Ride Reports July 2007

Waterford
May 26, 2007 by Stephen Walter & Bill Smith

We had a hot clear day for the Waterford ride this year. The ride was very relaxed with two rest stops. At the Purcellville stop a man rode in with his bike made up to appear like a WWI plane and he was wearing an aviator hat rather than a helmet. It was quite a sight to see and attracted a lot of attention. We also had diversity in bicycles including Bill and Vicki Smith on a tandem and Jennifer Eberhardt riding a recumbent. Along on the ride we also had George Ruszat and Chuck Wilson, Vicki Crum, Harry DeMoll, Mary Walter and myself. We rode a total of 45 miles without any police citations.

Amish Back Roads Tour
May 5-11, 2007 by Ann & Fred Abeles

Two hundred fifty eight miles in one 24 hour-plus ride? If that sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, why not consider a tour of 300 to 360 miles in a week, with some one else moving your belongings as well as delivering fresh, home-made cookies or brownies and other snacks to you as you bike along, quiet country roads, past beautiful gardens and tidy dairy farms, watching teams of mules pulling plows across rich fields or children playing in the yards of one-room school houses. Riding by girls in pastel dresses and boys in suspender pants riding scooters and bicycles on their way to or from school. Fred and I took such a tour in May and found it delivered all this and more.

You can view pictures from this tour in the Photo Gallery

Though Frederick County is also rural, a cycling trip through the Amish region of Pennsylvania appealed to us as a close to home adventure. I start looking for possible bicycle tours posted by the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association (www.nbtda.com) when tours are posted in early January. The Amish Back Roads Bicycle Tour that was listed by a new company, Scamp 'n' Rascal (http://www.scampnrascal.com) sounded perfect. The tour was described as 7 days, road touring, 360 miles, $1095 per person and was offered May 5-11, June 16-22 and Sept. 15-21, 2007. This price included 5 nights lodging, 6 breakfasts, 4 dinners, and full SAG support. Lunches, happy hours, 2 dinners and the first night's lodging were on our own.

We signed up for the May tour and enjoyed glorious spring weather. Fred and I opted to ride our recumbents even though we knew that Pennsylvania has hills. We drove to the start point, Hamburg, PA, Saturday afternoon and met the tour directors, Karen O'Brien Winkler and Paul Smith as well as most of the other riders, a couple from St. Paul, Minnesota, who would be riding a tandem, and 2 of the other 3 men who would be with the group for the week. They were just heading out for a ride around Hamburg but we opted to walk over to Cabela's to check out that enormous store, about 2 blocks from the motel. That evening we all met for a Cinco de Mayo celebration in the bar beside the motel where we had a chance to get acquainted. Scamp 'n' Rascal is a new venture for Karen and Paul, who started it last year with just a few rides. This year they have several other tours in addition to the Amish Back Roads such as the Historic Inns of the Poconos, High Spirits Beer and Wine Tour and Coal Cracker Ramble. We all went to dinner at a cute place, the Port Clinton Inn, a few miles up the road, just off the Appalachian Trail along Rt. 61, north of Hamburg. The restaurant must be used to feeding hikers because the portions were huge - especially the side order of fries which could feed at least five.

Sunday's ride took us westward, zig-zagging across I-78, with kitsch and history along the way. We passed Roadside America before it was open and then saw a beautifully landscaped mill pond as we climbed the hill on Mill Road. We all gathered at the Golden Age Air Museum (http://www.goldenageair.org), near Bethel, just as it opened at 11 and found the tour of restored and/or reproduced planes of the 1920's through the 70's interesting. Then we headed across I-78 again, picked up a quick lunch at Subway, and ate some of Karen’s delicious, chocolate chip cookies. The ride continued on into Amish countryside as we headed to Myerstown and our day’s destination, the Lantern Lodge (http://www.thelanternlodge.com). The spring flowers along the roadsides were beautiful; violets, bluebells, Russian olives and others. After checking in and having showers, we gathered in the courtyard of the bar for drinks and then headed into the restaurant for dinner. The bar and restaurant are located in the beautifully remodeled Swiss bank barn that is part of this 200 year old property. The rooms are across the courtyard and each has its own patio - a convenient place for us to park our long, recumbent bikes.

Monday we rode through a pretty Amish area west of Myerstown and then southeast, through the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. We didn't spot any of the resident eagles but the Canada Geese, Great Blue Herons and Red-winged Blackbirds were plentiful. As we climbed the hill away from the reserve, we passed a beautifully landscaped wildflower garden, with columbine and bleeding heart thick along the roadside. The next stop was the Ephrata Cloister (http://www.ephratacloister.org), a fascinating Historical Museum commemorating a community of celibate Brothers and Sisters, the followers of Conrad Beissel who established the sanctuary in the forest of Pennsylvania in 1732. After the cloister, several of us joined Karen for lunch at the Cloister's Diner just down the street. As Ephrata was not quite halfway through the day, off we went, up hill and down, to the Pool Forge Historic Park (potty break) and then on to Shirks Bike Shop on Ligalaw. This bike shop, a few miles east of New Holland, has an amazing inventory of bicycles, gear and clothing (with very good deals on the clothing). While there, we met a super grandmother who took up bicycling at 70 and now at 78, does century rides - like the Sea Gull Century in Maryland. She is definitely an advertisement for the health advantages of cycling. After 63 miles, we finally arrived in Strasburg at the Netherlands Inn and Spa (www.netherlandsinn.com), had our showers and joined the others on the lawn for beer and snacks before dinner. Our group had a special dinner and, after dinner, an informative lecture about the Amish and Mennonites presented by two representatives of the Amish Farm and House.

Tuesday was a free choice day. Only Jack, a glutton for punishment, opted to do the 85 mile round trip down to Charlestown, a little town on the top of the Chesapeake Bay. Others from the group took shorter rides and visited friends and sights around Strasburg. During the morning, Fred and I took a short ride east and south of Strasburg. Along the way we passed the Red Caboose Motel. The rooms of this motel are remodeled cabooses from different rail lines. They made an impressive sight as we cycled between the rows of cars. Next we watched the Strasburg historic train getting up steam for its first run of the day before continuing our ride over the hills to the south. Coming in to Strasburg on 741 we passed the Strasburg Train Station and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania - places well worth visiting. We biked on to the center of Strasburg for ice cream at the Country Store right on the corner of Main Street and 896. That evening we were invited to dinner with former friends from Frederick - and of course we biked to their place to show off our recumbents.

On Wednesday's ride, we first headed west and north of Strasburg through a picturesque area of Amish farms and schoolhouses. After turning east, we took one of the shortcuts and skipped the hilly loop to the winery. With energy from lunch we climbed the next hills and were rewarded with a lovely ride along a ridge overlooking a pastoral country scene of neat farms nestled along a meandering stream. We arrived at the Holiday Inn in Morgantown about 2:30, in time to get a ground floor room and have a swim in the pool. The group had wine and snacks on the patio before Karen and Paul shuttled us to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord (www.shady-maple.com) near Blue Ball. This is an amazing, all-you-can-eat palace that seats up to 1000. It is definitely a monument to America's eating habits - and the food was good.

Thursday started out cloudy and foggy so I packed our rain gear just in case. Since tonight was the last night, we wore our tux jerseys to breakfast and they were a hit. We were on our way by 7:30 with a pleasant ride through the edge of French Creek State Park on our way to Hopewell Furnace. The route through the forest was pretty and I enjoyed it even though there were a couple of long climbs. We learned about the importance of iron making in the early days of our country. A tour of the furnace and site gives one a good picture of what life was like in those days. We then headed on to the Daniel Boone Homestead before arriving at the Oley Dairy about 11, for an early lunch. About 8 or 10 miles from Fogelsville, Paul and Jack came cycling towards us and joined us for the ride to the Velodrome. On the way, Fred discovered a trike, possibly his next toy? At the Velodrome, we were invited in to ride the track. It was quite an experience to bike quickly around the oval and Ann had enough courage to ride on the upper part of the ramped sides. They didn't think that any other recumbents, especially with panniers full of unneeded rain gear, had ever ridden around the track. That night we were at the Hilton Garden, an upscale motel in the industrial park on the west side of Allentown. After our showers, we had time to sit in the lobby with some coffee before the group met on the patio for wine and snacks. We all walked over to Damon's, the neighboring sports bar for dinner; another place with good food and generous portions. After dinner we met back at the motel for an interesting talk by Professor Judy Ridner on the early European settlement of this area of Pennsylvania, 1610 - 1750. She emphasized the different images we have of the area and of the times from paintings and writings.

Friday, we reluctantly left our comfortable beds. This hotel had the best beds and pillows of the trip. We were checked out by 7:30 and heading to the hills. Many parts of the ride were beautiful but the hills were difficult for us on this leg. About 5 miles from Hamburg, Karen and Paul came cycling toward us and biked into Hamburg with us, arriving about 1:30. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and loaded our bikes, sorry that the trip was over already. Fred and I go on three or four of these supported bike rides each year. This trip was in with the best of these tours for having organized and attentive tour directors as well as being an interesting tour, close to home.

Tour From Taneytown
June 9, 2007 by Beth 'Betsy' Brown

Mother Nature was incredibly kind to us for this ride on June 9. Considering the day before was a horrid hot and humid day, I was very grateful when Saturday a.m. brought low humidity and comfortable temps for the Tour from Taneytown. I was joined by Betsy LaPadula, Brian King, Isaac Miedzinski, Ray & Jenny Gable, Catherine Badger, Jen Eberhardt, George Ruszat and Jeff Johnson. We were also joined by Ron Cassie from the Frederick News Post. Ron is writing an article on cycling for the Post. Updates to when the article will appear will be forthcoming. (Ed. Note: See June 26 page A-7).

The ride was a gently rolling route that included beautiful countryside views, cool shaded roads and little traffic. Much of the traffic encountered had to do with a local farm auction---which is the only reason that these back kountry (yes that is country with a K) roads would have 'traffic'.

We did pass Frederick Pedalers member, Laura Chaffiotte, riding her century at one point during the ride.

Due to the wonderful weather and low traveled roadways, this ride was a great social ride. The only hitch was thinking that a couple of folks in the lead might have missed a turn so Brian was very kind in volunteering to scout ahead off course to make sure that they had made the turn.

I'd like to thank all those who drove the 20+ miles to the Taneytown start to join me on my first ride as a ride leader.