A weekend with not much to do* resulted in a search on backpacker.com (the site rocks, by the way). This revealed a hitherto unknown area in Philly called the Wissahickon River Valley that seemed to be rather popular among the mountain biking populace. I decided to actually use my mountain bike for, well, what it was meant to do – mountain biking. Up until now, my experience was limited to riding in the snow, down some stairs and on the broken Philly sidewalks (which can be surprisingly challenging). Nevertheless, after a quick visit to REI to get a water bottle holder fitted ($6), I headed to the park.
Words cannot describe my joy when I got there – miles and miles of dirt trails, perfect for mountain biking and trail running! The tree cover was so thick that after the first few pedals, I took off my sunglasses and put them in my pocket! Having moved to Philadelphia from Seattle, I was getting fairly nature-sick, but I may have finally found a life-support system!**
I went up and down the hills for 3 hours, and headed back as I ran out of water. I was completely drenched due to the hot and humid (feels like 88F (31C) , 75%,humidity) weather, and about 15 minutes before I reached my car, it happened. It was mostly in slow motion - there was no way I was going to head down a 50 degree descent very fast. Long story short, I hit a rock and went over the handlebars and the bike rotated over the front wheel and landed on me! Thankfully, the seat-in-back impact was pretty soft and I managed to land the bike (relatively) gently on the ground. I got away with just a few scrapes :)
Words cannot describe my joy when I got there – miles and miles of dirt trails, perfect for mountain biking and trail running! The tree cover was so thick that after the first few pedals, I took off my sunglasses and put them in my pocket! Having moved to Philadelphia from Seattle, I was getting fairly nature-sick, but I may have finally found a life-support system!**
I went up and down the hills for 3 hours, and headed back as I ran out of water. I was completely drenched due to the hot and humid (feels like 88F (31C) , 75%,humidity) weather, and about 15 minutes before I reached my car, it happened. It was mostly in slow motion - there was no way I was going to head down a 50 degree descent very fast. Long story short, I hit a rock and went over the handlebars and the bike rotated over the front wheel and landed on me! Thankfully, the seat-in-back impact was pretty soft and I managed to land the bike (relatively) gently on the ground. I got away with just a few scrapes :)
The two 100-cal cashew snack packs in the glove box were some of the best I'd ever had. I’m now home, waiting for my order of Chicken Biryani and Paneer Tikka Masala to arrive…
* Work notwithstanding
** It’s a valley and a fairly narrow stretch of land around it, and you can often hear or see cars going by on the roads nearby, but its still heaven compared to what else Philly has to offer!
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