Thanks everyone for coming out for the February meeting. Our new meeting space at Eclipse Center for Creative Community is working out nicely. If you could not make the meeting, please use the links below to review what was discussed.
Click Here for a PDF of the agenda deck from the February, 2024 meeeting
Click Here to access at meeting recording using MicroSoft Teams
On Monday, Dec. 18, The agenda for the Upper Gwynedd Board of Commissioners meeting includes a presentation on the Power Line Trail, which is planned to cross Upper Gwynedd Township from the 476 overpass at Morris Rd., pass through Parkside Place where it will overlap with the planned Liberty Bell Trail and ultimately connect with the 202 Parkway Trail at Welsh Road.
The meeting starts at 7 PM, at the Upper Gwynedd Township building located at Parkside Place on Sumneytown Pike. Everyone interested in local trails is encouraged to turn out for this meeting,
The presentation materials contain draft details on the Power Line Trail as well as the Liberty Bell Trail. Some these details include:
The draft maps include one curious detail for the Liberty Bell Trail, between Sumneytown Pike and Wissihickon Ave. The route visualized in these materials shows the trail following tight to the Wissihickon Creek, with multiple creek crossings. Though this was one possible route discussed two years ago during community input sessions, it was generally discarded at that time, in favor of taking the trail up Dickerson Rd. It is unclear why this may be back in play, given the frequent flooding along the creek which might cause the trail to be unusable after heavy rains, and require constant repair due to flood damage.
The weather for our community bike rides continued to cooperate on December 13, when more than 45 riders came out for our second annual Lansdale Holiday Lights Bike Ride. Though it was seasonably cold, everyone was in good spirits as we wound our way through several sections of Lansdale Borough (and just a bit of Upper Gwynedd) to checkout residential light displays.
The route was comprised of quiet, neighborhood streets, but also included some primary street crossings which we performed very carefully. On several occasions people came to the sidewalks in front of their homes to see exactly what was going on. More than one driver graciously pulled over to the side of the street to allow our band of bikers to pass.
Many of the riders added colorful lights to either their bikes or their persons, so we were, in effect, a traveling light display that night.
The ride started at 7:15 PM and ended at about 8:30 PM. Some of the group pealed off at various times to head home early. We finished the ride with about 30 riders and though everyone was a bit colder than when we started, the smiles were all warm as we wished each other Merry Christmas and split up for the night.
Local photographer, David Freed, came out for the ride and brought along his camera. He graciously took photos throughout the ride. A sampling of his photos are included with this post. Thank you David!
We hope to continue this annual tradition! Mark your 2024 calendars now for Wednesday, Dec. 11. Details for that ride will be posted later in the year.
More Photos Below:
Our second annual Lansdale Holiday Lights Bike Ride will take place on Wednesday, December 13 at 7 PM.
This will be a slow roll group bike ride of streets in and around downtown Lansdale to see holiday lights put out by the locals.
Bike Helmets Are REQUIRED.
We will meet outside Round House/Backyard Beans at about 7PM with the ride to start no later than 7:15.
The bike route will be no more than 6 miles and will be mostly on residential streets with low traffic. Our pace will be slow, with no one getting left behind. Bike lights are encouraged! We want this to be festive, but we also want to be visible to drivers. Be creative with your lights! Horns, sleigh bells, cowbells and other noise makers would be great.
Dress in warm layers as the weather dictates. We cannot emphasize the importance of warm gloves for this ride but be sure you also practice riding with gloves before the event. Shifting and breaking your bike may be very different wearing gloves. Be sure your bike is in good working order in advance of this ride.
All riders are responsible for their own safety on this ride.
2022 Lansdale Holiday Bike Ride
Anyone under the Age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Bad weather or if streets are icy from earlier rain or snow will cancel this event.
Safety is always our first consideration. Bike Helmets Are REQUIRED during the ride. If you want to bring a festive hat – great, but during the ride you MUST wear a bike helmet.
Bad weather or icy street conditions will cancel this event.
The Partnership TMA of Montgomery County, as part of their Bike More Drive Less campaign is leading an online ZOOM meeting on Wednesday, November 15, at 6:30 PM, to provide information to the public about bike lanes being added to the section of South Broad Street controlled by Upper Gwynedd Township.
This first meeting will include information about the concept of bike lanes on South Broad Street from Upper Gwynedd to Lansdale Borough and specifically on plans and designs for bike lanes to be added the section between Sumneytown Pike and Morris Road.
Residents of Upper Gwynedd Township and neighboring municipalities are encouraged to participate:
Join by Phone: 646-558-8656
Meeting ID: 818 6377 4543
Passcode: 548552
Though it was on the cool side, the sun shown down on our ride and kept the temperatures feeling moderate. What is also important to know, is we are not the only cyclists out on the streets. It was fantastic to see people out and about getting around on bicycles, as well as more than one parent with young children teaching them how to ride bikes.
The goal of this ride was not just about relaxation, exercise and visiting with friends. It was all that, but it was also a demonstration of how to navigate between quiet neighborhoods, crossing over several busy main roads, and lacing a route between Towmamencin Township, Hatfield Township, Lansdale Borough and back. We would connect to several common destinations on this route to show the bike as a viable alternative to autos.
We started in the parking lot of North Penn High School, and made our way via a cut-through path to Snyder Road. After turning onto Weikel Road and riding down to the Towamencin Pool, we utilized a second cut-through around the back side of the pool, through a small playground to emerge on Woodlawn Drive. (also note Snyder Rd. and Weikel Road are part of the Towamencin Trails – which are not off-road trails, but rather designated on-road bike routes) This move over to Woodlawn was crucial to our route, because this street crosses the busy Allentown Road with a traffic light and then keeps going. Once we were through the bustling intersection we made our way through the neighborhood on the other side and arrived at the Lidl grocery store – demonstrating there is a quiet street route to and from the high school as well as an important destination like a grocery.
Next up was crossing Main Street / Welsh Rd, which we did using the light at Oak Blvd / Squirrel Lane. At this point we took a brief detour through the Oak Park neighborhood because it was looking so pretty with the trees in full color and the leaves on the ground. After getting back onto Squirrel Lane, we went a bit off the route and rode up to Edgemont Avenue, which we used to round back down to West Third Street. This street was chosen because it goes all the way back through to downtown. Taking West Third Street did involve crossing North Valley Forge Rd. where we needed to be careful due to less-than-ideal sight lines. Instead of taking Third Street all the way to the end, we made our way to North Cannon Ave, where we used the traffic light to again, cross Main Street.
Turning left on Durstine Avenue, we proceeded to the vicinity of the Lansdale Public Library – thereby demonstrating there are ways to move about downtown Lansdale to common destinations on Main Street and side streets, like the Library or the post office. We took Columbia as our route back, with only one stop sign between Susquehanna Ave. and Valley Forge Road. Columbia is aligned on both sides of Valley Forge Rd, though it does not have a traffic light, so we waited for a good gap between cars to cross and then headed back to Woodlawn which got us back across Allentown Rd.
Rather than going straight back to the High School, we pealed off on Pioneer Rd., then took Nash Avenue to Swartley Rd. to enter the back side of the Allen-Forge Shopping Center demonstrating to the group a quiet way to get to a bank, a drug store or pick up a slice of pizza or a taco.
From there it was Pross Rd. back to Nash Avenue which brought us back to Woodlawn near the playground cut-through which connected us back to Weikel Rd, where we paused for a moment to take in the Morgan Log House. Weikel on the return required a slight hill climb to get back to Snyder Rd. and then ultimately onto the North Penn High School campus.
On Saturday, September 30, Bike North Penn organized a community bike ride in Lansdale, PA to collect donations for the Manna on Main Street food pantry from several local grocery stores.
This video re-caps the event. We intend to do more “Biking for Manna” events. We invite everyone to come out and join us we do this again!
YouTube Video of 2023 “Biking for Manna”
Come out for a cool afternoon community bike ride – on Sunday, November 13.
The route we will follow is meant to be both enjoyable and functional, showing how to get to and from the North Penn High School, as well as to a local grocery story and the Lansdale Library – using key neighborhood cut-throughs, as well as key crossing points of busy roads, to safely move from neighborhood to neighborhood. Dress for the weather, and come out for the ride!
Bike Route Info: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44926176
We had five riders for this unseasonably warm 2023 Tweed Ride. With temps exceeding 80 degrees – at the end of October no less – Tweed outfits were compromised a bit due to the heat.
The ride started in downtown Lansdale, with essentially three legs: Downtown to Whites Rd. Park and a ride through the park, then ride over to Stoney Creek Park, and ride through the park, then back to downtown via the Liberty Bell Trail.
At the time of our departure, there was a kid’s Halloween Candy event in full swing in the
downtown district. This meant we were not the only wacky looking people about, and rather getting strange looks, which is kind of customary for a Tweet Ride, we looked kind of normal compared to everyone else walking around in various costumes.
Parks were included in this ride because it was the right time of the year to see some color, and with the heat and the sunshine, the hope was the parks would give us a bit of a break with some shade. This panned out, however, we did need to proceed with some caution in both parks. In some places the fallen leaves were so thick it was kind of hard to make out the trails. Still, there was really good color and despite the heat, the sound of leaves crackling beneath our tires did make it feel like Fall.
When we arrived back downtown, some of us headed for some shaded outside tables at the Round House and had a late lunch.
