Category Archives: Philadelphia

I spent most of last Sunday watching the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship from the grassy slope of Lemon Hill. Many flock to The Wall but something about Lemon Hill attracts more fans that are themselves cyclists and not just there to drink outside. The climb itself is short and fast averaging a modest grade when compared to the Manayunk Wall. Getting a good vantage point is very simple thanks to the curvature of the road. The pack powers through in a storm but there’s still the opportunity run up with the stragglers.

This past weekend marked the fourth year of the annual Tweed Ride here in Philadelphia and the third year that I’ve participated, but the first that I was able to help organize and design various print components like flyers and spoke cards. I brought out my 4×5 field camera again this year but was having trouble getting the Polaroid film I had around for it to process evenly (the caustic paste wasn’t spreading right) but I did shoot a couple black and white plates which still need to be processed. Carrying the whole rig of 4×5 camera, film holders, polaroid back, 35mm camera, light meter, and U-lock proved to be a mighty test for my newly installed Nitto M-12 rack and bag made by Ruth Works SF (see third photo below, review to come) but it was very stable even without running a decaleur. The couple loosely cobbled blocks that we were forced to take due to construction closures had me a little nervous but it all held together.

Heres just a sample of some of what I saw, I’ll be posting more on my photo blog over the next couple of days so be sure to follow along there. The Tweed Ride Philadelphia website has also started linking to galleries of photos taken that day by camera-wielding participants so there’s plenty more there as well.

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