Myra VanInwegen's Cue Sheets

Below I have a collection of cue sheets. For more Philadelphia cue sheets, see Jeff Bakely's cue sheets, and the BCP Ride Library. Most routes below are ones I have made up; some are due to others. I mention in the cue sheets where each comes from.

All of these rides start from downtown Philadelphia, at the Art Museum. As far as I know, the cue sheets are accurate enough that you can do the ride just using the cue sheet, but I'd hate for you to get lost due to a some little mistake, so I suggest you bring along a map. I like the SEPTA maps. The red one (Philly Street and Transit Map) has nice detail and good coverage for the city and a bit of area north of the city. The blue one (Suburban Street and Transit Map) has most of the roads that you'd want to ride on, and enough detail that if you get off the route, you can use the map to get back on track. If you want to look at a map that shows in detail all the roads you're riding on, I suggest the ADC Street Map Book of Philadelphia. For riding in New Jersey, you'll need a Camden County Map and, for the two longer rides, a map of Southern New Jersey. For each ride, I've suggested the best map to take along.

I've categorized these rides as to the general direction they go in (north, south, east, west). I call "north" any ride that goes between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers to the north of the city, "west" any ride that is to the west of the Schuylkill and goes out of the city lines, "east" a ride that is east of the Delaware, and "south" a ride that goes in the southern portion of the city. I've classified as "north" the bike path route to Valley Forge, which sticks to the Schuylkill for most of the way, because there's one section that goes to the east of the river (if you want to avoid the gravel path).

I've left them pretty much in unformatted form because I'm too lazy to mess with lots of HTML formatting commands. For each ride I give a length and hill rating. You should be warned that I like hills, so quite a few of them have alot of hills in them.

Myra's Home Page Key

North

• Bike Path to Valley Forge Every Philly bike rider knows this route, the bike path from Philadelphia to Valley Forge. There's a gravel part, and I've included directions to get around it, if you like to stay on pavement. Distance: 42 miles round trip. Hill rating: close to flat.
• Unpaved Bike Paths Ride This ride has great scenery, and despite staying mostly in Philadelphia. It goes along a couple of unpaved bike paths, Forbidden Drive along Wissahickon Creek, and the tow path along the Manayunk Canal. Distance: 28 miles. Hill rating: very light on hills.
• Tuesday Evening Vino Velo Ride This ride is used by a local informal riding club, Vino Velo, for their Tuesday evening training ride. Distance: 28 miles. Hill rating: some hills, not too bad.
• 5 Points Ride This goes in roughly the same direction as the Vino Velo Ride, but is longer and takes (mostly) different roads. It goes out almost to Ambler and then goes through 5 Points, then back to Philly. Distance: about 40 miles. Hill rating: not too bad.
• QCW Ambler Ride This is a very simple ride. It goes along a few of the roads used by the 5 Points Ride, giving another way to get to Ambler. It is used by QCW for Sunday training rides. Distance: about 40 miles. Hill Rating: one bad hill, a few smaller hills.
• Towards Doylestown This ride goes almost as far as Doylestown and is pretty enjoyable. Distance: about 65 miles. Hill rating: reasonably light on hills.
• New Hope Ride This ride goes from Philly to New Hope, PA. I only give directions for getting to New Hope; to get back, reverse the route, or plot your own. Distance: 45 miles one way. Hill Rating: a few bad hills.

West

• QCW Evening Workout This is a ride that goes on both sides of the Schuylkill. It is a short loop going through Fairmount Park. It is best used for a workout when you don't have much time and don't want to get too far away from the Art Museum. Distance: about 7 miles per loop. Hill Rating: a couple hills, enough to get your heart beating faster, not bad.
• 7 Creeks and a River This ride goes along a bunch of local creeks, and has a small stretch along the Schuylkill River. It includes alot of nice suburban riding and some pretty, mostly-empty creek roads. Distance: about 42 miles. Hill Rating: hilly -- rolling with several bad hills.
• Collegiate Tour This is an extremely hilly ride that goes in or by about 10 institutions of higher education. There are a gazillion turns, in order to hit all these schools on the ride. It is strongly suggested that you take the ADC map, or maps of Philly, Delaware and Chester Counties, with you on the ride. It is impossible to describe on the cue sheets how to get through the colleges (there are no road signs), but if you look carefully at the maps, seeing where you're supposed to go in, and where you're supposed to go out, you'll figure it out. Distance: about 45 miles. Hill Rating: very hilly.
• Wildlife and Media This ride combines nice suburban, city, and even a little bit of country road riding. The first destination is the Heintz Wildlife Refuge. From there the ride heads west, eventually working its way north into the town of Media, then back to Philly. Distance: about 40 miles. Hill Rating: hills.
• Ridley Creek State Park and Swarthmore This ride goes along some very nice roads in Delaware County. It includes a loop around the paved bike path in Ridley Creek State Park and a quick trip through Swarthmore College. Distance: about 43 miles. Hill Rating: there are hills.
• A Shorter Ride to Swarthmore Yet more nice roads in Delaware County. The way back, along Darby Creek, along especially nice.Distance: about 30 miles. Hill Rating: there are a few hills, most on the way back.
• Make your own ride to Swarthmore/Media. Note that the previous three rides go more or less the same place: the furthest point out is Swarthmore/Media. They have very few roads in common. This gives you 6 ways to get to Swarthmore/Media. Choose two of them and make your own ride!

South

• South Philly Tour This ride is different from my usual rides: it's flat and doesn't have much in the way of scenery. Yet, it's quite interesting, going by such assorted places as the Stadiums, the Italian Market, FDR Park, Fort Mifflin, and Heinz Wildlife Refuge. It also goes completely around the airport. All this in 35 miles! Distance: 35 miles. Hill Rating: almost completely flat.
• Short Birds A short ride that combines the first part of the Wildlife and Media ride with the last part of the South Philly Tour to make a short, flat ride to the Heintz Wildlife (ie, Bird) Refuge. Distance: 15 miles. Hill Rating: flat.

East

• Northern Camden County Ride This is the first of a series of rides starting in Philly and exploring Southern New Jersey. These rides share many roads, but have a wide range of lengths. This one is the shortest and includes a bit of sightseeing -- Walt Whitman's Grave and one of the first dinosaurs to be dug up in the US. Distance: 35 miles. Hill Rating: pretty flat.
• More of Camden County (and a Bit of Burlington) This goes further into Camden County and includes a nice stretch through the Pine Barrens. Distance: about 65 miles. Hill Rating: flat.
• Bike to the Shore This is a good ride to do if you're in the mood to go further than 100 miles. It goes across the entire state of New Jersey twice, starting in Camden, going to the Brigantine Wildlife Refuge on the east coast, and then winding its way back to Camden again. It has substantial sections in the Pine Barrens, lots of country roads, and enough civilization that you won't have trouble finding water. Distance: 137 miles. Hill Rating: flat.
• A Double Century The title says it all. If you do this, it is strongly recommended that you drive along the roads first, so you know what the turns look like. Also, it's a good idea to (somehow) find out if the bridge over the Mullica River will be up or down. It was raised when we did it, causing us to make a 12 mile detour. To read about my ride along this route, check out "A double century" in the stories section. Distance: 205 miles. Hill Rating: flat.