Yesterday, Mrs. Rootchopper and I made a trip to Philadelphia to visit our son. The original plan was to bring him the dresser from his bedroom at home but the dresser didn’t fit in my fine Japanese motor car. So we drove up and took him to Ikea. Here are some random observations about the trip.

• I hate I 95 so much I add 20 minutes to the trip and drive US 301 instead.
• The number of potholes increases exponentially when you cross into Pennsylvania. This could be because Pennsylvania is on an invisible climactic border. Or maybe, the state of Pennsylvania is clueless about road construction and maintenance. My money is on the latter.
• We got lost in Philadelphia. We did get to see boathouse row on the Schuylkill River. (Did you know that Schuykill is Dutch for “How do you spell that, mom?”
• We found my son’s apartment building. Suffice it to say that he, a 23 year old,  has a much nicer place than did until I turned 29.
• While walking around for brunch I took notice of all the bike lanes and the cyclists. The Center City area looks pretty bike friendly. They even have planters that double as bike racks (or vice versa).

• We went shopping at Ikea and WalMart. I HATE big box stores with a passion.
• The streets of Philadelphia do not have potholes. They have craters.
• You can tell when a car is being driven by out of towners. They stop for red lights or stop signs.
• There a many streets in Philadelphia that are too narrow for cars. I think this is genius.

The drive home was not so bad. It did however mean that I would be operating on 5 1/2 hours of sleep today.

I woke up and rode The Mule to my physical therapy session. The numbness in my right foot was much worse during the car ride yesterday. I think it is fair to say that the PTs are stumped. Why am I not getting better? No worries. I have done my last session with them because insurance doesn’t like PT very much.

On the way to the PT office I spotted a bald eagle in the Belle Haven nest. He/she was alone.

After PT, the ride to work was pretty nice. Temperatures were in the high 40s but I had a tailwind. Just what I need on a Monday morning. At the troll bridge undernearth the TR Bridge I spotted a heron perched in a trailside bush. It was had its head tucked so that its beak was under its wing.

It was in the mid-60s went I left the office so I took off my jacket and wind pants and rode in shorts and arm warmers. The wind was blowing everywhichway but I didn’t care. It was sunny out. There was pollen. Yay spring.

On the way home I passed the opera singing busker at the Torpedo Factory. At the Morningside bald eagle nest I spotted an eagle perched on the edge of the nest. It launched as I came closer. Dang, it was big.

Near home I stopped to run a few errands. Once and errandonneur always an errandonneur. I picked up a newly sharpened lawn mower blade. The edge on this bad boy was so sharp that I strapped it to my back rack instead of sticking it in a pannier. I was fortunate not to crash while this nasty bit of metal was on my bike.

I arrived at home with all major arteries intact. I’ll call that a successful bike commute.

I finished my errandonnee for 2015 today. It was pretty easy. Today was Pi Day. It’s 3.1415. Pi. So naturally, there was a great desire by nerdly minded people to eat pie. A group of people who have been participating in the Freezing Saddles competition decided to do a Pi(e) Day ride. (In Freezing Saddles, bicyclists team up and ride through the winter. They talley their miles and then have a happy hour. I didn’t participate because I hate crashing and riding in winter – for me, at least – involves crashing.)

I was invited to participate by Bob “Don’t Call Me Rachel” Cannon. So I decided to ride up to Old Town, Alexandria and meet the riders at their first pie stop, Misha’s Coffeehouse.

There were a number of surprises in store for me. I had decided to ride The Mule because it was raining and a bit cold (high 40s). This way I could wear my waterproof hiking boots. I pulled The Mule down from its hook and surprise number one: my first flat tire of the year. I spent a few minutes screwing around with it but decided to deal with the situation later. I changed shoes and rode Little Nellie to Old Town.

The ride was uneventful because it rained the entire way. This is not fun, thought I. I arrived at Misha’s a good half hour before the Freezing Saddles folks. I decided to eat some pie and drink some coffee.  A friend of mine is a gluten free vegan. The intersection of her diet and mine is the null set. (Hey, it’s pi day. Math rules.) Her one concession to dietary fun is apple pie. She loves it. So I decided to try the Scottish apple pie, even though I am more a cherry or blueberry pie person. The apple pie was made by Acme Pie company. It was pretty awesome.

The riders showed up. There were around 20 of them. The coffee house was packed. Having finished my pie and two cups of coffee, I headed back outside in the rain. The rain helped me to decide to abandon the rest of the pi ride and get some errands done. I headed out on Little Nellie only to notice that the front brake was impossibly screwed up.

I fiddled with it to free up the front wheel and rode to the bank. Then I headed to my local bike store, Spokes Etc. in the Belle View shopping center. On the way I passed Linel who is a bike commuter who I know from twitter but have never met. She waved at me as she headed toward Old Town. She looks different when she’s not a one by one inch picture on the web.

At Spokes a mechanic lubed and adjusted and air blasted my brake caliper. It was all gunked up from the crud on the side of the roads. In ten minutes he had it working like new.

I rode home in the, um, not rain. Being a rain wuss is rather frustrating.

After putting my bike away, I inspected The Mule’s flat tire. It was a repeat of a flat I had a few months ago.  When I repaired that flat, I used a $1 bill as a boot, a barrier between the new tube and the small hole in the tire casing. The bill had deteriorated and the hole chewed a hole in my tube as it expanded and contracted. Rather than go through this again, I decided it was time to cough up some dough for a new tire. I drove to Bikes at Vienna and bought a new tire and tube for The Mule. I also bought a couple of spare tires, since past experience tells me that early season punctures come in bunches.

Having ridden only 12 miles today, I am rested and ready for tomorrow’s Vasa ride.

Errand No. 11: Social Call

Miles 6 ish.

Observation:  I am a rain wuss. I just do not enjoy riding in the rain. I’ll do a bike commute in the rain but standing around in wet clothes just doesn’t do it for me.

Errand No. 12: Wild Card – Bike Shop

Miles 2

Observation: I love that Spokes Etc. will work on my bike while I wait. (They do this when they are not super busy.)