutes from Union Station to my house in Capitol Hill. That was all she wrote: 160 miles over a two night biking trip, numerous pit stops and farmers' markets, a kinda weird tan, a few new acquaintances and a host of stories. One grand experience!