Over the last twelve years, the ride from the Philly Art Museum to Betzwood Park has been a staple in riding. It's about 42 miles round trip, with a flat 4-mile section on West River Drive, a 5-mile hilly section through Manayunk, and then a 12-mile flat section on the Betzwood trail.
My first exposure to the course was when I was still skating. Small groups of 3 to 6 skaters would head out together. The downhills on the return were especially difficult, since racing skates do not have brakes. My biggest memory of that course was the day we did it as part of a skating century. Two laps from the Museum to Betzwood and two laps of West River for a total of 100 miles on skates. Ah, the good old days....
As a cyclist, that course is much easier. The hills through Manayunk, either up or down, are not that bad. They just give you a little more to work on during an otherwise flat course.
Yesterday, since I now live so close to Betzwood Park, I rode the course in reverse. It's a lot different!
The differences were more psychological. The long flat section on the Betzwood trail is now the beginning and end, not the middle. West River Drive is no longer the "almost home sprint." It's the turnaround section. It was weird seeing the Museum and thinking "just 21 miles to go!" not "I'm done!"
Most of all, I never realized how hard the hills in Manayunk could be. When you are only 6 miles out, they are not so bad. When you have 27 miles in your legs, it's another story. The little zig-zag hill going from Main Street up to Umbria is a lot harder.
It wasn't all that bad, though. On the way back, I didn't stop at home. I kept going out to Phoenixville, for a total of 52 miles in about 2 hours and fifty minutes. It was a fun ride that I'm sure I'll repeat in the future.
I was just happy that I felt better. I'd been fighting some kind of stomach thing the last few days and I didn't have any problems at all today.
