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We’re officially changing up the name of this ride to “Beer by Bike.” I’m going to start posting ride info over at my blog at www.beerbybike.com. Check it out and update your bookmarks and RSS feeds. This blog will soon go quiet. For now, our July ride is announced though!
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Saturday, with little notice and loose plans, 13 of us met at the Art Museum to ride to Earth Bread and Brewery. Well, 15 if you count my two little girls whom I was pulling in a trailer.
The weather was spectacular and the ride was great. Except for the huge hill on Ridge Ave, which everyone was grumbling about. Sorry!
Earth was great. They let us take over the downstairs bar. I’m really glad they finally opened up for lunch, the timing worked out perfectly. Though they only had two of there own beers on tap, the Monkey Brain Tonic was a hoppy little lightweight that was perfect after a ride. And the flatbreads made for a great lunch too.
We took Forbidden Drive back. And as per usual, flats abounded. We got scattered, and split up for the final leg of the ride. Almost everyone made it back, with the glaring exception of Niamh, who fainted and crashed pretty badly. Heal up Niamh!
Much thanks to Earth for accommodating is. Stay tuned for next months ride, which will likely be to the General Lafayette Inn (again). You may actually have the option of off road or hills again too!
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We’ll be riding to Earth Bread and Brewery this Saturday. Sorry for the late notice and lack of details. Meet at the Art Museum at 10am this Sat, April 18th
Filed under: Bike rides | Tags: Beer, Beer of the bike, Bikes, Brewery Bike Ride, Dock St, Nodding Head, Philadelphia Brewing Co, Philly Beer Week, Triumph, Yards
Wow!
This past Saturday was the official Brewery Bike Ride for Philly Beer Week. I knew that lots of people were excited about it, but neither I nor the breweries were prepared for the number to people that showed up. I had warned each brewery that there could be 70-80 people. But as I asked folks to sign in, my 90-some sign in slots quickly filled up. From Nodding Head, we had at least 130 people on the ride. I would venture to guess there was over 150 total throughout the day.
Despite the crowds, it was really a fun ride. Or at least I had a great time! Due to the number of riders, there was no way we could stay as one group. So instead we had cue sheets, and I gave an announcement when it was time to head out to the next location. Everyone rode at their own pace, with whomever they happened to be riding with. I really like this format, as it gave me, at least, a chance to ride with different people for each leg of the trip. I had some nice conversations with new people all day!
Nodding Head was packed, but the Berliner Weisse was a good morning beer for sure! Dock St was swamped as well, it took some time to get a beer, but being able to mull around outside was wonderful. And they provided an awesome fruit and veggie spread for us! The longest ride of the day was from Dock St to Yards, but most everyone made it. Everyone was anxious for beer after that, so the lines at Yards were out of control! After some tours and some breaking apart of the group for food, we all reconvened at Philadelphia Brewing Co. This room was probably the best suited for the number of people we had, but we still packed it out! A surprising number of people acutally made the entire ride and ended up at Triumph, where we said our goodbyes and had some dinner.
The weather was perfect, the beers were delicious, and everyone acted responsibly and had a great time. I don’t think I could have imagined a better ride for Beer Week. Well, actually, I can imagine. Just wait until next year!
Our ride is this Saturday, and its going to be awesome! We begin at Nodding Head, 1516 Sansom St, at 11am. We’ll be leaving there around 12noon, so if you’re going to meet us there, please arrive between 11am and 12noon
The ride is going to be VERY crowded! I want to make some things clear beforehand so there is no confusion the day of.
- Helmets required. I’m not a cop, and I’m not going to kick you out for not having one, but don’t take chances, be safe and wear a helmet. If you don’t have one, email me, I have a couple I can lend out.
- BYOL – Bring your own lock. We will be locking our bikes up at each location. Make sure you’re ride is safely locked up at each location. We cannot provide secure storage at any location, nor ensure your bike’s safety.
- Obey Traffic Laws – This is going to be a law abiding ride. We will NOT be running redlights, blocking traffic, pissing off motorists, etc. Help us keep our good reputation as cyclists!
- Be Careful! - We will be riding in traffic, please be aware of your surroundings, of over vehicles, and of each other.
- Drink Responsibly – We’re going to have a chance to try some great beers, make the most of it and don’t over indulge. Biking is still transportation, and its dangerous to ride drunk. If you’ve had too much, call it a day. Or leave the ride to have some lunch and water. Or lock up and take a cab home. Please don’t try to continue riding if you’ve had too much to drink
I will have a sign up sheet. So, when you arrive please find me and give me your info so that I know who all is riding. I will be providing cue sheets for you there. Due to the number of riders, we are not going to be riding as one large group to each brewery. Instead, I’ll give some indication of when its time to head out, and we can all ride at our own pace to the next stop. Find a buddy, meet a new friend, and have a leisurely ride to the next brewery. There is no rush.
This is a slow paced day, so there is plenty of time to get to each location. At each brewery, you’ll have a chance to try some of the beers, take a tour of some of the breweries, and maybe even meet some of the brewers. Nodding Head, Dock St, and Triumph are all operating restaurants, in case you want to eat.
The ride is open, so feel free to join up or leave at any point. The rough schedule is as follows:
11am – Nodding Head, 1516 Sansom St
12:30 pm – Dock Street, 50th and Baltimore
2pm – Yards, 901 N Delaware Ave
3:30pm – PBC, 2439 Amber St
5pm – Triumph, 117 Chestnut St
This ride is free, but the beer will cost money, so please bring cash. If you’re feeling generous and you appreciate what we’re doing, you’re welcome to donate some money to the ride. I hope to use any proceeds to make future rides even better, including having some swag to give away!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call me. Also, If you know of others who are going to be riding, please pass this along. Thanks and I’m looking forward to meeting you all on Saturday!
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We need a logo. I mean, we’ll be on the Travel Channel, we’re doing a ride for Philly Beer Week. I think its high time we had a professional looking logo for our little bike ride club.
So I’m throwing it out there. Who wants to throw something together? I’d love to have something ready for the Beer Week ride. We already missed the chance to have our logo on the site. Maybe we can even get some stickers, or spoke cards, maybe eventually some jerseys! I’d love something clean and logo-ish, not too fancy, intricate, or cartoonish. Anyone want to help out?
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We’re about 2 weeks away from the Beer Week ride. I had not been planning on any kind of sign up or RSVP, but I’ve changed my mind. If you are planning on riding with us, please shoot me an email at Jesseleekeenan (at) gmail (dot) com. I have a feeling that this ride will be big, I would like to know just how big so that I can forewarn the breweries. Thanks!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beer of the bike, Dock St, Nodding Head, Philadelphia Brewing Co, Philly Beer Week, Triumph, Yards
We’ve talked about it for a long time, but we’re finally going to make a citywide brewery tour happen. And in a startling display of perfect timing, its going to be an official Philly Beer Week event!
We’ll be meeting at Nodding Head at 11am and hitting 5 breweries before the day is done. We’ll have plenty of time at each place to taste some beers, maybe even meet the brewers.
In case you want to meet up en route, here is the schedule:
11am – Nodding Head
12:30 p.m. – Dock Street
2 p.m. – Yards
3:30 p.m. – PBC
5 p.m. – Triumph
And here is the route: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/pa/philadelphia/100471909209
The ride will be an easy one, although we will be in traffic. So please bring your helmets, and we’ll be following traffic signals as much as possible. This isn’t an alleycat race!
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I know this is last minute, sorry! One of our ideas for this upcoming year was to do these Beer of the Bike rides in conjunction with special events. This Saturday we’ll be doing just that.
At 2pm, Rich Wagner will be doing a presentation of historic breweries of Kensington at Philadelphia Brewing Company. We’re going to meet at the Art Museum at 12noon and do a little park loop before heading over there for this lecture. Come on out and join us! Learn about Philadelphia’s brewing heritage, sample some of the new PBC Joe Porter, and maybe even head out afterwards for a cheese and bourbon tasting.
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Lets start this year out right, with a Beer of the Bike ride! Until I have a chance to plan all this coming year’s rides formally, we’ll just start with a good ole fashioned cold weather bar hop. Join us this Sat, Jan 3rd at the steps of the Art Museum at 10am. We’ll hit up 2 or 3 newly opened bars and brewpubs in the city. This will be an easy ride for all skill levels. We might even do a little roundabout route, just to work up an appetite, er, um a drinketite? A beeretite?
