Check out what's in my backyard . . .

Every year, pro cyclists descend upon Philly for the annual Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. The men ride from the Parkway (start/finish is right outside my door), up Kelly Drive to Manayunk where they then climb "the Manayunk Wall" -- a 17% grade -- and then before they come back to the art museum, they then climb Lemon Hill. (check out the course map and cool locator map here) The men finish back where they started and do the whole 14.4 mile circuit again -- 10 times! That's right, it's a 156 mile race! It is one of the longest single-day races in the U.S. The women only do 4 laps, for a total of 57.6 miles.

The man who won the race did it in 6:24:04! Insane! It took me 8 hours to ride 100 miles.

I took off this morning for a typical bike ride up to Lincoln Drive, but made it a point to stop along the way to watch the cyclists go by and cheer them on. Below are a few shots and videos I took along the course.

This video was taken by Falls Bridge on Kelly Drive.



Here are a few shots taken at Lemon Hill, which is across from Boathouse Row.

Lemon Hill

Front-runners (at 12:30 pm)

This guy just got his flat fixed before heading up Lemon Hill

Finally, this is a video of the pack as they come around the bend and up Lemon Hill.