Gettysburg

 

Bike trips are a great way to see other areas of the country. I like exploring by bike as it is a more leisurely way to see the sights. There are a lot of great places to take a bike trip in the US but if you want my recommendation on one of the best place to go in the tri-state area I would suggest heading to Gettysburg. Gettysburg and the surrounding area is one of the most interesting and beautiful places to ride in Pennsylvania. There is also a lot of variety to the roads by Gettysburg so no matter the type of riding you want to do you are sure to find something to like. 

Of course Gettysburg is the site of the civil war's most pivotal battle and now one of the more popular national parks in the US. The park does an amazing job of capturing the history and emotions of an important moment of America history. The park has over 40 miles of bikeable roads so it is easy to explore the many battlefields and monuments in the park.

Beyond the battlefield especially east of Gettysburg there are a lot of good roads to ride on and some interesting and historic things to see. I have been taking bike trips to Gettysburg for over 10 years, mostly with the Philadelphia bike club. I always enjoy riding in and around Gettysburg and haven't come close to explore all the areas and roads I want to. Which is why when Falcon press asked me to write a guide for ride in and around Gettysburg I said yes. 

This book is meant for casual riders who want to do rides in the 5 to 10 mile range. The main focus of rides in this book is exploring the different areas of the battlefield. Its a small book of only 16 rides but it does cover all areas of the battlefield as well as the best place to ride outside of Gettysburg. 

I had fun writing the book and learning more about Gettysburg so I could add some interesting facts throughout the book. I had planned to do a couple of trips out to Gettysburg over the year I worked on the book to get the best pictures and information I could but because of the pandemic I only got out there once in late 2019. Luckily I had enough pictures and knowledge from all my previous trips to put the book together and am genially happy with how it came out. We'll see how well it sells.

It has been a while since I have done any bike trips because like everybody else I was stuck at home. Now that the threat of the pandemic is waning I will be doing a couple of bike trips this year and one of them will definitely be to back to Gettysburg.

Best Sunrise Ever!

 

Over the years I tried my hand at getting a few good shots of sunrises and sunsets and a got a few good ones. The morning of June 10th however offered an opportunity to get a picture of a unique sunrise that my not happen again in my lifetime. In N.J. there was going to be a partial eclipse of the sun at sunrise. The weather forecast got better during the week but there was still only a 40% chance that the sky would be clear at sunrise. Still there was a chance. Since the eclipse was going to be in progress at sunrise I had to be in a place that had a clear view to the eastern horizon. I decided to sleep over at our condo in Avon so I could walk out in the morning and see the sunrise at the beach. 

When I woke up at 5am I looked out the skylight and it was still cloudy and hazy. But when I walked out to the beach the clouds were lifting and the sky was clearing. 

There was a marine layer so the horizon obscured by some clouds. The sun rose through the clouds and I could see it looked a little different.

 When the sun peaked above the low clouds the sun was a crescent instead of a circle.

 The sun eventually cleared the clouds and was fully visible. 

 

I got a few more pictures before the sun got too bright to take a picture without a solar filter. 

 

It turned out to be a reasonable clear morning so there were other people watching the eclipse.

The eclipses lasted an hour. For the first 15mins I was able to take a picture without any filters as the sun was dim as it is during a sunrise. This allowed for some cool pictures including the one at the top of post where I got lucky and got a jet trail across the sun at the same time a seagull flew by. 

As the sun rose higher I put the solar filter on the camera and caught the rest of the eclipse. 

It was a beautiful sunrise so I'm glad I made the effort to see it in person because the picture really don't convey how cool it was.