Red Trike

This section of the Brandywine Trail currently ends next to a shopping center.  There’s this shop:

and this one (which is actually wonderful, considered within the context of the genre):

That second one features a “Pub” and an extensive selection of all kinds of edible goodies from small tins of yogurt to full meals, ready to serve and consume on the spot.

Should you wish to pick up household goods while out on your cycle, the first shop’s a good bet. Or you could stop into the “Pub” for lunch ant pick up a few groceries at the same time.

At this particular point, the trail is sandwiched between Route 202 (a major highway) and the shopping center. The stores and pavement are hardly scenic, but the other side of the trail is.  In any case, there’s something weirdly wonderful about cycling along a greenway that offers such proximate access to the stuff of suburban life.

Isn’t that when cycling is at its best? When it’s part of the everyday, ordinary world?

OK, maybe it’s not “best” then, but this kind of proximity is great for inveigling non-cyclists to consider how perfectly ordinary — how perfectly natural — cycling can be.

I might take a shopping list next time, leave from the trail’s parking lot, get my cycling in, stop and shop, and cycle back. Much nicer than simply driving to the store.  Though, sadly, I still have to drive to the trail. Maybe that will have changed in the next few years; expansion is coming.

Arianna:  11.47 miles

The bearings froze in one of Arianna’s vintage pedals, so replacements were installed. Her original ones are white rubber, but there wasn’t any quick way to get ahold of anything similar.  The bike shop had these in stock, in black, which are vintage style:

(They’re symmetrical; I’m a terrible photographer.)  The shape is slightly rounded, kind of retro-looking — very close, in fact, to that of Arianna’s originals. And these new ones have reflectors on the sides, just like the originals:

For some unknown reason, there are quirky little hearts on the ends. I’m not a “hearts” kind of person, but I have to agree that the design somehow suits the pedals. And Arianna, for that matter.

Most importantly, the replacement pedals work beautifully. Sometimes function before form is what really matters.