Just a quick note to bring this to the top again. Steve and I did our favorite ride in Lancaster County again last Saturday. It was our first ride since last fall so our biking legs were a little rusty but it was no problem (I took 3 little walks to the top of the worst hills) and there was very little traffic. There was lots of activity readying the fields for planting and our first encounter with the locals was a wagon being draw by a mule team of 4 abreast coming towards us taking up the whole road. The driver nicely guided them to the side of the road to give us room to pass. This route is really not heavily touristed and with the price of gas I think the number of people cruising the roads for fun will be greatly reduced. The Amish folks were full of waves and hellos. It's interesting that they are often the ones who first give the wave. We usually plan our lunch at a little Mennonite church yard with picnic tables and a welcoming sign to all visitors. It's about 5 miles from the end of the 23 mile ride. Near it is the Lancaster Winery (a turn off and down a hill) which could be a possible add-on to the day though I'm not sure you would want to drink wine, pedal up a rather steep hill, and then finish the ride. But we could easily drive back there or even a couple people could continue the ride and return with a couple of the cars to bring the bikes and everybody back to the starting point at the end on the winery event. Just an idea. I've never been to a tasting (don't think Tuscany or even Finger Lakes , we're talking Pennsy now) but the grounds are pretty and it could be fun. I'll try and get some more info.

Karen, any idea where we'll start from and what time? I'm thinking maybe we'll drive out Friday night - but just toying with that idea now.

Hi Kim, I was waiting to hear everyone's plans. We usually ride in the morning but didn't start last weekend until 2:30. We start in the town of Willow Street (that is really a town)which is on Rt 272 about 7 miles south of Lancaster. It really depends where everyone is coming from and what time they are coming in. Maybe we could all meet in Lancaster at the train station. Are you still coming into Philly on T Thursday night also?

Here's a map of the area. We would be riding toward the eastern half of map, coming quite near the town of Strasburg, setting for some scenes in "Witness".

http://www.applebininn.com/
is a B&B in Willow Street as is
http://www.sassafrasfarms.com/
http://www.historicinnofstrasburg.com/ is nearby as is
LANDIS FARM BED & BREAKFAST
1545 Lime Valley Rd., Strasburg, PA 17579
717-687-6321
And there's lots of places close to Lancaster along Rt 30. Not particularly charming but close to the outlet shopping if you're into that. (I'm not) Hope this helps.
I'm remodeling our "extra" house in York or I'd offer it to whoever wanted to come another 30 miles west of Lancaster. Maybe next time and we can go on and ride the Gettysburg battlefield!

I found this site of bicycle shops in Lancaster county - Karen, would you have any idea which shop may be closest to where we will be starting from? Would it be Lancaster? I'll be giving these shops a call to see if any of them do rentals.

Hi Terry, All of the following are in or near Lancaster center. The others are north of the city and not really near our starting point. Let me know what you find out. Just tell them you would be riding in the Willow Street/ Strasburg area and they should tell you if it will work to rent from them. We could meet you and load the bike.
CYCLE CIRCLE
LANCASTER BICYCLE SHOP
ERA SKI & BIKE SHOP

Thanks for all the info, Karinka!

I thought I was 100% committed but now it looks like I might have to travel for work during the last two weeks of May... The dates aren't set and I am trying to make sure I am back for Memorial Day weekend but it is out of my hands right now. I will let you know for sure as soon as I know.

Chiocciola, Hope you can work it out. We were looking forward to seeing you again. We are leaving Friday for Italy and will be back on the 20th. We are definately planning to do this ride so if I am out of touch, don't worry I'll still be able put together a nice picnic, meet people in Lancaster city if necessary, and have the maps and itinerary all printed out for everyone, etc, etc. And I am also planning to come in for the Philly GTG Thursday night. 8:30 or 9AM is a good time to start or at least meet, as it's gets us to the picnic stop at a good lunch break time and if we did want to check out the winery after, there's time enough. Otherwise we could do an afternoon ride and eat late afternoonish. I guess it really depends on the travel and/or lodging arrangements you all need to make. Kim, I think the drive is about
2 1/2hrs for you, Terry 1 1/2hr, and Ellen?? Chiocciola, I'm not sure. There are lots of different ways you can come North. We leave our cars at the intersection of Baumgardner Rd. and Rt 272. in Willow Street.
Hopefully we can inspire some others to join us. It is the BEST way to see the Amish county!

I am in! Boyfriend too! My work trip is postponed to the first week of June. I went ahead and rented bicycles today, from the Era Ski and Bike Shop (of the two other ones, one was closed and one doesn't rent bikes.) I had to pay upon rental so I guess you can say we are confirmed now! They open at 10am so I hope that is OK - I know you were hoping for an earlier start time so I hope this doesn't cause problems.

Karinka, I know you are traveling but when you get back, I want to ask you about how to get from the bike shop to the starting point (he said it was 10-15 miles from the shop.) From an earlier message it seemed like you might be able to load our bikes?

Looking forward to it!!

Hi Chiocciala, Great! No problem meeting you at Era. That's pretty much a straight shot to our starting place and we will put our bikes inside our wagon and have a rack on the outside for yours which we would do anyway.10AM is fine. The lunch will be "on ice" for whenever we make it to our picnic spot. It's suppose to be a beautiful day. I hope there are others joining us. Kim & Chris? Terry? I will see Kim & Terry tomorrow night so hopefully I can encourage them to join us,and Steve and I have friends looking forward to the ride also.

Karinka,

Great, thanks! It is great that you can pick us up at the bike shop.

How far will we ride total, approximately? (Just wondering because of what clothes to wear, snacks to bring, etc.)

Yes, the forecast looks great! Must bring sunglasses!

The ride is about 25 miles. I usually wear a tank top under a light weight techy long sleeve to start, and bike shorts. The long slv usually ends up tied around my waist in the first hour! One of us will be tagging along nearby with a car so we can always deal with adding or reducing layers. I was planning to make some assorted wraps and contorni for our picnic and we usually stop after an hour or so for a granola bar and drink etc. Unfortunately once we start riding this route doesn't take us past any stores unless we add a couple of miles and go into Strasburg. But I'm afraid we might hit alot of car traffic as that's a popular family day trip. We will bring some snacks and water so you really don't have to worry about it.

Great, thanks so much for this info! Very helpful. I am sure I will be the slowest one but someone has to be in the back, right?

Karen, I definitely plan to be there! We'll talk more tomorrow night. I heard a good weather forecast, too. How exciting.

Can't wait to see everyone, in beautiful Lancaster county.

So Karinka, should we plan to meet at Era at 10am? (Or 10:15, I guess we have to actually get the bikes out of the store!) Maybe we should exchange cell phone numbers via PM in case we need to call you?

Yes 10-10:15 is fine. BTW What time do you have to return the bikes? I am soooo looking forward to a sunny warm day. It's been crazy cool here.

We have to return them at 5pm... I am looking forward to it too! Just hope it isn't too windy.

Chiocciola, Did you get my email with the cell #'s? It looks like it's a small group. Kim and Ellen can't make it but we'll do this again for sure. Terry is meeting us at ERA also and our friends from York are hoping to join us. Hopefuly the 25 miles isn't sounding too daunting. It's really not bad and we'll have the car. I know there more ST's out there!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris,

Thanks, I did! Sorry I didn't write back until now. See you tomorrow - this will be really fun!

Many thanks to Karen and Steve for taking such good care of us on a really wonderful bike trip through the Amish country. Every detail was attended to, from directions and maps to a really delicious picnic lunch, including Karen's yummy wraps, pickled eggs & beets, Kathy's fruit salad, and Steve even brought some wine.

It was such a nice adventure (even though I was the slowest!), and a real pleasure to get together with fellow STers, and even some new faces. It was so nice to meet you Chiocciola, and your boyfriend Jeff.

I hope we can do this again in the fall. How beautiful would that be! I'll try to be in better riding shape.

I didn't take too many photos, but here's a couple:

Jeff, Chiocciola, & Steve below

[edited by Chris at Teaberry's request]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris,

And here's Jeff at the covered bridge