bike funday
great ride today. botched the daylight savings time thing and showed up at NBW at 8, a full hour before the ride was scheduled to begin. whatever. i went to the overpriced coffeeshop and got me a bagel and cuppa joe. the lady behind the counter said it cost $9.something. what? no way! i said "lots of jelly and butter" not "lox, jelly and butter." wtf, asian lady, trying to feed me fish and steal my dollaz. $2.50 is more like it.
at 9 i spent a nervous half an hour waiting for people with lenore, the birthday girl and ride-route planner. mike henrik rolled up on his sweet bilenky and kat showed up a little later. we finally got underway around 10:30 after waiting for matt yoder. the ride took the five of us out through some really beautiful areas. i remember a funny township name...like a cross between gryffendor and tin lizzie......terdeffyn? anyway, the trees were all lit up and the air was cool and clean and the ride was pretty quick for me. lots of hills on the way out. we ended up at valley forge around 1:00. there were deer.
talked a lot to yoder on the way out there. he's an architect working with penn and some other companies. cool guy with lots of sweet bikes. he attacked up a hill about 15 miles into the ride on his road bike....i counterattacked and stuck with him all the way to the summit on my fixie. he said "good job, young jedi." i felt proud but didn't say so, seeing as i was having a bit of trouble catching my breath.
chatted a bit with lenore, she got a big box of winter gear and some sweet armwarmers for her birthday and $50 from her grandmother. kat's....kat. awesome as usual. mike's planning a trip out to italy this summer to ride around. it'll cost him a fortune, but with graduation looming he's ready for the break and some sick travel.
the ride back from valley forge (we spent all of four minutes there, i think) was along the schuylkill. it's a flat bike/jog path that's paved and wide enough for three riders. i'd never been on it that far before and it's a great trail. flat and fast. we averaged 20 miles an hour for a good 15 minutes on it before figuring out we'd lost lenore.
she'd been at the back of the pack for most of the day, shouting "left" and "right" and "straight" in a soft voice that led mike henrik to miss more than one turn. at a fork in the trail i didn't recognize, lenore shouted "left." i turned and saw the coppenburg looming ahead, shouted "Fuck!" and turned around. (coppenburg = an evil little hill: all cobblestones and probably 17-18% grade) the rivertrail runs to the right at that intersection and i hadn't realized it. had us laughing for a while but i guess you had to be there.
rolled back into philly after what i estimate at 50 miles round trip. it was cold, but a fantastic ride with good people. got soup with matt and mike afterward at that vietnamese place near kate's. delish.
also, built wheel racks in the bikechurch basement basement and drank a 40 of steel reserve. fun with powertools and old fashioned hammers. afterwards the bc crew retired to lenny's house (a neighborhood bike works saint) for freshly prepared salsa, delicious green tomato soup (i highly recommend getting you some) and an apple pie came out of the oven at 1am. mmmmm.
hung with max & becca on saturday after cleaning my room a bit (threw out a ton and will donate a ton as well). no parents around friday night so i dumpstered some delicious bread pudding and beansalad and other delicious things from 320 produce after work. work's cool, but the new kid nick is a bit pushy, kind of a tool, and has a kid. he's my age. and he spends all his money on new bikes, not, say, formula and college funds. douche. whatever, i may end up at bicycle therapy (22nd and south) come spring or working for mike at EMS. i'm happy either way, just hope the shops are flexible.
rented a few flicks. pan's labyrinth = sad, lonesome jim = hilarious and heartwarming (warms the cockles)
gonna watch chopper now and delicatessen after that.
almost forgot! finally called johnny B. he's doing great and i'm gonna make him a coffee cup in artclass.
at 9 i spent a nervous half an hour waiting for people with lenore, the birthday girl and ride-route planner. mike henrik rolled up on his sweet bilenky and kat showed up a little later. we finally got underway around 10:30 after waiting for matt yoder. the ride took the five of us out through some really beautiful areas. i remember a funny township name...like a cross between gryffendor and tin lizzie......terdeffyn? anyway, the trees were all lit up and the air was cool and clean and the ride was pretty quick for me. lots of hills on the way out. we ended up at valley forge around 1:00. there were deer.
talked a lot to yoder on the way out there. he's an architect working with penn and some other companies. cool guy with lots of sweet bikes. he attacked up a hill about 15 miles into the ride on his road bike....i counterattacked and stuck with him all the way to the summit on my fixie. he said "good job, young jedi." i felt proud but didn't say so, seeing as i was having a bit of trouble catching my breath.
chatted a bit with lenore, she got a big box of winter gear and some sweet armwarmers for her birthday and $50 from her grandmother. kat's....kat. awesome as usual. mike's planning a trip out to italy this summer to ride around. it'll cost him a fortune, but with graduation looming he's ready for the break and some sick travel.
the ride back from valley forge (we spent all of four minutes there, i think) was along the schuylkill. it's a flat bike/jog path that's paved and wide enough for three riders. i'd never been on it that far before and it's a great trail. flat and fast. we averaged 20 miles an hour for a good 15 minutes on it before figuring out we'd lost lenore.
she'd been at the back of the pack for most of the day, shouting "left" and "right" and "straight" in a soft voice that led mike henrik to miss more than one turn. at a fork in the trail i didn't recognize, lenore shouted "left." i turned and saw the coppenburg looming ahead, shouted "Fuck!" and turned around. (coppenburg = an evil little hill: all cobblestones and probably 17-18% grade) the rivertrail runs to the right at that intersection and i hadn't realized it. had us laughing for a while but i guess you had to be there.
rolled back into philly after what i estimate at 50 miles round trip. it was cold, but a fantastic ride with good people. got soup with matt and mike afterward at that vietnamese place near kate's. delish.
also, built wheel racks in the bikechurch basement basement and drank a 40 of steel reserve. fun with powertools and old fashioned hammers. afterwards the bc crew retired to lenny's house (a neighborhood bike works saint) for freshly prepared salsa, delicious green tomato soup (i highly recommend getting you some) and an apple pie came out of the oven at 1am. mmmmm.
hung with max & becca on saturday after cleaning my room a bit (threw out a ton and will donate a ton as well). no parents around friday night so i dumpstered some delicious bread pudding and beansalad and other delicious things from 320 produce after work. work's cool, but the new kid nick is a bit pushy, kind of a tool, and has a kid. he's my age. and he spends all his money on new bikes, not, say, formula and college funds. douche. whatever, i may end up at bicycle therapy (22nd and south) come spring or working for mike at EMS. i'm happy either way, just hope the shops are flexible.
rented a few flicks. pan's labyrinth = sad, lonesome jim = hilarious and heartwarming (warms the cockles)
gonna watch chopper now and delicatessen after that.
almost forgot! finally called johnny B. he's doing great and i'm gonna make him a coffee cup in artclass.