Best Bike Rides Philadelphia

My new book "Best Bike Rides Philadelphia" is finally in print. I got the first copies from my publisher this week. I'm really happy the way it came out. Writing a book takes a lot of work. My co-author and I spent about a year doing the rides, write ups and maps for the book and then spent another few months helping the publisher clean it up and put it all together. I'm not sure when it will appear in stores but I'm guessing it will be some time in August as that's when Amazon will have it available.

Seeing the final book and being able to show people some cool places to ride is why I enjoy writing these books. I also end up meeting a lot of other bike riders and have fun sharing stories with them. Being a bike rider is sort of like being in a fraternity because we all share a lot of the same experiences. While doing this book I met a number of people from the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia (BCP) who helped me a lot with finding some good rides in and around Philly. BCP is a great club and if you live near the Philly you should join them for some rides.

This Saturday I rode with the Linda who is the president of the BCP. She wanted to do a ride to Belmar and asked for my help with the route.  It was nice seeing Linda again since I had not talked to her in a while. I was also able to give her a copy of the new book as a way to thank her and BCP for all their help.

The ride to Belmar started off pretty good and we made it to Farmingdale and through Seagirt with out a problem. The weather forecast had a chance of thunderstorms for late afternoon but as we headed up Ocean Ave the sky opened up and it went from a lite shower to torrential down pour it about a mile. We took refuge under the over hang of the stores by 16th street. We hoped the storm would pass quickly but it just keep raining and then the thunder and lighting started. One of the people in the group had a problem with their pedal so they headed to a bike store on 15th street. We joined him a little later and continued to wait out the storm. With the continued heavy rain and lighting we really could not continue the ride.

After we looked at the radar we saw that the storm would pass in about a half hour but that would be followed by another big storm. I decide at that point to call my wife and to be picked up. This was not an easy decision but Herb and I felt it was too dangerous to continue. If we had been in the pine barrens with light traffic we might have tried to continue but the combination of lighting, heavy rain and traffic around Belmar made riding risky.

When the rain did let up Linda and a couple of others decided not to wait for the pick up and rode off. They did make it back safely but got a little wet along the way. Although I now owe my wife big time for the pick up I think it was the right choice.