Family Friendly

Take that you sleazy automobiles! Bikes rule! Bike Philly 2008

Any time you get 93% of people to agree on anything you’re doing pretty good. Last year’s Bike Philly event drew praises ranking the ride as “excellent” or “very good”. The percentage would have been even higher but it turns out a full 7% of voters were from Palm Beach County in Florida and had trouble with the voting machines  or left paper ballots unclear as to which choice they had actually voted for. The problem of the ‘Hanging Bens’ has been referred to a special commission for further review.

But all that is in the past! This year is the 2nd Annual Commerce Bank Bike Philly event and it is expected to be one year older than the first one. No, really, if you like riding a bicycle this is something you won’t want to miss. This family friendly bike tour lets you bask in the relaxing ambiance of Philadelphia streets free from cars. Let the beauty of that idea percolate in your brainpan for a moment. Roll through historic neighborhoods and explore hidden corners of Fairmount Park, all without the usual blat of horns and all-too-close whoosh of routinely dangerous vehicular maneuvers.

How do they clear the streets of cars? I don’t know. I didn’t ask anyone. That’s probably one of those questions you don’t want to know the answer to. Hopefully there won’t be a rash of yanked spark plug wires or sugar in gas tanks the day before the event.

The ride begins on the Art Museum Steps at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia Sunday, September, 14, 2008, at 8:00 am. Bicyclists of all skill levels are welcome with distances of 10, 20, 35 or 50 mile routes available. Registration is capped at 5,000 this year, so it would be to your advantage to get your name on the list sooner rather than later.

Pre-registration prices are in effect for a few more days at the rate of $40, with 17 and under only $5. Sign up now for the discounted rate and a free t-shirt. Need more information? Lucky for you I have their website scribbled on this piece of scrap paper I just fetched from my pocket.

Let ‘em roll. Revenge of the bicycles!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or get FREE updates by e-mail. You can find over 800 events each month on our event calendar