On Thursday, Dec 28, please join us for “The Poplar Express”, what I hope will be the first in an occasional series of rides covering the entire length of a Philadelphia street. This one takes us along the three-mile length of Poplar St, from Lemon Hill to Northern Liberties. We’ll convene afterwards at Jerry’s Bar - they’ve reserved the second floor balcony for us, so stop by to warm up!

If you’re new to our rides, we have rides of varying difficulty, categorized as “Easier” (less than 7 miles), “Standard” (7-10ish miles), and “Adventurous” (10mi+, or notable hills/off-road). This one is “Easier”: it should be great for everyone, including beginners, families, and people who dislike turning their bicycles.

Route notes:

• Poplar St includes two blocks of trolley tracks, from 26th to 24th St - please be careful
• No regroup point given the shorter length
• Poplar St switches from two-way to one-way and narrows substantially at 5th St

If you’ve never been on one of our rides or want a refresher on our ride practices, please read our How We Ride guide. Specifically, we’d like to call attention to a couple of practices that are really important to how we do our rides to keep us all safe:

• Stop at red lights. This may be different from other group rides you have been on in the past—please DO NOT hold car traffic at intersections against the traffic light. If there’s a red light, we stop. Stick with a group big enough to hold the lane, and make friends while waiting for a green light. To avoid anxiety about getting separated, it’s helpful to have as many people as possible using turn-by-turn navigation with RideWithGPS or Komoot.
• Roll past conflict. Sadly, it’s almost inevitable we’ll encounter drivers who are unhappy their commute is interrupted by 30 seconds as a result of our ride. Do what makes sense to avoid and reduce conflict by pulling over, consolidating the group, or whatever makes sense in the situation. Do not swarm, block, or trap cars. Do not engage with aggressive car drivers.

With respect to inclimate weather, our practice is not to make a call on cancellations due to poor weather until the day-of to give Mother Nature every possible opportunity to change her mind. We’ll cancel any ride by 3pm that day and send out notifications on our usual communication platforms (Instagram, Reddit, email, web).

Thanks for riding! Feel free to invite a friend and we’ll see you Wednesday!