"What Used to Be, How it is, and What Ought to Be" - Bike Rides with Chris DeVol

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine and his quest for bike rides and a better community.....

Chris conquers the Schuylkill one early morning!

At the break of dawn on many Saturdays and/or Sunday mornings for the past couple of years, especially in the summer, my friend and East Vincent Township neighbor Chris DeVol organizes casual bike rides in or around Spring City, Phoenixville, and surrounding communities.

These are not the type of rides that serious road bikers do to get their hearts pumping for several hours in their colorful skintight outfits; nor are they the dirt churning, hill climbing, adrenaline pumping rides that a dedicated mountain biker would make.

Rather, Chris's rides are somewhat casual (in the bike riding sense), but it is the nature of the scenery that makes these rides very special. Chris's focus (and that of those of us brave enough to ride with him) is to look at the history and future of the some nearby Schuylkill riverfront communities. Phoenixville, Spring City, East Vincent, Limerick, and Royersford are generally the focus. We have visited great places like Pennhurst State Hospital with its controversial past and future, old steel industry sites in Phoenixville, the Cromby utility plant, the cool old railroad bridge that you can still cross if you dare, the old Yankee Dam recently taken down in East Vincent, and Spring City and Royersford's old factory sites (many now in the process of change). Chris knows many of the stories very well and will share them with anyone who rides along.

 

There is another focus to these rides too. It is the process of change happening all over these communities. To look at the good things that are happening, and to learn about some of the good things that could happen. My friend Chris is an agent of change, you might say. Some would say he is a "thorn in the side" to many area community leaders who might not facilitate or may even stand in the way of bringing positive things like the Schuylkill River Trail, historical preservation, re-development, or new railroads to the community. Don't get me wrong about the subject community leaders, we don't just talk ABOUT these folks, they get invited personally by Chris to join us.... In fact, he gets their email addresses somehow and uses them quite often.

I would bet there are many of Boro/County/State government official who wishes Chris didn't have his email address. He writes directly to them and cc's everyone else, and says "come on out at 6 AM tomorrow with your bike, I will show you how you could be better serving your constituents" or something like that. I know for a fact we have ridden with elected officials of all levels, school board directors and administrators, business and community leaders of all types. Those who miss the ride get a photo in their e-mail inbox something that morning with a subject line that says something like "See What you Missed", or "Did you sleep in?", or "Why can't Chester County do what all the other counties have already done?", etc. .....You get the point.

I have not been keeping up with Chris's rides the last few weeks, but I know from his emails (and ever growing list of invitees) that he has been going out at 6:30 AM on these cold December weekend mornings. God Bless Him for that, and for all that he does as an advocate for change to try help make our communities better. We need more like him.