Crossing the river

Just, yesterday, I was telling somebody that -- even though it's less than a mile away -- I almost never cross the Schuylkill River anymore unless I am actually leaving the Reading area altogether. All of the things that are part of my current everyday life are here on the West Reading side.

But today after work I did cross the river, pedaling my bike into Reading proper and heading up to the 'Pagoda' and then to Mt. Penn's 1,000 foot-plus summit on Skyline Drive -- a climb of about 800 feet.

It's quite a challenging, but nice and steady climb on a road with nice smooth pavement and little traffic. The ride all told was about 18 miles with some thrilling, curvy descents I had never been on before. A little frightening, but the recently tuned-up touring bike's brakes are in good shape. It was a blast! . . . It's so great that with daylight savings time having started that there is a good bit of daylight after the work day. . . It feels like spring!

Here's the route (in red):


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