November is cold. It was supposed to snow early the morning of our trip. We waited for the weather to clear and left Brooklyn at about 10am, taking the path train (left) from WTC to Newark NJ, where we got the Rairitan line train to Bound Brook. The sun was shinning brightly and warmed you up from the cold. The train had reasonable space for our bikes and we got off (having to carry our bikes down the steep steps of the train) at Bound Brook (center and right). The Deleware and Raritan canal runs from New Brunswick north west along the Raritan river to Bound Brook, then turns south west and heads all the way to the Deleware River at Trenton. We got on the trail that runs by the canal easily from the train station and headed down the pebbly packed dirt and gravel path (next two rows below).        
        
  

The path runs between the canal on the East side and various bodies of water on the west. It was gorgeous and rarely interrupted (every 2-5 miles) by crossing roads (above right). The surrounding area is quaint rural New Jersey, passing a few miles from the center of Princeton, at which point the path was fairly crowded, it being a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We stopped for lunch before then at a large historic site and lock called Rockingham (bellow right). Lunch was quite late at this point so we were a bit nerveous about the coming dark and very cold, but those were some tasty avacoado sandwiches and the light was beautiful. We did get stuck in the dark, but we continued along the trail anyway becasue there weren't yet any roads running the way we needed to go. We made it at last to the outskirts of Trenton (and onto my detail map) as it became definately too dark to continue on the rough trial. We had a nice ride through rural trenton and then I got a bit stressed as we got into the urban area, not knowing my way very well or what the neighborhood would be like. We made it to the station fine with only one driver telling us to get our asses out the road.

 

  

     

      

The train ride on the Philadelphia commuter rail (Septa R7) was downright terrible. There was not adequate room for our bikes (maybe adequate for one); they were wedged into the handicap space, which is just two facing double seats, with extra space between them; the wheels were turned sideways, but my handle bars stuck out into the aisle a bit and we had to be trapped behind our bikes. This was manageable though annoying until the conductor caught his jacket on my handlebars and dramatically fell on the floor. He lay silently seeething on the floor clutching his knee and we could not even help him up from behind our bikes; luckily someone else came to his physical aid as we apoligized profusely, but the rest of the ride was awkward as all hell and hopefully he's ok now.

Philadelphia is a nice town. The streets are a bit small for biking compared with New York, but there are some good lanes. There seem to be more hot rodders racing down the streets, and more speeding in general, but it seemed a very bikable city. We did not get to do as much exploring, on bikes or otherwise as we had intended, but had a good time with our friends Eli and Sarah (that's the Rodain Museum above). There is delicious grilled falafel at Bitar's (947 Federal Street) and delicious noise and performance at the South Philly Atheneum (Eli's house).

  

  

 

      
 

bike home

  
 
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