Philadelphia Social Rides - 2016

With warm weather approaching people will be turning to thoughts of love. The love of bicycling. For those of you who are looking for way to socialize and ride your bikes there many options available in Philadelphia.

Social rides last 5 to 20 miles depending on the ride, at a pace that allows for a wide range of bikes and fitness levels. Social rides usually have a “no drop” policy, that ensures that everyone who is in the ride makes it to the finish. Ensuring that no one gets lost or left behind to a flat tire or mechanical breakdown. These rides provide a final destination where you can socialize and have something to drink and eat.

The list below breaks down the Social Rides currently available in Philadelphia by daytime and nighttime rides.

Daytime Rides

Philadelphia Open Ride - https://www.facebook.com/phillyopenride/

On of two new fledging social rides in Philadelphia, Philadelphia Open Ride is the creation of Pope Ride organizer Alexandria Schneider. She lead off her first ride with a fall leaf tour of Philadelphia complete with a picnic with the best view of Philadelphia, the Belmont Plateau. In December there was a Toys for Tots ride that I hope will become an annual tradition. Ms. Schneider appears to have some new rides lined up for the spring and we look forward to seeing what they are.

Norman’s Irregular Bike Rides - https://www.facebook.com/groups/517736488374969/

Norman’s Irregular Bike Rides is the other addition to the Philadelphia Social Ride scene. In the fall it held the Day of the Donut, a tour of Philadelphia’s best donut shops. With warm spring weather on the way we are sure there will be more rides to come.

Women Bike PHL - https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenbikephl/

Founded by Katie Monroe of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Women Bike PHL is a private Facebook page for women cyclists with over 2100 members. It is a forum to ask for advice about all things cycling and to promote the rides they host. The goal of Women Bike PHL is to inspire more women to ride a bike and support and encourage them along the way

Take Your Time Bike Ride - http://tinyurl.com/pnlu3tj

Departing from Rittenhouse Square on the second Tuesday of every month around 6pm. These rides always finish a different destination each ride. Starting in April and ending in October these rides alternate between coed and women only.

Philly Kidical Mass http://tinyurl.com/oan2vp3

Kidical Mass Philadelphia is part of nationwide movement seeking to promote family friendly bike rides and bring awareness in our cities that kids are traffic too. Riding as a group Philly Kidical Mass provides safety in numbers by using routes that incorporate bike lanes and low traffic streets that are 1 to 4 miles long. Kidical Mass rides often end at local playgrounds giving you the opportunity to socialize while your children play with new friends.

Cranksgiving Philadelphia http://tinyurl.com/pf2hgvc

Held in November close to Thanksgiving. Each rider has to purchase food from a shopping list at predesignated supermarkets and then arrive at a final destination. All of the food is donated to Philabundance. For those of you who want to race there are prizes for top finishers in several categories and a special award for the individual who brings the most food. In 2014 Cranksgiving Philadelphia had 100 participants who brought 1200 pounds of food and $700 in cash. The final destination is Tattooed Mom’s on South St and they double the amount of food brought in.

Philadelphia Tweed Ride http://tinyurl.com/mxkt492

Held in the fall around November, the Philadelphia Tweed Ride is the dressiest social ride in town. Attracting 100 riders on average the Philadelphia Tweed Ride dress code asks its participants to dress in clothing from 1900 to 1920 England. The attire ranges from vintage clothing to vintage inspired, with bikes to match. Winding its way through Philadelphia this ride becomes a parade of its own. Complete with a stop for a picnic, post ride drinks and awards, the Philadelphia Tweed Ride is the ride of the social season.

Nighttime Rides

Philly Full Moon Bike Ride http://tinyurl.com/n9vfype

Come howl at the moon with the Philly Full Moon Bike Ride. Held on the full moon of every month this ride departs from the Philadelphia Art Museum in the evening. Well attended, the Full Moon ride makes sure that no one gets lost or is left behind, and finishes at a local bar for drinks. Rides are held year round so dress for the weather and bring lights.

Philadelphia Bike Ride - https://www.facebook.com/phillybikeride/

With rides falling on either the third Friday or Saturday of the month. Philadelphia Bike Ride tours through different sections of Philadelphia.

Philly Bike Party http://tinyurl.com/ot2l67t

Come dance the night away with the Philly Bike Party. The Philly Bike Party rides are usually on the third Saturday of the month and is 6 to 8 miles long. Along the way the ride makes several stops to socialize and dance.

Take a Vacation in Philadelphia

Recently 5th Square, an urbanist political action committee based in Philadelphia, tweeted about the 2016 City Builders Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark. Where city leaders and planners from around the world gather to see what happens when you take 50 years to design a city for people and not for cars. They suggested that City Council Members Helen Gym, Derek Green, and Allan Domb all attend this. The conferences sessions involve meetings with local experts and peers on how to bring the best ideas on bicycle infrastructure back to their cities. Including bicycle rides to various sites throughout Copenhagen. At $5000.00 per person not including airfare, this seven day vacation is quite the deal.

Rather than travel 10 hours and 3923 miles, perhaps our city leadership would be better off spending a few days doing bicycle tours of Philadelphia instead and talking to area residents. So they can see how the infrastructure has changed Philadelphia, where it has failed, and and how it can be improved. All I would ask for that they be willing to commit an hour or two per per day for a few days.

One tour would be on Sunday along Spruce and Pine St. to see what happens when the churches and synagogues use the bike lanes for parking. For both religious services and weddings. Also so they can get a feel for what happens when a cyclist rides down a one lane street with cars behind them.

Another tour would be to some of the bike lanes in Philadelphia that have faded away due to a complete lack of maintenance. Along with rides along the crosstown connectors like Christopher Columbus Ave and 22nd St. To show just how far you can travel if you want to by bike.

We’d also visit places like the Philly Pumptrack where advocacy and community need created a solution that benefits many. Or spend time with the youth and adults who participate in the wide range of programs run by Neighborhood Bike Works in West Philly.

So save your money and avoid jet lag by exploring Philadelphia’s current bicycle infrastructure. Because before you build the city of the future, first you need to see what Philadelphia is like.

Friday Funnies - Wide Load

Dear Mayor Jim Kenney

Dear Mayor Kenney,

With a new Mayor of Philadelphia comes issues new and old that need to be addressed. Over the years I have lived in a number of major cities up and down the eastern seaboard and to be quite frank Philadelphia is the most dysfunctional city I have lived in.

City agencies who use archaic data management make it impossible to retrieve any data from the past, large scale malfeasance, limited accountability, and a City Council that is easily distracted by shiny objects. To say nothing of a school system that is grossly underfunded, unsafe to learn or teach in, and at the mercy bickering elected officials in Harrisburg. Who act more like children than the children they are supposed to be watching over.

To add to this are ongoing bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure issues. While you have committed to adding 15 miles of new bicycle lanes every year. I don’t see how this will happen with City Council’s stranglehold on bicycle infrastructure. Thanks to the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition’s deal with the Philadelphia City Council, giving City Council final authority over the installation of new bicycle lanes. Most likely any future bicycle lanes will resemble an ineffective patchwork system benefiting no one.

Then there is the general lack of maintenance of existing bike lanes. You don’t have to travel far within Philadelphia to see bike lanes where the lane markings have faded to the point that you can’t tell if there is a bike lane. Yes, it costs money to do this. But if you can’t maintain the existing infrastructure, how are you going to add more?

Another thing that needs to change is the Mayor’s Bicycle Commission or as it should be called, the Mayor’s Bicycle Racing Commission. Yes, the annual Philadelphia International Cycling Classic is an important draw for Philadelphia tourism. However the International Cycling Classic and the commission do not represent most cyclists. The current commission is made up of people with active involvement in bicycle racing, including a patronage position for Mayor Nutter’s wife. It should be retooled to include actual citizens of Philadelphia, with a minority of its members from racing and advocacy organizations.

Having lived in and visited New York City for many years I have never seen a sidewalk shut down without an alternative being provided. Or scaffolding with a roof making the sidewalk safe for pedestrians. Yet in Philadelphia shutting down half to an entire block of sidewalk for months on end by a construction company is standard operating procedure. Forcing pedestrians to walk in traffic or cross in mid-street, with no safe alternative.

You have committed to doing something about this. But, like bicycle lanes, I believe you face an uphill battle. Given the fact that L&I is so slipshod in how they operate that they got caught falsifying inspections in 2015.

I know both you and Mayor Nutter have some process in the works to hold Open Streets in Philadelphia. I was very pleased to read that you went to New York City’s Summer Streets this past year. So you could experience the potential of what can happen in Philadelphia. Don’t let the naysayers in the business community try to minimize the scope and size of the events. For many years Philadelphia had Open Streets events on an annual basis. It’s time to bring that tradition back.

The Year in Cycling - 2015

Pope Francis

When the plans were released for Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia, they included closing five square miles of Center City to automotive traffic for three days. While many residents of Philadelphia left the area to avoid the crowds and the challenges of not having access to their vehicles.

For those of us who stayed we were rewarded with a unique experience. The chance to travel around Center City on foot, bicycle, skateboard or any other human powered vehicle. Other people had barbecues, parties, played games, or just hung out with their friends and neighbors. A day that was recognized as #PopenStreets.

The highlight of that weekend was the Pope Ride. Organized by Alexandria Schneider, she initially thought this would be her and a dozen friends riding around Center City. But as the numbers grew it the ride soon blossomed into a full scale event. With 3000 people participating the day of the ride.

Many people were heard to comment that this should happen every year. Including Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney. While some were very vocal that this would be a bad thing for the future of Philadelphia, the city of Philadelphia used to hold an annual Open Streets event. Once known as Super Sunday (http://bit.ly/1V5iEBX), in 1989 it had been held for 19 consecutive years. Presented as the “Biggest Block Party in the World”, Super Sunday had something for everyone. Live entertainment, animal rides, a job fair, sports demonstrations, movies, and enough food to feed all of Philadelphia. It would not be that difficult to recreate this again.

The City of Philadelphia shuts down ten miles of Broad St. for the Broad St. Marathon. As well as one mile of Broad St for the annual Mummers Parade. Why can’t we do the same thing for the benefit of every resident of Philadelphia?

Stu Bykofsky

Of course all of this positive energy was not without its naysayers and none was more vehement that Philly’s own Stu “old man yells at clouds” Bykofsky. As Stu went completely off the deep end in a column titled “Cyclists are never satisfied” (http://bit.ly/1Sa153Q). When he engaged in a personal attack on the Pope Ride’s organizer, Alexandra Schneider. One could almost see the spittle flying out of Stu’s mouth and hitting the screen of his computer. As he said the words he was typing out loud.

Stu Bykofsky’s attitude was summed up very succinctly by one person who posted a comment. “The amazing thing about Stu is that he only relates events in the world to his own experience, not to the greater world at large.”

That’s not to say that Stu does not have his moments. Every so often Stu tries to prove that riding a bike, for any reason, does nothing more than exercise his futility. This year Stu took a spin on Indego bike share to see if he could get to work faster on a bike (http://bit.ly/1QWzdj0).

According to Stu it takes him 16 minutes to walk 1 mile from his home to work. Which means he walks at 3.75 miles per hour, an astounding speed as the average walking speed is 3.1 mph. At 3.75 miles per hour he is practically jogging to work, especially when you consider that Stu is 74 years old and a lifelong smoker.

But on a Indego bike it was a whole different matter. Instead of riding one mile to work, Stu rode a two mile roundabout route. One that utilized bike lanes, the very same bike lanes that Mr. Bykofsky feels are unnecessary. It took him 21 minutes and 22 seconds to ride two miles at an average speed of 5.71 mph.

One person even replicated Stu’s route, including stopping at all red lights and stop signs, they got very different results. After riding the route 3 times it took an average of 13 minutes and 42 seconds. with an average speed of 10.63mph. Considering most cyclists ride at 10 to 15 miles per hour this, Mr. Bykofsky’s speed was baffling compared to his ability to jog to work.

#unblockbikelanes

2015 was the year we could safely say that the #unblockbikelanes concept was finished and done. No amount of data is going to change unwillingness to ticket cars parked in bike lanes. As well as the causal lack of respect that prevails in Philadelphia when this sign was placed in a contra flow bike lane. Giving cyclists the choice of riding into oncoming traffic or on the sidewalk.

In response, I proposed the concept of placing safety cones along bicycle lanes to create temporary barriers (http://bit.ly/1Sa2Myk). Regrettably no one was inspired to do that. However in New York City the Transformation Department (http://bit.ly/1QWzjXC) has instituted this concept with great success.

Media

Spoke Magazine started publication this year and has turned out to be a welcome addition to the cycling media. A print magazine, publishing on a quarterly basis, Spoke Magazine has consistently published well written articles on a diverse selection of topics. Normally most cycling media tends to bog down on articles about the technical minutiae of bicycles and components. Spoke Magazine has written about people, places, and infrastructure. Now that they have added a website you can access previous articles online.

On March 23rd Philly Pedals published an op-ed written by Michael McGettigan (http://bit.ly/1mgcym5) castigating the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia for being too much of an insider in local politics  and how they needed to “work on their advocacy a bit.” As a former two term board member of the BCGP Mr McGettigan called out the BCGP for  recent failures and poor judgment.

Sadly this bombshell seemed to be the end of any consistent publication of articles. An unfortunate state of affairs that I hope will be rectified.

The Manayunk Bridge

The Manayunk Bridge or as it is better known as The Bridge to Nowhere, was supposed to be the shining new jewel of the regional trail system. Connecting Manayunk and the Schuylkill River Trail to Lower Merion and the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. And it did, except for one slight problem.

Instead of categorizing the bridge as trail, it was classified as park. Limiting it only being open from sunrise to sunset. Which in reality is 8am to 6pm fall and winter and 8am to 9pm in the spring and summer. This of course assumes that the Lower Merion Parks Department opens the gates on time. Which has not always been the case.

The problem is that no lighting for the park or the bridge was part of the budget. While I understand the liability and safety issues of having people on the bridge and in the park at night. The reality is that the bridge will benefit people from Lower Merion on the weekend. Provided they don’t want a cup of coffee in the morning or enjoy an evening dinner. If you are a bike commuter or heading out for an early morning workout on the Schuylkill River Trail you are out of luck.

With a new Mayor in office who has made some degree of commitment towards pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure. Along with an interest in holding Open Streets events, we will see what happens in 2016.