Nick lives in West Philly and my route took me from his place through downtown and then north along the Delaware River. On my ride through the city I passed the Art Museum, more commonly known as, The Rocky Steps. I had to take the tourist opportunity. If your wondering if I ran up the steps, I sure did. Here is a picture of the steps.
They were setting up for something so there were a bunch of people around and some sort of ribbons on the steps. Here is a picture facing the Art Museum from the top of the steps.
And here is a shot from the top of the steps overlooking the city.
Once back to the bottom, I found the statue of Rocky himself. Here I am sitting with him.
After all the excitement with Rocky I needed to continue on. I had a late start as it was. There were so many cool murals and graffiti painted on buildings and trucks around the city. I saw this enormous one on the side of a building. I had to take two pictures it was so bit. I'm not sure how to put them side by side so here they are top and bottom.
I'm not exactly sure what's going on because I snapped these while waiting at a red light, but there is some theme related to bicycles. If you look closely at the top picture you can see a crank with a pedal, and in the bottom you can see a wheel. The parking meters give you an idea of how big it is. I passed another river walk brewery on my way out of Philly, but had to pass because I was already behind schedule.
So that's the end of my pictures from yesterday, but now it's story time. After finally making it through Philly and the outskirts of the city, I had a long stretch on a road that would lead me almost to Trenton, NJ. After a ways down this road I discovered that the road I needed was closed. Great. Time to make my own detour again. I ventured onto a different road that looked promising. I came to a point where I could pick up a trail that would lead me where I was going, rather than travel the busy road. I got started on the trail and soon met another biker who was coming from the opposite direction. I confirmed with him where the trail would take me. He explained that if I continue on I would see a hotel and the trail would end, and I could pick up the bridge that I needed to cross into NJ. Seemed promising.
Despite a very bumpy, gravel trail along the side of the tracks, I felt like this detour would work. The trail conditions became worse as it got darker and evidence of the trail seemed to disappear. I felt like I was just traveling down the side of the train tracks. Although I had some concerns, I trusted the mans directions to stay on the trail. At one point I heard a high pitch ringing sound, then soon realized that meant a train would follow. By this time it was completely dark, but I continued to press on with my blinking lights. I came up to an underpass where the trains traveled under a bridge. I didn't think much of it as I began to head through. I couldn't even ride my bike at this point because it was so bumpy. I was just pushing it. Then I heard the high pitch ringing sound. I knew what that meant. I froze. My gut instinct was to drop my bike and trailer and book it back to the opening. Full of adrenaline, I sprinted back to the opening. The train was honking its horn at me as it approached. Just as the train passed I reached the end of the tunnel and dove to the embankment to the side. I think I even got a boost from the air pressure from the train as it passed.
After getting up and thanking God for my life, AGAIN, I heard screeching sounds coming from the train. I wasn't sure if it was trying to stop or just the sounds from going around the next bend. I didn't know if someone would be on their way to see if I was okay, or to arrest me. I figured it'd just be best to get out of there. On my side of the tracks was about a 15 foot bank that led to another track. On the other side was about four more tracks and a fence. I decided to climb the bank. I had to disconnect my bike and trailer. I even had to take some gear out of my trailer to be able to make it up. After hauling everything up the bank and across the other tracks I checked my map again. I was now right next to the trail that I should have been on originally, however there was about 20 feet of thick woods between me and the trail. The tracks seemed to lead in the direction I needed, so I continued on. A bit further down I found a little passage way to the trail so I took it. Finally, I had made it to the hotel I heard about earlier.
My next challenge was to make it across a bridge and through Trenton, NJ in the dark. I had about 10 more miles before arriving at my destination. I finally made it to my couchsurfing host's place at around 7:00. After a quick shower, I helped Todd, my host, prepare dinner. We had some delicious chicken with potatoes and steamed vegetables. After dinner I could barley keep my eyes open.
After looking back on what I felt like at the time was a near death experience, I'm not so sure it was. I'm also not sure my gut told me to do the right thing. I think I may have been just fine standing flat up against the wall. There would have been enough clearance. My bike and trailer were just fine. I could have also just ran across the tracks to an empty space next to it. I may have never really been in a deadly situation. My gut told me to run, and thats what I did. May have reached my top speed on foot, who knows. Either way it was a scary, exciting event and makes for an interesting story. I know it's a long one, but hope you enjoyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment