Rides - Sunday, June 20th

[Crankin]

This ride was on Friday, but I am now catching up with my posts after being away for my son's wedding reception.
We brought our bikes to Philly and mapped out 2 routes. We were staying in Chestnut Hill, on the edge of the city, so it didn't seem too hard to get out to good riding.
OK, now I understand when you guys talk about angry drivers and no good places to ride. First, our hotel was on a cobblestone road, with old trolley tracks down the middle. So we plotted out a route through neighborhood streets to get around that. There's 4 way stop signs every block. Traffic lights, too. We got out to a main road where I was buzzed by several cars. I mean, I have ridden on roads busier than this and the cars here were just swerving close to us on purpose and then revving up their engines and speeding off. We finally got off of this road and out to a hilly more country like area. That was good. We saw the country club where the reception was going to be and turned around shortly after. However, we missed a street (the route back was different), so we had to turn around and try to head back the way we came. As we were going up a hill, with a light at a 3 way intersection, DH tried to get in the left turn lane (signaling, etc) and a woman would not let him in. He got really close to her car and raised his fist, as she was *screaming* at him. I guess she decided it wouldn't be a good day for a murder and let both of us go. After that, we actually found a decent way back, went up a really steep climb on a neighborhood street, and got back.
It was the most stressful 15 mile ride I have ever done. The next day, I went for a run. I now really appreciate where I ride at home. I know Boston drivers are notorious for being bad, but what I saw in Philly surpassed anything I have seen here, and not just when I was on the bike.