Return to Springton Manor

I am changing up my riding routine for the summer. The weather is so nice that I will be going on longer road bike rides on Saturday mornings. I will probably just be doing quick rides on the Fantom 29 to Springton Manor Farms on Sundays before Church.

Today I rode 8.0 miles to Springton Manor Farms. I haven't ridden there since March 29. Things have changed. The trail that I would pickup at Burgess Park on RT 282 was overgrown with sticker bushes for about half the length, so I avoided it on the return trip.

When I got to the park I took my usual ride but was prevented from getting on the Bartol Trail at the south end of the park by a felled tree. I was able to find another access point. They were able to remove that huge downed tree that I was playing around on in my March 15 post. I emailed the park superintendent to see if they can remove this tree.

At the Farm you can see a lot of farm animals and other wildlife. I saw a couple of goats standing on some big boulders. There are also horses, sheep and chickens. I also saw a family of gophers on the trail.

I have been starting to work on my climbing legs more on my road bike riding. There is a hill on Pumpkin Hill Road that I call the Glenmoore Wall after the famous Manayunk Wall.The "Manayunk Wall" is an inclined street, comprising all of Levering Street and a few blocks of Lyceum Avenue, that is a part of the Philadelphia International Championship, an annual one day bicycle race. The Manayunk Wall has a rise of 220 ft and a grade that varies between 6.5 and 17%. The Glenmoore Wall has a rise of 262 ft over about 0.5 miles which give a grade of 9.0%. It varies from 4.1 to 17.1%. I figure this all out on an elevation profiler tool.


There is also a similar climb at Springton Manor with a 223 ft rise for a grade of 9%, varying from 6.5 to 11.8%. This one is tougher because it is on grass with the fat MotoRaptor tires.