Tri County Ramble

Over last week plans developed that would have me at my folks' abode today for some BBQ. I decided to bike the 40 or so miles out to the West Chester area. A couple of cycling/camping/tomfoolery-ing (!) friends decided to join me for a portion of it. Turned into our first great, albeit somewhat short, trip of the year.

Departed the downtown proper at approximately 9:30 and promptly found ourselves jammed in a gridlock of runners, joggers, skaters, jumpers, shakers, you name it, they were on East River Drive. Once we got to Fall's Bridge it dawned on us that MLK would've been a wiser choice since they close it to combustion engines on Sundays.


We worked our way west along a route that was light on traffic but heavy on hills. After a certain point there's no longer a net upward gain, just rolling up and down. Felt nice to pick up speed on the downs. Highlights included a "river fording" along Old Gulph Rd, various wildlife sightings, getting lost less than 5 times, and perfect temperatures.

We took a very leisurely pace, stopping here and there for various reasons, mostly just enjoying the scenery. At Warren Ave and Providence Rd I continued westward while the other two cut north to pick up the R5 train in Malvern. By now the skies had darkened and I knew I risked getting caught in a torrent if I continued. Also right around this point I took a gel. Between this and the desire to avoid death by lightning I found a reserve of energy and booked it into overdrive. Then it started raining, and hard. So I rode harder. Somehow I made it to my destination feeling like I could have continued on for at least another couple hours. Stark contrast to the 50 miler I did on Wednesday, when I felt like I was sleep-biking for the last 10 minutes. There are a number of reasons that didn't happen today, including a pretty laid back pace for most of the ride, but the main thing is that I brought along a bit of solid food which I ate around 1.5 hours in. Amazing that such a detail made all the difference in the end. Total about 41 miles untimed.

The coming week should hopefully see more running. Not that I have any regrets about not really running for the past two weeks, or about biking 100+ miles last week alone. But I'm eager to get back on my feet, and that's a good sign I think.